University Dally Kansan, April 26, 1983
Page 9
Topeka family fights to keep baby alive
By MICHAEL BECK Staff Reporter
The Turner family lives in a financial and emotional maquire.
Every day their hospital bills mount, pushing the young couple further into debt.
Every day a rare disease saps the strength and life from their 7-month-old baby girl, pushing the Turners' patience to the limit.
For four months, Robert and Tammy Turner of Topeka have lived with the threat of thousands of dollars worth of hospital bills and the fear that Jamie, their baby girl, may die from a rare disease that causes bones to harden and enlarge.
In December, Gertrude Turner, Robert's mother, thought that something might be wrong with Jamie when she noticed that the child's head had become misshapen and abnormally large.
THE TURNERS FIRST took the child to Stormfort-Vail Hospital in Topeka. Doctors could not define the problem. A neurologist was then called to the hospital from the Menninger Clinic in Topeka.
The neurologist thought that the child's brain was growing. But he referred the Turners to the University Medical Center to get another opinion.
A radiologist at the Med Center determined that the child had osteo-
petrosis, sometimes called Albers-
Schoenberg, or marble bone disease,
because bones become thick and
brittle.
Because of an inability to effectively treat the disease, the Med Center referred the Turners to the Mayo Clinic in Arizona where doctors performed further tests.
Doctors at the Mayo Clinic confirmed the Med. Center's diagnosis and referred the Turners to the University of Minnesota Medical Center, one of two places in the United States where the disease can be treated.
TAMMY TURNER SAID. "We've been to six different doctors, and all of them had something different to say."
But doctors at the University of Minnesota finally gave the Turners some hope. With proper treatment, he could live. He had a chance to live a normal life.
but to get that chance, Jamie would need a bone marrow transplant from a compatible donor.
Tribhawan Vats, professor of pediatrics at the Med Center, said that bone marrow transplants were not a solution to the problem of the deteriorated cells inside the bone.
He said some researchers thought that the thyroid gland could have something to do with the disease because part of the thyroid gland controls calcium, and calcium might something to do with osteopetrosis.
LITTLE IS KNOWN about the
disease, he said, though some research has been done. Victims of the disease usually die in 10 to 20 years.
usually the 18th to 20th. Considering the alternatives, the Turners decided to try the bone marrow transplant. Robert volunteered to give some of his marrow to his daughter.
Part of the problem with the bone marrow transplants is the chemotherapy treatments that kill the remaining bone marrow so the two types will not mix and complicate the problem more. The radiation in the treatment causes the hair to fall out and creates sores in the mouth.
In the time that the Turners sought a solution to their daughter's illness, Jamie's skull had grown into her optic nerve, robbing her of her sight.
Tuesday, Jamie underwent surgery in Minnesota to relieve the pressure. She regained her sight Sunday.
AFTER THE 10-HOUR surgery, doctors put Jamie into intensive care. Her spleen was enlarging, and she was having trouble breathing. Doctors were not sure what happened.
In addition to the physical problems, the Turners also had to worry about how to pay for Jamie's treatment.
The cost of surgery was $50,000.
Intensive care rooms cost $1,000 a day. And the initial bone marrow transplant could cost from $150,000 to 200,000.
When the Turners admitted Jamie to the hospital, they had a $100,000 insurance policy.
Robert Turner Jr., Robert's father, said the insurance policy was mandatory because of hospital rules.
"If you don't have the money." Turner said, "they'll show you the door."
A FEW PEOPLE have offered to help with fund raisers, she said. One woman in Topeka will have a benefit fashion show, but the money would not be nearly enough.
Tammy Turner said she had approached several medical aid organizations, such as the March of Dimes, but was turned down because the bone marrow transplant was deemed experimental.
Turner said that he had left several coffee cans at different stores around Topeka and that a band was to hold a fund-raising dance.
"After you put up with all the problems that we have lately," she said, "you sort of learn to take it as it comes. There is hope."
despite the problems of finding and paying for a treatment for Jamie, Tammy said the problems were not insurmountable.
So Tammy works at the First National Bank of Topeka, trying to earn enough money to make house payments. Robert stays in Minnesota, sleeping at the Ronald McDonald House and waiting for the bone marrow transplant. And Jamie is in intensive care, hooked to a respirator.
Mafia leader loses bid to be free during appeal
By United Press International
NEW ORLEANS — Mafia boss Carlos Marcelo and a powerful former state official yesterday lost their bid to the nation's highest court to remain free during appeals of their federal racketeering convictions.
The Supreme Court without comment refused to postpone prison terms for Marcelo and Charles Roesch, who were charged with administration, until their appeals were exhausted.
Marcelle began serving his seventy- year prison sentence April 15, while Roemer was given until May 16 to report for his three-year term. Prosecutors jailed Marcellé early, fearing he would attempt to flee the country.
In addition to the Briail conviction, Marcello was convicted in 1981 in California of conspiring to pay off a federal judge. In the Briail case,
Marcello and Roemer were convicted of plotting to trade bribes for state insurance contracts.
MARCELLO HAIS H1 first public admission of Mafia ties on secretly recorded tapes that helped prosecutors convicted him in the Bilab and California cases. He referred to an associate as "Maf. just like me."
The ailing Marcelo, 73, has been guarded around the clock by federal marshals in a New Orleans jail since his arrest. Federal officials said the Mafia boss has been threatened, but they refused to elaborate.
Although Marcelo initially was ordered to serve his sentence at a Missouri prison hospital, his attorneys have managed to keep him in the Community Correctional Center in New Orleans.
A federal judge last week recommended that the Justice Department approve that arrangement.
