Metro Detroit mother says March of Dimes was "a lifeline" after son's birth
Kimara Mayberry was pregnant with her third child when she realized something was wrong when she began bleeding in her second trimester.
After undergoing testing, she was diagnosed with a high-risk condition called placenta previa.
"That's when I ended up being in the hospital for about two months, being on strict bed rest before I did end up delivering Nico via emergency C-section," said Mayberry. "And that's the first time I encountered March of Dimes."
Nico was born at 27 weeks.
She said she will never forget the day she met a volunteer named Marion.
"I was hysterically crying," she said. "The whole neonatologist team had just come in and started telling me, 'These are the things that probably are going to be wrong with your child' – if he were to survive. We didn't even know at that point. It was minute by minute. And she came in and she took my hand, and she says, 'I want to pray with you if you're okay with that.'"
With no family in state, Mayberry was alone in the NICU day and night by her son's side.
Marion came to visit her at the same time every day and acted as a liaison between her and Nico's medical team.
"She was just a lifeline for me," said Mayberry.
Fast forward three decades, and she said today, Nico is thriving.
"He has graduated from college, he has his bachelor's degree, his master's degree, he's engaged to be married," she said. "He is just a wonderful young man, and I could not be more proud of him."
She said her experience with March of Dimes inspired her to become a lifelong advocate.
"I have been fundraising for them for many, many years," she said. "I've always supported and volunteered. And I have been able to now be on the leadership team for the Board for Southeast Michigan to be able to help push those initiatives forward in our area, and to be a point of contact. I have been the mom who has used those resources."
She said she remembers how terrified she was to face the situation she was in by herself, with no resources, and it's become her mission to pay it forward.
"We've been around for 87 years," she said. "There are a lot of nonprofits that folded way before then. And so, just being able to sustain during crisis, during the pandemic – we're still here, and we're still thriving, and we're still able to impact moms and babies. And that's the most important thing."
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CNN
29 minutes ago
- CNN
Kennedy's HHS sent Congress ‘junk science' to defend vaccine changes, experts say
Vaccines Federal agencies Congressional news Respiratory virusesFacebookTweetLink Follow A document the Department of Health and Human Services sent to lawmakers to support Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s decision to change U.S. policy on covid vaccines cites scientific studies that are unpublished or under dispute and mischaracterizes others. One health expert called the document 'willful medical disinformation' about the safety of covid vaccines for children and pregnant women. 'It is so far out of left field that I find it insulting to our members of Congress that they would actually give them something like this. Congress members are relying on these agencies to provide them with valid information, and it's just not there,' said Mark Turrentine, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine. Kennedy, who was an anti-vaccine activist before taking a role in the Trump administration, announced May 27 that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would no longer recommend covid vaccines for pregnant women or healthy children, bypassing the agency's formal process for adjusting its vaccine schedules for adults and kids. The announcement, made on the social platform X, has been met with outrage by many pediatricians and scientists. The HHS document meant to support Kennedy's decision, obtained by KFF Health News, was sent to members of Congress who questioned the science and process behind his move, according to one federal official who asked not to be identified because he wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The document has not been posted on the HHS website, though it is the first detailed explanation of Kennedy's announcement from the agency. Titled 'Covid Recommendation FAQ,' the document distorts some legitimate studies and cites others that are disputed and unpublished, medical experts say. HHS director of communications Andrew Nixon told KFF Health News, 'There is no distortion of the studies in this document. The underlying data speaks for itself, and it raises legitimate safety concerns. HHS will not ignore that evidence or downplay it. We will follow the data and the science.' HHS did not respond to a request to name the author of the document. One of the studies the HHS document cites is under investigation by its publisher regarding 'potential issues with the research methodology and conclusions and author conflicts of interest,' according to a link on the study's webpage. 'This is RFK Jr.'s playbook,' said Sean O'Leary, chair of the Committee on Infectious Diseases for the American Academy of Pediatrics and an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. 