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Nadya Suleman, the mother of octuplets born Jan. 26, has inked a deal with the British production company Eyeworks, which plans to begin filming a reality TV series based on the controversial single mother and her 14 children.
"I'm really excited about moving forward with this," Suleman tells PEOPLE.
Suleman's attorney Jeff Czech calls the series a "quasi-reality" show, explaining that instead of having a dozen cameramen tromping around her house 24 hours a day, film crews will only document select milestones, such as birthdays and other special events.
"Nadya knows she has to do something," says Czech. "But she doesn't want the constant filming because she feels that would be taking advantage of her kids. She's trying to find the middle ground and feels this approach will work best."
At this time, Eyeworks has yet to sell Suleman's proposed shows to any TV networks in the U.S., and is currently planning on airing her programs on British TV, then bringing the shows to America. Czech also insists that his client doesn't want her series to resemble Jon and Kate Gosselin's show.
"She's been watching them a bit lately and thinks it's boring," says Czech.
This week Suleman also finalized a deal with ghostwriter Wendy Leigh — who recently wrote "Life with My Sister Madonna" with Christopher Ciccone — to pen her autobiography.
"Of all her projects, this is the one she's most excited about," says Czech. "She's really looking forward to telling her story and speaking out about how she was raised, how her children are feeling, what they are asking about and things about the donor dad."
msn.com May 31, 2009 ORLANDO, Fla. - First there was surgery, then chemotherapy and radiation. Now, doctors have overcome 30 years of false starts and found success with a fourth way to fight cancer: using the body’s natural defender, the immune system.
The approach is called a cancer vaccine, although it treats the disease rather than prevents it.
At a cancer conference Sunday, researchers said one such vaccine kept a common form of lymphoma from worsening for more than a year. That’s huge in this field, where progress is glacial and success with a new treatment is often measured in weeks or even days.
Experimental vaccines against three other cancers — prostate, the deadly skin disease melanoma and an often fatal childhood tumor called neuroblastoma — also gave positive results in late-stage testing in recent weeks, after decades of struggles in the lab.
“I don’t know what we did differently to make the breakthrough,” said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld of the American Cancer Society.
Instead of a single “A-Ha!” moment, there have been many “ah, so” discoveries about the immune system that now seem to be paying off, said Dr. John Niederhuber, director of the National Cancer Institute.
It’s way too soon to declare victory. No one knows how long the benefits will last, whether people will need “boosters” to keep their disease in check, or whether vaccines will ever be a cure. Many vaccines must be custom-made for each patient. How practical will that be, and what will it cost?
Those are all good questions — but there are no answers yet, said Dr. Richard Schilsky, a University of Chicago cancer specialist who is president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Several vaccine studies were reported over the weekend at the oncology group’s annual meeting in Florida.
A big problem has been getting the immune system to “see” cancer as a threat, said Dr. Patrick Hwu, melanoma chief at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Viruses like the flu or polio are easily spotted by the immune system because they look different from human cells.
“But cancer comes from our own cells. And so it’s more like guerrilla warfare — the immune system has trouble distinguishing the normal cells from the cancer cells,” he said.
To help it do that, many cancer vaccines take a substance from a cancer cell’s surface and attach it to something the immune system already recognizes as foreign — in the lymphoma vaccine’s case, a shellfish protein.
“It’s a mimic to what you’re trying to kill, a training device to train the immune system to kill something,” Hwu explained.
Putting immune system on high alert To make the attack as strong as possible, doctors add a substance to put the immune system on high alert.
Dr. Stephen Schuster of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine led a study testing BiovaxID, an experimental vaccine against follicular lymphoma developed by the National Cancer Institute. Rights to it are now held by Biovest International Inc. of Worcester, Mass., and some of his co-researchers have financial ties to the company.
To be in the study, patients had to have achieved a remission for at least six months with standard chemo. This often occurs with this type of lymphoma, but the disease usually comes back.
Researchers gave 41 patients the shellfish protein and an immune booster; 76 other patients were given those plus the vaccine. After nearly five years of followup, the average time until the cancer worsened was 44 months in the vaccine group and 30 months in the others.
Big gains also were seen with a neuroblastoma vaccine developed by the cancer institute. In a study of 226 patients, 86 percent of vaccine recipients were still alive after two years versus 75 percent of others not given the vaccine. Results were released by the oncology society two weeks ago.
The benefits from a melanoma vaccine developed by the cancer institute were more modest. It extended the time until patients relapsed — three months versus one and a half for those not given the vaccine.