New television ratings plan assesses quality of viewing
By United Press International
CAMBRIGE, Mass. — A survey company has developed a novel idea for rating television: quality of audience, not quantity. It says the system may change the way firms invest their advertising dollars.
The new method, developed by Television Audience Assessment Inc., stresses the quality of viewer attention. It indicates a show that attracts a large audience is not a good medium for advertising.
I think this new system will make it possible," she said.
Elizabeth Roberts, company president and a member of the Harvard University faculty, yesterday said the new rating service would give networks an opportunity to produce some shows that were not based on appeal to a large group of people.
RESULTS OF A prototype survey being released indicated that the emotion and intellectual intelligence of such programs varies dramatically.
More than half of those participating in the rating survey left the room at least once during a show. Half of those watching were simultaneously talking with friends, students, or chores, doing schoolwork or reading.
"Frequently television serves as little more than a talking lamp, carrying a monologue in one corner of the living room while family members go about the business of their daily lives," the report said.
Now, a show with high ratings from the Nielsen or Arbitron services has high advertising revenues.
Gardner man charged with four area robberies
By DON HENRY
Staff Reporter
A Gardner man was formally charged yesterday with Friday's bank robbery of the University State Bank. A judge on Monday robbed robbers in Lawrence since March 4.
The defendant, 33-year-old Larry Leonard Rice, is charged with Friday's bank robbery, with an April 1 robbery of American Savings, 2435 St. st, and with a March 4 robbery of the Douglas Bank, 23rd and Louisiana streets
Rice was in custody yesterday in the Douglas County jail in lieu of 75,000
Max Geiman, FBI special agent in Topeka, said Rice also had been charged in federal court with a bank robbery at the Shawnee Federal Savings Bank in the march 26. Rice is charged with the assault of a bank teller during that robbery.
THE AFFADAVIT AGAINST Rice states that Kenneth McKenzie, a Lawrence police officer, arrested Rice Friday in the parking lot of Wal-Mart Discount Center, 2727 Iowa St. McKenzie said in the affadavit that he had received a bank alarm call from University State Bank.
McKenzie ordered the man to stop and pulled his revolver. He then searched the man and handed him a handgun. He arrested Rice, read his rights and
When he arrived in the vicinity of the bank, he said, he saw Rice, whom he recognized from pictures taken by bank cameras during the other robberies.
found several thousand dollars and a handgun on Rice's body.
The affidavit states that several employees at the University State Bank said the robber was the same man they had seen in wanted pictures.
DURING RICE'S FIRST appearance yesterday in Douglas County district court, his lawyer, Maurice Ryan, Kansas City, asked Judge Mike Elwell to reduce Rice's bond from $75,000 to $25,000.
He told Elwell that Rice had been employed and had a wife and a daughter.
But Elwell denied Rice's request, saying that he could not reduce the bond of because of the seriousness of the crime Rice was accused of. Armed with a Class B felony, he is the second most serious class of felons in Kansas.
Rice told the judge that he had no criminal record as an adult. Jerry Harper, Douglas County district attorney, said he did not think Rink had a record.
After the hearing, Ryan said that Rice's family had asked him to defend himself.
"ALL I CAN SAY is that he is innocent until proven guilty," he said.
But he said he had not been contacted about the federal charges against his client.
Geiman said that federal prosecutors would not start proceeding in the federal charges unless Rice were released on bond. Bond will appear on those after his trial is complete in Douglas County, Geiman said.
Ryan would not say much about his client's background.
On campus
TODAY
KU RUGY CLUB will practice at 5 p.m. at 23rd and Iowa streets.
KU WORD AND SHIELD will meet at 7:30 p.m. in Cork II in the Kansas Union.
DOROTHY WILLNER, KU professor of anthropology, will speak about "Development Towns in Israel," at 8 p.m. in 3139 Westwood Hall.
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS campus unit will meet at 11:45 a.m. at the corner table at the Burge Union cafeteria.
A DOCTORAL RECITAL by Kathy Petree, piano, will be at 8 p.m. in Swarthout Recital Hall in Murphy Hall.
THE PRE-MED CLUB will meet at 8 p.m. in Jay Bowl on the first floor of the Union.
TAU SIGMA DANCE CLUB will meet at 7 p.m. in 242 Robinson.
STUDENT CREATIVE ANACHRONISTS will meet at 7:30 p.m. in the Union.
BIBLE STUDY with the Campus Christian Fellowship will be at 7:30 p.m. in the Union.
KU MOUNTAINEERING ASSOCIATION will meet at 5:30 p.m. in the Oread Room in the Union.
TOMORROW
CAMPUS CRUSADE FOR CHRIST will meet at 7 p.m. in the Alderson Auditorium in the Union.
THE UNIVERSITY FORUM will feature Larry Wrightsman speaking about "Psychology and the Emerging Science" at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries Center, 1204 Oread
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CLASS OF 1983 Did you know that your KU Alumni Association-
Helps keep track of your friends (through our extensive computer record-keeping system)
Has an award winning publication in Kansas Alumni magazine
is your best way of keeping informed of major activities on the Hill (Reunions, Homecoming, etc.)
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Will have a new on-campus home for Alumni in the Adams Alumni Center with dining and private club
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its our 100th Birthday and you re-
curent Centenary Class! Take advantage of this and many more benefits. Visit our association at the special discount rate of $12 exclusively for May 83 graduates
Class of 1983—Be a Part of History!
Mailing Address
--illustrations by Paul Coker
For every $12 membership, the Alumni Association with
contribute $2 and the 1983学费 will receive an
Alumni Association fee.
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