As seen in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on  April 20, 2012. If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism, the saying goes. It’s hardly a one-size-fits-all disorder. That makes it tough to understand the one in 88 people who have the diagnosis today, as compared to one in 150
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As seen in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on April 6, 2012. It seems like a no-brainer. Check the box, save a life. So I checked it. My kids checked it. Their dad checked it. We never discussed it. It was just the right thing to do. In December 2009 an emergency room physician called
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As seen in the St. Paul Pioneer Press March 30, 2012. Spring break was a memory maker spent with eight mothers and eight daughters indulging in the sun, surf and sand in surprisingly quiet Playa del Carmen in Mexico. We saw armed guards but no miscreants and never feared for our safety. We shopped in
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As seen in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on March 9, 2012. They are the few, the proud, the strong, the apprehensive. They hold disparate religious and political beliefs. Some are pacifists; others have a family tradition of military service. Yet one bond outranks their differences: they are Marine moms who say they were drafted
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As seen in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on February 24, 2012. Every 25 seconds, an American has a heart attack. Every minute someone dies from one. Though one in three people are living with heart disease, most don’t know it. Dr. Daniel Garry is chief of cardiology and director of the University of Minnesota
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As seen in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on February 10, 2012. Vince Flynn made his mark writing about counter terrorism operative Mitch Rapp, who lives on the edge, undertakes seemingly insurmountable challenges, and eludes death. Yet, until this past year, the local novelist spent little time contemplating his own mortality. In November 2010, Flynn
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  As seen in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on January 27, 2012. 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
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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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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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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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