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Kenneth Davis
“God has use for all the old people. There is a place for people 65 and older
that no other age group can fit. We have nothing to lose. Some of us have a
couple pennies. We can go out now and really be revolutionaries“. ~Ruby Dee~
Took a page from the notebook of Vickie Marshall the other day. If you
recall, she volunteered to participate in clinical trials for the Covid-19 vaccine.
I recall the following recording from WREG Channel 3 - The research project
sponsored by Pfizer aimed at finding a COVID-19 vaccine, but they are looking
for minorities to take part in the clinical trial. Memphian Vickie Hollis is
taking part in a clinical trial at CNS. But Hollis is one of a small number of
minorities taking part in the study. “Well, I just want to see a cure and unless
they do a study then they can’t find a cure,” Hollis. .
Initially, I said "God Bless You" Vickie for your courage and decision to
participate. Presently, I live in a community full of biomedical and clinical
research companies, but I'd never concluded that I wanted to participate in
any type of trial. Financial compensation here is always phenomenal, if that's
your incentive, but overall it wasn't something I was comfortable with. Vickie
clearly stated what her incentive was and it was extremely commendable.
The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill reached out to me via my
Primary Care Physician to participate in a study for a quantitative MRI study
of cerebral penetrating artery alterations in patients with diabetes’s at high
risk. The purpose of the research study was to use a high resolution MRI called
a 7T MRI scanner to understand the qualities of arteries that penetrate into
the deeper parts of the brain in patients with diabetes. Because I'm not
claustrophobic, and a Type II diabetic, it was a no brainer for me. As it was
with Vicki, the results are designed to obtain new knowledge with hopes of
helping people in the future. Sherri Shepherd once stated "I am a type-2
diabetic, and they took me off medication simply because I ate right and
exercised".
Diabetes is not like a cancer, where you go in for chemo and radiation. You
can change a lot through a basic changing of habits....Mary Tyler Moore tells
us that diabetes is an all-too-personal time bomb which can go off today,
tomorrow, next year, or 10 years from now - a time bomb affecting millions
like me and the children here today.....Bryan Adams says trying to manage
diabetes is hard because if you don't, there are consequences you'll have to
deal with later in life....
I acknowledge all of this to realize that many of the Class Of 1970 are
diabetics and some of us have our situation under control. As retires, we can
participate in clinical studies related to our condition. If you're impassioned,
seek out local community studies, which may benefit your grandchildren and
great grandchildren in the future. We can become a change agent like Vickie.
The greatest benefit that I'll receive through this participation is this, should
there be a brain tumor or other possible medical findings after review by a
qualified neuro-radiologist, I'll be notified immediately....like I said it was a no
brainer!....
There's no cure for diabetes, but we can make changes in our personal lives
to make us less vulnerable. Chamath Palihapitiya stated “We need to go after
cancer, diabetes, climate change, the substantive problems of the world that, if
were solved, would create immense wealth and opportunity that would
cascade across countries“.....stay safe my friends and monitor your health
conditions....
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..lol…