Hilde Stapleton, 53, of suburban Houston, is one of the lucky ones it helped. Still, she found what many other vaccine recipients have learned: The vaccine had few side effects, but the immune system boosters were “like the worst case of flu you’ve ever had,” she said.
The prostate cancer vaccine, Provenge, is farthest along. Its maker, Seattle-based Dendreon Corp., is seeking federal Food and Drug Administration approval for it. A study last month found that it extended survival by four months in men with very advanced disease.
Doctors unconnected with these experiments are cautiously optimistic.
“We’ve raised so many false hopes in the past,” said Lichtenfeld of the Cancer Society. “What’s different this time is we have the science reports to back up improvements.”
FROM THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE: What are vaccines? The immune system is a complex network of organs, tissues, and specialized cells that act collectively to defend the body. When a particular type of microbe invades the body, the immune system recognizes it as foreign, destroys it, and “remembers” it to prevent another infection. Vaccines take advantage of this response. Traditional vaccines usually contain harmless versions of microbes—killed or weakened microbes, or parts of microbes—that do not cause disease but are able to stimulate an immune response. When the immune system encounters these substances through vaccination, it responds to them, eliminates them from the body, and develops a memory of them. This vaccine-induced memory enables the immune system to act quickly to protect the body if it becomes infected by the same microbe in the future.
The immune system’s role in defending against disease-causing microbes has long been recognized. Scientists have also discovered that the immune system can protect the body against threats posed by certain types of damaged, diseased, or abnormal cells, including cancer cells.
How do vaccines stimulate the immune system?
White blood cells, or leukocytes, play the main role in immune responses. These cells carry out the many tasks required to protect the body against disease-causing microbes and abnormal cells. Some types of leukocytes patrol the body, seeking foreign invaders and diseased, damaged, or dead cells. These white blood cells provide a general—or nonspecific—level of immune protection. Other types of leukocytes, known as lymphocytes, provide targeted protection against specific threats, whether from a specific microbe or a diseased or abnormal cell. The most important groups of lymphocytes responsible for carrying out immune responses against such threats are B cells and cytotoxic (cell-killing) T cells. B cells make antibodies, which are large proteins secreted by B cells that bind to, inactivate, and help destroy foreign invaders or abnormal cells. Most preventive vaccines, including those aimed at hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human papillomavirus (HPV), stimulate the production of antibodies that bind to specific, targeted microbes and block their ability to cause infection. Cytotoxic T cells, which are also known as killer T cells, kill infected or abnormal cells by releasing toxic chemicals or by prompting the cells to self-destruct (apoptosis).
Other types of lymphocytes and leukocytes play supporting roles to ensure that B cells and killer T cells do their jobs effectively. Cells that help fine-tune the activities of B cells and killer T cells include helper T cells and dendritic cells, which help activate killer T cells and enable them to recognize specific threats. Cancer treatment vaccines work by activating B cells and killer T cells and directing them to recognize and act against specific types of cancer. They do this by introducing one or more molecules known as antigens into the body, usually by injection. An antigen is a substance that stimulates a specific immune response. An antigen can be a protein or another type of molecule found on the surface of or inside a cell.
Microbes carry antigens that “tell” the immune system they are foreign—or “non-self”—and, therefore, represent a potential threat that should be destroyed. In contrast, normal cells in the body have antigens that identify them as “self.” Self antigens tell the immune system that normal cells are not a threat and should be ignored. Cancer cells can carry both types of antigens. They have self antigens, which they share in common with normal cells, but they may also have antigens that are unique to cancer cells. These cancer-associated antigens mark cancer cells as abnormal, or non-self, and can cause B cells and killer T cells to mount an attack against the cancer.
Cancer cells may also make much larger than normal amounts of certain self antigens. These overly abundant self antigens may be viewed by the immune system as being foreign and, therefore, may trigger an immune response against the cancer.
What are cancer vaccines?
Cancer vaccines are medicines that belong to a class of substances known as biological response modifiers. Biological response modifiers work by stimulating or restoring the immune system’s ability to fight infections and disease. There are two broad types of cancer vaccines:
Preventive (or prophylactic) vaccines, which are intended to prevent cancer from developing in healthy people; and Treatment (or therapeutic) vaccines, which are intended to treat already existing cancers by strengthening the body's natural defenses against cancer.
Two types of cancer preventive vaccines have been successfully developed and are available in the United States. However, cancer treatment vaccines remain an experimental form of therapy.
How do cancer preventive vaccines work?
