Gabriel's Life

“In the early morning of May 11, Zina and Oleg Savca boarded a flight out of Moldova’s capital, Chisinau. They stopped in Germany, New York and Salt Lake City, battling the language barrier by showing their tickets to strangers, who pointed them to the correct gate.” In a recent article from the Sacramento Bee, writer Matt Kawahara chronicles the 6,000-mile-plus trip one 11-year-old boy and his mother took simply for the chance at a normal, livable life. Since a much-needed”

“I don’t want to see special needs kids falling through the cracks. They don’t belong in the justice of the peace courts.” So said Stephen Walker, Justice of the Peace in San Antonio, Tex. Referring to an unusual case in which a school district is taking the family of a pediatric hydrocephalus patient to court for missing too many days of school, Justice Walker said school officials are out of line and not “doing what is right for the child.””

As much of the world focuses on Africa for the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament, the small country of Uganda is also grabbing headlines as it ramps up efforts to encourage food enrichment in order to fight some causes of hydrocephalus. A story on AllAfrica.com Thursday reports the possibility that Uganda’s National Bureau of Standards might mandate fortifying the country’s food supply with folic acid. (Gabriel’s Life has published posts on the potential rewards from and various national laws of”

As Portland, Ore. gears up for its first annual walk for hydrocephalus, one four-year-old survivor of the condition spreads the inspiration necessary to keep his family and neighbors hopeful for better awareness one day. The Gresham Outlook recently featured young Grant Miller in a story, highlighting his precocious nature and his family, who organized the area’s first charitable walk. “In a show of solidarity with Grant and the 1 million Americans with the condition, the family is organizing the Portland”

“Sure I want to go outside.” In his novel, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” Native American poet Sherman Alexie begins his experience by detailing the limits of childhood as determined by hydrocephalus, and what he did to overcome them. “Every kid wants to go outside. But it’s safer to stay at home. So I mostly hang out alone in my bedroom and read books and draw cartoons. “I draw all the time…I draw because words are too”

Riding on the swell of support and success of last year’s event, the Team Hydro group is preparing itself for another swim across the freezing San Francisco Bay in order to raise awareness of the challenges faced by patients and families with hydrocephalus. Dubbed “Shark Fest 2010″ promises to be the most exciting event yet for the ever-growing charitable group. Started by brothers Peter and Sam Finlayson, the swim enters its third year with hopes to raise even more money”

Early recognition of shunt failure, more accurate diagnoses in such failures and a lowering of costly medical treatments are all anticipated with the release of a new wireless device by Integrated Sensing Systems Inc. A medical company that attempts to forward the “tremendous potential of microsystems in life and applied sciences,” Integrated Sensing Systems announced the introduction of its wireless pressure technology. The device, according to the Michigan-based company, should better assist at-home monitoring and professional management of conditions like”

Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corporation announced this week the introduction of two new self-regulating valve systems for the management of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow in patients with hydrocephalus. Adding to its already large list of hydrocephalus care devices, the medical technology company was excited to launch the OSV II Lumbar and OSV II Low Flow Lumbar Valve systems. “We’re very pleased that we can offer surgeons and patients an alternative treatment option for hydrocephalus,” said Vice President of Marketing John Barrett.”

Gabriel’s Life’s sister organization, the San Francisco-based Hydrocephalus Association, has announced its first round of research grant winners from a total of five different medical centers. In a press release, the Hydrocephalus Association said each of the two-year, $110,000 grant would accelerate the five institutions toward tackling an overbearing shortfall in the progress of hydrocephalus treatment. “We were very impressed with the quality of applicants and institutions in our first grant cycle,” said David Browdy, Associate Dean of the Feinberg”

Adapting everyday activities and aspirations can pose challenges to parents of rambunctious children with hydrocephalus. But, as reported in the Columbian Missourian, sports is an activity that every child should and can be able to enjoy, regardless of medical conditions. (Photo found on the Columbia Missourian Web site, along with a slideshow and full story, here.) The story features the upbeat and successful Shawna Fitzpatrick, who has lived with hydrocephalus and played sports with the condition for a while. For”