Latest news with #JohnGreen
New York Times
21-07-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Sanitariums and Stigma: When TB Was Common in the U.S.
Recently, the writer John Green spoke with The New York Times about his best-selling book 'Everything Is Tuberculosis' and the reason he developed an obsessive interest in the disease, which kills more people worldwide than any other infectious illness does. Tuberculosis has been rare in the United States for decades, but the conversation inspired many readers to write in to share their own families' history with the disease. Here are excerpts from several. My mother, Babe, had TB in the early 1930s and was put in the Grasslands sanitarium in Valhalla, N.Y. She survived because her doctor gave her pneumothorax treatment, collapsing one lung at a time, to let the lung rest and repair. She said it was very painful. I was told the story over and over. She was so afraid I would get TB. One reason she lived is because she had met my father, Grant, on a trip to California and fallen in love. He wrote to her everyday and even said he would go east, climb the walls of the sanitarium and take her to the clean air of the mountains in California so she could get well. Grant was a writer and a stuntman in Hollywood. He had been Errol Flynn's double in 'Robin Hood.' So he really meant it when he said he'd climb the walls to get her out. He didn't do that. But when Babe recovered, she took a train to California and married my father. Babe's doctor was Dr. William Godfrey Childress, whom I have since found out was one of the well-known TB experts in those days. I met him when she went in for a checkup many years later. (I was born when Babe was 44!) — Wyn Lydecker My grandfather, who immigrated from Ukraine, died at 38 from spinal TB. He left a wife and four children, and one of them, my uncle Walter, had spinal TB that left him about 5 feet tall with a hump. My father was drafted into World War II and came back to the United States and got TB. His brother Walter paid for him to be in a sanitarium called Gaylord in Connecticut. He met my mother there and she had TB, and after two years in the san, as it was called, antibiotics were invented. My mother could take them, but my father couldn't and had to have pneumothorax for many years. It was awful, and I am terrified about the resurgence of antibiotic-resistant TB. — Jody Jarowey I'm a retired M.D.-Ph.D. and I trained at Washington University in St. Louis from 1974 to 1981. In 1980, I took the admission history for a child being admitted for a lymph node biopsy. I'm sure everyone expected cancer. As a medical student, I did a very thorough history, asking about medications (none), whether the girl was up to date on her immunizations, and whether she'd had a TB test. Her mother said 'yes.' For some reason I asked whether the TB test was positive or negative, and she then told me 'positive' and 'Oh, yes, she's on a drug for that.' But the girl was growing, the dose hadn't been changed, and the child's uncle was on two drugs for drug-resistant TB. The multiple nodes in her neck? I can't say for sure, but the surgeons canceled the surgery when they learned of the TB. We had been doing the admission interview in the children's playroom on the pediatric ward. During my training I knew a fellow resident who was diagnosed with a pleural effusion. Surprise — the effusion was from TB! As a college student I worked in the genetics building on the University of Wisconsin campus. One day everyone was told we were going to get skin tests for TB, as someone working in the building had active TB. We don't think about TB much in the United States, but it's still here, and still killing people. The ignorance and the cruelty in our neglect of public health is shocking to me. Now we have left the W.H.O. and shut down U.S.A.I.D. It's hard to believe we are the same people who wiped out smallpox. — Laura J. Brown When I was 14, a small spot was found in my right lung, and I was treated for TB in a sanitarium in Ottawa, Ill. By state law, I had to be there for six months. The horror of this was that I was never actively contagious. I never coughed once, and no bacillus was ever found in my sputum or in the gastric lavages I underwent when they couldn't find TB in the sputum. The rules of the sanitarium were based on protocols developed at the end of the 19th century, long before the modern drugs I was treated with were discovered. — Sandy Robertson
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Popular 2000s country artist loses younger brother in Texas floods