Cancer preventive vaccines target infectious agents that cause or contribute to the development of cancer. They are similar to traditional vaccines, which help prevent infectious diseases such as measles or polio by protecting the body against infection. Both cancer preventive vaccines and traditional vaccines are based on antigens that are carried by the infectious agents and that are relatively easy for the immune system to recognize as foreign.
Have any cancer preventive vaccines been approved for use in the United States?
In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the vaccine known as Gardasil®, which protects against infection by two types of HPV—specifically, types 16 and 18—that cause approximately 70 percent of all cases of cervical cancer worldwide. At least 17 other types of HPV are responsible for the remaining 30 percent of cervical cancer cases (9). Gardasil also protects against HPV types 6 and 11, which are responsible for about 90 percent of all cases of genital warts. However, these two HPV types do not cause cervical cancer.
In 2008, the FDA expanded Gardasil’s approval to include its use in the prevention of HPV-associated vulvar and vaginal cancers. Gardasil, manufactured by Merck & Company, is based on HPV antigens that are proteins. These proteins are used in the laboratory to make four different types of “virus-like particles,” or VLPs, which correspond to HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18. The four types of VLPs are then combined to make the vaccine. Because Gardasil targets four HPV types, it is called a quadrivalent vaccine (10). In contrast with traditional vaccines, which are often composed of weakened, whole microbes, the VLPs in Gardasil are not infectious. However, they are still able to stimulate the production of antibodies against HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18.
A second HPV vaccine manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline and known by the name Cervarix® has also been developed. Although Cervarix has been approved for use in Europe, it has not yet been approved by the FDA for use in the United States. In contrast with Gardasil, Cervarix is a bivalent vaccine. It is composed of VLPs made with proteins from HPV types 16 and 18. Therefore, it provides protection only against these two HPV types. The public health benefits of vaccines against HPV types 16 and 18 may extend beyond reducing the risks of cervical cancer, vaginal cancer, and vulvar cancer. Evidence suggests that chronic infection by one or both of these virus types is also associated with cancers of the anus, penis, and oropharynx.
The FDA has approved one other type of cancer preventive vaccine, which protects against HBV infection. Chronic HBV infection can lead to liver cancer. The first HBV vaccine was approved in 1981, making it the first cancer preventive vaccine to be successfully developed and marketed. Today, most children in the United States are vaccinated against HBV shortly after birth.
(CNN) -- Dr. George Tiller, whose Kansas women's clinic was the epicenter of the state's battles over abortion for nearly two decades, was shot and killed at his church Sunday morning, his family said.
Tiller, 67, was one of the few U.S. physicians who still performed late-term abortions. He survived a 1993 shooting outside his Wichita clinic.
He was fatally shot shortly after 10 a.m. Sunday at Reformation Lutheran Church, Wichita police said.
Sunday afternoon, authorities took a man into custody near Kansas City after stopping a car that matched a description of the killer's getaway vehicle, according to sheriff's deputies in Johnson County, Kansas. No charges had been filed.
Wichita police said they were searching for a powder-blue Ford Taurus in connection with the killing. Witnesses provided a license number of the car the killer used to speed away from the church, police spokesman Gordon Bassham said.
Tiller "dedicated his life to providing women with high-quality heath care despite frequent threats and violence," his family said in a written statement.
"We ask that he be remembered as a good husband, father and grandfather and a dedicated servant on behalf of the rights of women everywhere," the family said.
Abortion is one of the hottest buttons in U.S. politics, with opponents arguing the practice is tantamount to the murder of an unborn child. Abortion rights supporters argue the decision to terminate a pregnancy is best left to the woman.
The anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, which has led numerous demonstrations at Tiller's clinic, condemned the shooting as a "cowardly act."
"Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice," the group said in a statement. It offered its prayers for Tiller's family, "that they will find comfort and healing that can only be found in Jesus Christ."
In March, Tiller was acquitted of 19 counts of performing procedures unlawfully at his clinic. In 2008, a probe initiated by abortion opponents who petitioned state authorities to convene a grand jury ended without charges.
On its Web site, Operation Rescue refers to Tiller as a "monster" who has "been able to get away with murder." And Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry, who is no longer affiliated with the group, called Tiller "a mass murderer."
"We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God," Terry said in a written statement. "I am more concerned that the Obama administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder, and we still must call abortion by its proper name."
The 1993 attack on Tiller left him wounded through both arms. An ardent foe of abortion, Shelley Shannon, was convicted of attempted murder and is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison for the shooting.
