Brian Jackson urges family testing and awareness

Friday, March 16, 2012

Brian Jackson, 49, of Baltimore, MD, spent 20 years loving his work as a forklift operator – but he can’t do that job anymore, or play sports and was even recently told by a doctor he may someday need a lung transplant. Jackson is...

Canadian Alphas: the challenges are greater

Friday, March 16, 2012

In 2001, a small group of Canadian Alphas, carriers and caregivers decided that something needed to be done about the lack of information and support for Alphas in Canada. The most obvious difficulty facing them: a tiny Alpha-1 population in a...

Alpha-1 Caregiver steps up to lead support group

Friday, March 16, 2012

Barb Speers, the wife of a lung-affected Alpha, knows firsthand the stressful role of an Alpha-1 caregiver after her husband, Ed Speers, was diagnosed with Alpha-1 in 1997 and put on oxygen full time. When an online email list for Alpha-1...

Curtis Hamilton’s granddaughter gives him a reason to live

Friday, March 16, 2012

It was 11 o’clock on the night of Curtis Hamilton’s 57th birthday when he heard a knock on the door of his home in Richland, Mississippi. His son Curtis Jr. and daughter-in-law Wendy were there. They told him, oddly enough, they had...

The Family that Tests Together

Friday, March 16, 2012

How much do you know? How much do you want to know? Once you know more, what will you do? When a family member is diagnosed with a genetic condition like Alpha-1, these are some of the questions that arise about family testing. For Scott...

The Human Touch

Friday, March 16, 2012

Whenever Cathey Horsak feels down and discouraged, she rereads some words that she clipped from a magazine long ago. When she finds Alphas or their family members who feel the same way, she shares the clipping with them. The words come from the...

Alpha learns his lesson — and now teaches it to others

Friday, March 16, 2012

Dan Martini learned a lot from pulmonary rehab classes—so that helped him decide to become a Respiratory Therapist Dan Martini thought he knew exactly why he was short of breath: “I was overweight, lazy and smoked two packs of...

Lost and Found

Friday, March 16, 2012

In 1994, Dennis Pollock was not looking forward to attending his first Alpha-1 support group meeting – he was 34 years old, and it had been less than a year since he had been diagnosed with Alpha-1. His pulmonologist had told him that...

Metamorphosis of an Alpha-1 Patient

Friday, March 16, 2012

Reflecting on my confirmed diagnosis of having inherited Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency ZZ and thinking about where I am today closely parallel the metamorphosis of a butterfly. Encouraged by my younger brother and his wife, a nurse I...

Walking sticks are “functional art” — and a contribution to research

Friday, March 16, 2012

Marvin Sineath and Dick Chappell have never met, or even spoken on the phone, but they’re teaming up to raise money for Alpha-1 research, and they’re doing it from two different states. Chappell started making walking sticks for...

One Transplant, Two Cures

Friday, March 16, 2012

Michael Locke could easily run up the steps of his summer cottage in the popular Canadian vacation area of Muskoka, Ontario. Why not? He was a lean, healthy man in his 50s, never smoked, and he’d run up those steps for years without a...

The Fire Inside

Friday, March 16, 2012

When Alpha and former firefighter Ed Brailey calls himself a “steak-and-eggs guy,” he’s not just talking about breakfast. He means that he still likes hanging out at the firehouse every now and then, sharing some eats, and...