Pat Green, a country artist who racked up multiple hits during the 2000s, has lost several family members in the deadly Texas floods. Green's young brother John, his wife, Julia, and two of their children were swept away by the flood in Kerrville, KCEN-TV reported. 'Over the weekend, during the devastating flooding that hit Central Texas, my family — like so many others — suffered a heartbreaking and deeply personal loss," Green wrote in an Instagram post on Monday, July 7. 'We are grieving alongside countless Texans whose lives have been upended by this tragedy. Right now, we kindly ask for privacy and space as we mourn, support each other, and begin to process what comes next for our family,' Green wrote. 'Thank you for love, prayers and compassion.' The singer's wife, Kori, confirmed the family members' deaths in a separate Instagram post. 'We are heartbroken and anxiously waiting for all of them to be found,' she wrote. 'Thank you for your prayers.' Green's brother and his wife were staying in an RV with two of their sons before the flooding, KCEN-TV reported. Loved ones told the outlet that John was later found dead. Julia was also said to be recovered on Monday. KCEN-TV said the search for the boys was still underway. 'Praying for peace and comfort for y'all during this absolutely devastating tragedy,' a comment on Green's Instagram post reads. 'Anything at all that you need brother,' another comment read. 'We are here for you and your family.' At least 120 people have died in the floods since the July 4 disaster, the Associated Press reported. Authorities are also still searching for more than 170 people who are missing. The raging flash floods are among the nation's worst in decades. Country singer 'in a bit of shock' after losing 2 family members on same day Country icon, 86, suffers heart attack after coming out of retirement Son of country music legend who suffered stroke on stage updates fans '90s country star says what she had to 'let go of' after coming out as gay Support surges for country music legend who suffered stroke on stage Read the original article on MassLive.
The Independent
09-07-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
Country singer Pat Green confirms ‘multiple family members' died in Texas flooding
A country singer has revealed that several of his close family members, including his brother, were swept away in the deadly Texas floods, which have killed over 100 people. 'Over the weekend, during the devastating flooding that hit Central Texas, my family – like so many others – suffered a heartbreaking and deeply personal loss,' Pat Green wrote in a statement posted on his Instagram account. 'We are grieving alongside countless Texans whose lives have been upended by this tragedy,' said the musician. Flash flooding has ripped across central Texas since early Friday, claiming lives, destroying homes, and prompting a huge rescue response. Green's wife, Kori Green, revealed in a social media post Tuesday that her husband's 'little brother John, his wife, Julia, and two of their children were swept away in the Kerrville flood.' Green, who is from San Antonio, is a popular musician in Texas, regularly filling out concert venues across the state. He was next scheduled to perform in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on Friday. Green asked his fans to respect his privacy during this difficult time. In Kerr County alone, the bodies of 94 victims, roughly a third of whom are children, have been recovered as of Tuesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said. At least 161 people are known to still be missing in the locality, approximately 65 miles northwest of San Antonio. Among those killed were 27 young girls and staff members at Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp situated on the bank of the Guadalupe River, which burst its banks and swelled over 20 feet in under 90 minutes. Five campers and one counselor are still missing. Texas natives Matthew McConaughey and Hilary Duff were leading celebrity tributes to those who have died in the disaster. 'There could be more added to that list,' Texas Governor Greg Abbott said. On Wednesday, the National Weather Service warned that 'severe weather and flooding rainfall' would continue into the week. 'Late-day strong to severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall are expected to impact the northern and central Plains,' the NWS said. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who frantically returned from a vacation in Greece upon hearing of the floods, told residents Tuesday, 'We will come through this. To those in the midst of grief right now, this might seem hard to fathom. But Texas will come through this.'