If Tiller was slain because of his work, he would be the fourth U.S. physician killed by abortion opponents since 1993. In addition, a nurse at a Birmingham, Alabama, clinic was maimed and an off-duty police officer was killed in a 1998 bombing by Eric Rudolph, who included abortion among his list of anti-government grievances.
Rudolph admitted to that attack and three other bombings -- including the 1996 attack on the Olympic games in Atlanta, Georgia -- and is serving life in prison.
Eyewitness News has confirmed the suspect in the shooting of Dr. George Tiller is in custody in the Kansas City area. Wichita police say the man was arrested near Gardner, KS at around 2:00 Sunday afternoon. Wichita Police are hosting a news conference on the shooting at 4:00 pm today.
Police have a suspect description. The suspect is described as a white male in his 50's or 60's with grey hair that is balding in the middle. He is about 6'1" and about 220 pounds and was wearing a white shirt and dark pants.
The suspect was last seen in a light blue Ford Taurus, possibly an early 1990's model. It has a K-State vanity plate and a Kansas license plate number 225 BAB. (Dumb Ass)
Wichita residents are planning to mourn the death of Dr. George Tiller, as well as remember his triumphs, at Old Town Square tonight at 8pm. Although some in attendance may bring signs, the vigil is intended to be a peaceful gathering to show support for Tiller's family and friends.
Posted on May 31st, 2009 4:25 PM by Hilton Hater Filed under: Celebrity Scandals thehollywoodgossip.com
Amanda Brumfield, the oldest daughter of Billy Bob Thornton, is in a lot of trouble with the law:
She's been charged with child neglect in the death of a one-year old she was babysitting.
Brumfield told police the baby died in October, following a fall from her playpen. However, the Ocoee Police Department isn't buying the tale.
According to TMZ, the autopsy determined the child suffered a fractured skull and a subdural hematoma due to blunt trauma.
Here is Brumfield's version of events:
* After the baby fell, she cleansed her bleeding tongue with a paper towel; * Brumfield and the child then played together, followed by a snack of bananas and fruit for the baby. * Brumfield then said she laid the child on the couch next to her and fell asleep. She says was awoken sometime later by the phone and decided to take the child back to the playpen. When she lifted her, Brumfield told cops she discovered her body was limp and she called 911.
According to police, the call for help didn't come until two and a half hours after the original fall.
Brumfield is Thornton's child with his first wife, Melissa Gatlin.
UPDATE -- A rep for Thornton sent TMZ this statement: "Mr. Thornton is estranged from Amanda and has had no contact with her for quite some time, however when informed about this situation he commented that, 'Anytime a baby's life is lost is an unimaginable tragedy and my heart goes out to the baby's family and loved ones.'"
newsweek.com Personally I think the bio identicals are adding a few pounds onto Suzanne.
In January, Oprah Winfrey invited Suzanne Somers on her show to share her unusual secrets to staying young. Each morning, the 62-year-old actress and self-help author rubs a potent estrogen cream into the skin on her arm. She smears progesterone on her other arm two weeks a month. And once a day, she uses a syringe to inject estrogen directly into her vagina. The idea is to use these unregulated "bio-identical" hormones to restore her levels back to what they were when she was in her 30s, thus fooling her body into thinking she's a younger woman. According to Somers, the hormones, which are synthesized from plants instead of the usual mare's urine (disgusting but true), are all natural and, unlike conventional hormones, virtually risk-free (not even close to true, but we'll get to that in a minute).
Next come the pills. She swallows 60 vitamins and other preparations every day. "I take about 40 supplements in the morning," she told Oprah, "and then, before I go to bed, I try to remember … to start taking the last 20." She didn't go into it on the show, but in her books she says that she also starts each day by giving herself injections of human growth hormone, vitamin B12 and vitamin B complex. In addition, she wears "nanotechnology patches" to help her sleep, lose weight and promote "overall detoxification." If she drinks wine, she goes to her doctor to rejuvenate her liver with an intravenous drip of vitamin C. If she's exposed to cigarette smoke, she has her blood chemically cleaned with chelation therapy. In the time that's left over, she eats right and exercises, and relieves stress by standing on her head. Somers makes astounding claims about the ability of hormones to treat almost anything that ails the female body. She believes they block disease and will double her life span. "I know I look like some kind of freak and fanatic," she said. "But I want to be there until I'm 110, and I'm going to do what I have to do to get there."
