What do I want for Christmas today?
I thank the Lord everyday for His blessings; spiritual, physical and material; and what I want today and from this day forward is the heart and mind of wisdom from Him to enjoy what He has blessed me with for good, right, relationship, fellowship, and benefit to others, and to bless the name of the LORD.
Back in February of 2008 I wrote a piece informing the readers of Fire and Hammer of my wife’s diagnosis of an aneurysm of the aorta of her heart. Well in the past few months we have learned after her last CT scan that it has grown to the point of needing surgery.
The surgery will be “open heart”, and if that alone is not complicated enough her aorta is behind her thorax (windpipe) area. According to the surgeon it is normally in the front. He has told us that he will remove the aneurysm by cutting it away, and bringing it around the way it is supposed to be to her left arm.
Now understand; I am no physician, nor do I understand this whole process, but it is as accurate as I can tell you.
Her surgery is scheduled for the 21st of September.
My wife, Madge and I, have been married now for 37 years and a couple of months. Thank you all for your prayers.
Tim A. Blankenship
UPDATE FEBRURAY 18, 2012
I apologize to many who were concerned and praying for us in this matter for not letting you know sooner. The surgery on September 21 of 2010 went well. It has now been over a year, and now 1.5 years since the surgery and Madge [my wife] is doing well.
We do thank you for your prayers and concern.
It is my opinion that the value of human life is on a low scale among humans. It comes across at times that the lives of animals – dogs, cats, horses, etc. – are of more value than the human being who may not be able to “contribute much to society…” If they are going to be born with a medical problem many parents are now given the suggestion “Abort this baby. He/she is not going to be able to contribute much to society” or something similar to that.
The following is a quote from the mother of a child with Down syndrome:
“I’d much prefer society eradicate prejudice than eradicate all babies with Down syndrome. I could go into all the ways our son has made our lives better — and certainly our hearts bigger. Our lives would not be better if, as we were advised even before we declined the recommended test, we never had him. But society won’t listen.”
The quote if from an article in Baptist Press by Andrea Higgins, titled, “Don’t Use The ‘R’ Word”. If you would like to read the article you may by going to Baptist Press. I think you will enjoy the article.
Another thing, back off of Sarah Palin. She is a responsible mother, and the fact that her oldest daughter is having a child shows that our youth today have a problem. No one’s young people are exempt, not even a Presidential or Vice Predential candidate.
The daughter has determined to keep the child, and raise him/her, with a husband and the father, themselves. Applaud her, but don’t condemn her or her mother. You better look at your own life before you condemn.
-Tim A. Blankenship
Here is an interesting article from FAITH AND FAMILY VALUES:
LIFE DIGEST: Researchers moving to reprogrammed cells from embryonic ones
– Aug 19, 2008
Prominent scientists previously committed to stem cell research that destroys human embryos apparently are shifting their allegiance to reprogrammed stem cells that do no harm.
Harvard Stem Cell Institute’s George Daley, a former president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, is talking up reprogrammed, or induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs), the online newsletter BioEdge reported Aug. 14. Only three years ago, Daley testified before a U.S. Senate committee that reprogramming was “extremely high-risk” and cloning for destructive embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) was preferred, according to BioEdge.
Daley and fellow researchers have used reprogrammed stem cells to produce cell lines for 10 diseases, including muscular dystrophy, juvenile diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and Down syndrome, according to a report in the journal Cell, Bio Edge reported.
“We wanted to produce a large number of disease models for ourselves, our collaborators and the stem cell research community to accelerate research,” Daley said. “The original embryonic stem cell lines are generic, and allow you to ask only basic questions. But these new lines are valuable tools for attacking the root causes of disease. Our work is just the beginning for studying thousands of diseases in a Petri dish.”
As a result, Daley and other scientists have progressed further using reprogrammed cells “in six months than he had in years toiling over embryonic stem cells,” BioEdge observed.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) appears to be moving toward IPS cell research as well, according to BioEdge. In an Aug. 13 news release, CIRM described itself as “the largest source of funding for embryonic and pluripotent stem cell research in the world” after long calling itself a funding source only for ESCR, according to the newsletter.
“It appears that the CIRM’s love affair with slow, inefficient, expensive, ethically fraught and legally complex human embryonic stem cells may be drawing to a close,” BioEdge commented.
Bioethics specialist Wesley Smith wrote of the developments on his weblog, “It may not yet be a full fledged exodus, but it would appear that the tide has changed dramatically.
“If this continues, and it becomes clear that the tide is irreversibly flowing toward IPSCs, the political ability to create an international ban on human cloning with the catcalls of CURES! CURES! CURES! to distract leaders from doing the right thing will increase. We may actually be able to throttle human cloning before it gets too far out of the test tube.”
Reprogrammed cells, or IPSCs, gained worldwide attention in November when research teams in Japan and Wisconsin reported they converted normal human skin cells into stem cells that were, in effect, embryonic in nature.
Embryonic stem cells are considered “pluripotent,” meaning they can develop into all of the different cell types in the body. Adult stem cells, also referred to as non-embryonic stem cells, typically have been regarded as “multipotent,” meaning they can form many, though not all, of the body’s cell types. The 2007 study results showed adult cells can become “pluripotent.”
The stunning reports were issued only days after cloning pioneer Ian Wilmut startled the scientific world by announcing he had abandoned research, or therapeutic, cloning in favor of the reprogramming method.
Stem cells are the body’s master cells that can develop into other cells and tissues, giving hope for the development of cures for a variety of diseases and other ailments.
BioEdge says its seeks to promote ethics and compassion in medicine.
You can find this article and more at this link.
-Tim A. Blankenship
The Fire and Hammer 