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Country star Pat Green reveals four family members died in Texas floods
As the recovery effort continues following devastating and fatal flooding in Texas, a country music star is sharing his personal loss. Pat Green, whose music often invokes the name of the Lone Star State, lost his brother, sister-in-law and two nieces in the floods. "Over the weekend, during the devastating flooding that hit Central Texas, my family — like so many others — suffered a heartbreaking and deeply personal loss," Green wrote in an Instagram post July 8. "We are grieving alongside countless Texans whose lives have been upended by this tragedy." The floods, spurred by a rapid rise in water levels in Central Texas' Guadalupe River, represent the worst disaster of this kind in years. On Tuesday, June 8, the death count rose to over 100 as rescue workers soldiered into a fifth day. Texas rescuers soldier on for fifth day; flooding death toll at 109: Live updates "We are so thankful for the outpouring of love and concern. Pat's little brother John, his wife, Julia, and two of their children were swept away in the Kerrville flood," Green's wife, Kori, wrote in a separate Instagram post. "We are heartbroken and anxiously waiting for all of them to be found. Thank you for your prayers." The flooding came in the early morning hours of July 4, with rainfall causing the river to surge over 26 feet in less than an hour, according to Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. As first responders and volunteers continued to scour the region for any sign of life, rescuing people clinging to trees using helicopters, the death toll has steadily risen. Kerr County, where Green's family members were swept away, has notched the highest death count, with 87 people lost from a community with just 25,000 residents. "Right now, we kindly ask for privacy and space as we mourn, support each other and begin to process what comes next for our family," Green wrote. "Thank you for your love, prayers and compassion." The floods, which have devastated the region, swept up nearly 30 campers and staff of a beloved Christian girls' camp in the area. Green's family is just one of countless who have lost friends and kin, and await anxiously as workers search for their loved ones. Contributing: Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pat Green says Texas floods claimed 4 family members
USA Today
08-07-2025
- Health
- USA Today
11,000 more TB patients died after Trump's USAID cuts. That number will rise.
More than 11,000 additional TB patients are estimated to have died after USAID funding freeze. If this continues, thousands more will likely die or lose a loved one, all from one shortsighted action. I am a high school student and tuberculosis advocate. Because of that, the defunding of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and recent attempts to codify those cuts into law have been incredibly disheartening. After learning about the injustices that surround global tuberculosis testing and treatment from author and advocate John Green – whom I met and whose book I read – I became involved with TBFighters, an advocacy group working to eliminate the structural causes of tuberculosis. As a coder, I initially worked mostly on the TBFighters website. Over time, I became more active in the advocacy work. When I first joined the effort, I could never have imagined anyone dismantling the single biggest funder for anti-tuberculosis efforts, USAID, making much of our hard work obsolete. But that is exactly what happened, just days after Trump's inauguration when over $300 million was slashed in TB fighting efforts. More than 11,000 have died of TB after Trump's USAID funding freeze That funding was lost as part of the $2.5 billion in cuts to USAID health programs that fight diseases such as TB and malaria, provide nutrition to children and pay for other health-related programs. This single action alone could cause more than 300,000 people to go without TB treatment and let loose an estimated 28-32% surge in the disease worldwide. Already, more than 11,000 additional TB patients are estimated to have died in the first two months after the January USAID funding freeze. If this continues, thousands more people will likely die, thousands will be hospitalized and thousands will lose a loved one – all from one shortsighted action. Opinion: I was fired from USAID. Here's what my work really did. These cuts came with no warning, causing people's treatment to be abruptly stopped and increasing the likelihood of their infection becoming drug resistant. The impact is immediate: For some, it will make their tuberculosis harder and more expensive to treat. Major tuberculosis outbreak likely to spread to US Tuberculosis treatment isn't a walk in the park, either. It can last three to nine months with daily pills and injections, all while the patient has myriad symptoms, such as a wasting body, chest pain, fever, night sweats and coughing (sometimes with blood). With drug-resistant tuberculosis, that already arduous treatment can be extended by months or even years. Even after treatment is done, TB leaves a mark on you, causing long-term effects such as hearing loss. Along with costing lives, these cuts will extend the suffering of thousands. What is tuberculosis? Tuberculosis is one of the deadliest infectious diseases in human history. Here's why. And the impacts won't be isolated to other parts of the world. If tuberculosis increases in other countries, we will likely also see a rise in TB in the United States. That is because the disease knows no borders. It spreads through the air, meaning anyone can get it through a simple breath. Marginalized communities – where there is less access to health care and living conditions can put people in tight quarters – will likely be the first to see more cases. But it won't stop there. TB doesn't pick and choose whom it infects, so while some people may be more likely to get it due to their living conditions, TB anywhere is a threat to people everywhere. All of this can be prevented. The potential for thousands of new deaths from TB is not worth the less than 1% in federal savings that came from cutting USAID. What kind of country do we want to be? One that disregards the health of people both inside and outside our borders, just for a little bit of savings? Quinn Yates is a senior at Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, Illinois, and a member of TBFighters, a collective of global health volunteers.