'Either cherry-pick from good science or take junk science to support his premise — this has been his playbook for 20 years.' Another study cited in the document is a preprint that has not been peer-reviewed. Under the study's title is an alert that 'it reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice.' Though the preprint was made available a year ago, it has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal. The FAQ supporting Kennedy's decision claims that 'post-marketing studies' of covid vaccines have identified 'serious adverse effects, such as an increased risk of myocarditis and pericarditis' — conditions in which the heart's muscle or its covering, the pericardium, suffer inflammation. False claims that the 2024 preprint showed myocarditis and pericarditis only in people who received a covid vaccine, and not in people infected with covid, circulated on social media. One of the study's co-authors publicly rejected that idea, because the study did not compare outcomes between people who were vaccinated and those infected with the covid virus. The study also focused only on children and adolescents. The HHS document omitted numerous other peer-reviewed studies that have shown that the risk of myocarditis and pericarditis is greater after contracting covid for both vaccinated and non-vaccinated people than the risk of the same complications after vaccination alone. O'Leary said that while some cases of myocarditis were reported in vaccinated adolescent boys and young men early in the covid pandemic, the rates declined after the two initial doses of covid vaccines were spaced further apart. Now, adolescents and adults who have not been previously vaccinated receive only one shot, and myocarditis no longer shows up in the data, O'Leary said, referring to the CDC's Vaccine Safety Datalink. 'There is no increased risk at this point that we can identify,' he said. In two instances, the HHS memo makes claims that are actively refuted by the papers it cites to back them up. Both papers support the safety and effectiveness of covid vaccines for pregnant women. The HHS document says that another paper it cites found 'an increase in placental blood clotting in pregnant mothers who took the vaccine.' But the paper doesn't contain any reference to placental blood clots or to pregnant women. 'I've now read it three times. And I cannot find that anywhere,' said Turrentine, the OB-GYN professor. If he were grading the HHS document, 'I would give this an 'F,'' Turrentine said. 'This is not supported by anything and it's not using medical evidence.' While members of Congress who are physicians should know to check references in the paper, they may not take the time to do so, said Neil Silverman, a professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology who directs the Infectious Diseases in Pregnancy Program at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. 'They're going to assume this is coming from a scientific agency. So they are being hoodwinked along with everyone else who has had access to this document,' Silverman said. The offices of three Republicans in Congress who are medical doctors serving on House and Senate committees focused on health, including Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), did not respond to requests for comment about whether they received the memo. Emily Druckman, communications director for Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.), a physician serving on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, confirmed that Schrier's office did receive a copy of the document. 'The problem is a lot of legislators and even their staffers, they don't have the expertise to be able to pick those references apart,' O'Leary said. 'But this one — I've seen much better anti-vaccine propaganda than this, frankly.' C.J. Young, deputy communications director for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, confirmed that Democratic staff members of the committee received the document from HHS. In the past, he said, similar documents would help clarify the justification and scope of an administration's policy change and could be assumed to be scientifically accurate, Young said. 'This feels like it's breaking new ground. I don't think that we saw this level of sloppiness or inattention to detail or lack of consideration for scientific merit under the first Trump administration,' Young said. On June 4, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Schrier introduced a bill that would require Kennedy to adopt official vaccine decisions from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP. Young said the motivation behind the bill was Kennedy's decision to change the covid vaccine schedule without the input of ACIP's vaccine experts, who play a key role in setting CDC policies around vaccine schedules and access. Kennedy announced June 9 on X that he would remove all 17 members of ACIP, citing alleged conflicts of interest he did not detail, and replace them. He announced eight replacements June 11, including people who had criticized vaccine mandates during the covid pandemic. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.
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39 minutes ago
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Colon Cancer Cases Are Rising. Here's How To Get Screened.
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Colon cancer screening is not a one time event. It needs to be repeated to monitor for interval change in the colon. However, the frequency of screening is variable. 'If someone has many precancerous polyps, even one large polyp (over 1 cm—about the size of a pea), or polyps with certain microscopic features, they are recommended to come in sooner for their next colonoscopy than someone at average risk or with no prior polyps,' says Balzora. Regular screening for colon cancer is a powerful tool in reducing the incidence and mortality associated with the disease. While the gold standard test is a colonoscopy, the right test for you depends on your risk level, personal preferences, and access to testing. Speak with your healthcare provider to determine the most appropriate option and timing. The most important point is to not delay screening.
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
Investigation finds medications were contributing factor in medical flight crash
CHELSEA, Ala. — Federal investigators found that a pilot's medication use may have been a contributing factor in a 2023 medical helicopter crash that killed two in Alabama . The National Transportation Safety Board released the final report this month on the April 2, 2023, accident. The Airbus EC130 medical helicopter crashed near the community of Chelsea in Shelby County with the three crew aboard. The pilot and a nurse on the flight were killed.
