Featured Column
If I kiss you will I get diabetes?
At age 13, Quinn Nystrom was already well versed on diabetes, her younger brother Will having been diagnosed with Type I at age 5. When she learned she would share his fate for their lifetimes — or until there is a cure — she felt shocked and ashamed.
As a teenager diagnosed with a chronic and incurable disease, Nystrom had many questions that went beyond how she would manage it. Would she be able to have children? When should she reveal it to a prospective boyfriend?
Recent Pioneer Press Columns
From St. Paul, rallying medical care for Honduran orphans
As seen in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on January 13, 2012. It was a life-changing, chance encounter. In 2003, a nine-year-old Honduran girl with severely deformed legs met an orthopedic surgeon with a generous heart when he and his family went on a mission to the orphanage she called home. Once destined for a
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Connections: In prison for the holidays
As seen in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on December 23, 2011. By age 23, nearly one-third of Americans have been arrested for an offense more serious than a traffic violation, the New York Times reported recently. With so many involved with the criminal justice system, the Bennewitz family of New Hope won’t be alone
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Care for the caregivers
As seen in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on December 9, 2011. We know them. We are them. The people who change parents’ Depends; sit with children through chemotherapy; answer the same question from a spouse over and over. Caregivers are the bone-tired folks who attend to others’ basic needs, often while balancing family responsibilities,
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Recent Blog Posts
The Brain – Making New Connections On September 30, 2011, I wrote a column for the St. Paul Pioneer Press about Jimmy Reagan, a young adult with autism who is an emerging artist (http://bit.ly/ntyE0A). In this guest blog post, his mother, Peg Schneeman Reagan, provides a fascinating update. Over the last six months, Jimmy’s art has been growing in ways that
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Camphill Communities: Supported living for adults with ASD A growing number of young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder are reaching adulthood. Families are searching for options and opportunities; for living arrangements that work and employment opportunities that are well designed and meaningful. In the coming weeks, I will highlight programs and opportunities that are in place. It’s a starting point for families like
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Autism and the transition to adulthood: it’s not a sprint My guest blog post that appeared on Laura Shumaker’s San Francisco Chronicle blog (SFgate.com) on October 20, 2011. I sat down at the table for our 2 p.m. meeting and looked up at the clock. We were about to design my son’s last IEP (Individualized Education Plan) – the roadmap for his final services from
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Grab life by the horns… I never met Major Chuck Creech and for that I am most sorry. I heard a lot about Chuck and his wife Sara from my sister Traci, who counts them among her most treasured friends. Chuck was a military man who served our country with great pride and distinction. He earned two Meritorious Service Medals for
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Empowering the caregiver For well over a decade I was the Sullivan family medical crisis manager. It seemed the waves kept rolling in, starting with my son’s autism diagnosis, followed by my late husband’s first heart attack and subsequent visits to the heart clinic, my cancer, and my daughter’s bone marrow transplant. Someone always needed me, in a
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