That was apparently good enough for Oprah. "Many people write Suzanne off as a quackadoo," she said. "But she just might be a pioneer." Oprah acknowledged that Somers's claims "have been met with relentless criticism" from doctors. Several times during the show she gave physicians an opportunity to dispute what Somers was saying. But it wasn't quite a fair fight. The doctors who raised these concerns were seated down in the audience and had to wait to be called on. Somers sat onstage next to Oprah, who defended her from attack. "Suzanne swears by bioidenticals and refuses to keep quiet. She'll take on anyone, including any doctor who questions her."
That would be a lot of doctors. Outside Oprah's world, there isn't a raging debate about replacing hormones. Somers "is simply repackaging the old, discredited idea that menopause is some kind of hormone-deficiency disease, and that restoring them will bring back youth," says Dr. Nanette Santoro, director of reproductive endocrinology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Older women aren't missing hormones. They just don't need as much once they get past their childbearing years. Unless a woman has significant discomfort from hot flashes—and most women don't—there is little reason to prescribe them. Most women never use them. Hormone therapy can increase a woman's risk of heart attacks, strokes, blood clots and cancer. And despite Somers's claim that her specially made, non-FDA-approved bioidenticals are "natural" and safer, they are actually synthetic, just like conventional hormones and FDA-approved bioidenticals from pharmacies—and there are no conclusive clinical studies showing they are less risky. That's why endocrinologists advise that women take the smallest dose that alleviates symptoms, and use them only as long as they're needed.
"It completely blew me away that Oprah would go to her for advice on this topic," says Cynthia Pearson, the executive director of the nonprofit National Women's Health Network and an authority on hormone therapy. "I have to say, it diminished my respect."
Somers says it's mainstream doctors who need to get their facts straight. "The problem is that our medical schools do not teach this," she said in a February interview with NEWSWEEK. She believes doctors, scientists and the media are all in the pocket of the pharmaceutical industry. "Billions are spent on marketing drugs, and these companies also support academic research." Free from these entanglements, Somers can see things clearly. "I have spent thousands of hours on this. I've written 18 books on health. I know my stuff."
On Oprah's show, there is one opinion more equal than others; and by the end of the program there was no doubt where Oprah herself stood on the issue. She told her audience that she found Somers's bestselling books on bioidentical hormones "fascinating" and said "every woman should read" what she has to say. She didn't stop there. Oprah said that although she has never had a hot flash, after reading Somers she decided to go on bioidenticals herself. "After one day on bioidentical estrogen, I felt the veil lift," she wrote in O, The Oprah Magazine. "After three days, the sky was bluer, my brain was no longer fuzzy, my memory was sharper. I was literally singing and had a skip in my step." On the show, Oprah had her own word of warning for the medical establishment: "We have the right to demand a better quality of life for ourselves," she said. "And that's what doctors have got to learn to start respecting."
All in all, it was a perfect hour of tabloid television. Who could look away from Suzanne Somers's sad but captivating efforts to turn back time? And if there was a stab of guilt in the pleasure we took in the spectacle, Oprah was close by to ease our minds, to reassure us, with the straightest face, that it was all in the name of science and self-improvement. Oprah routinely grabs viewers with the sort of tales of the strange and absurd that might be found a few clicks over on Maury Povich or Jerry Springer: women who leave their husbands for other women (another recent Oprah episode); a 900-pound mom (ditto). But there is a difference. Oprah makes her audience feel virtuous for gaping at the misfortunes of others. What would be sniffed at as seamy on Maury is somehow praised as anthropology on Oprah. This is Oprah's special brilliance. She is a gifted entertainer, but she makes it seem as though that is beside the point. Oprah is not here to amuse you, she is here to help you. To help you understand your feelings; drop those unwanted pounds; look and feel younger; get your thyroid under control; to smooth your thighs, nip and tuck your wrinkles, awaken your senses and achieve spiritual tranquillity so that you can at last be free to "Live Your Best Life."
Oprah takes these things very seriously. They are, after all, the answers she hopes to find for herself. If Oprah has an exquisite ear for the cravings and anxieties of her audience, it is because she shares them. Her own lifelong quest for love, meaning and fulfillment plays out on her stage each day. In an age of information overload, she offers herself as a guide through the confusion.
Her audience cannot get enough. After more than two decades on the air, the Oprah franchise continues to expand. Forty million people tune in to watch her television show each week. O magazine, which features her picture on every cover, sells more than 2 million copies each month. She has her own satellite radio channel and a very popular Web site. Forbes puts Oprah's personal fortune at $2.7 billion. Her empire is about to get bigger. Oprah has made a deal to launch her own cable television channel that will reach 70 million homes. It will be called, of course, the Oprah Winfrey Network and will include Oprah-approved programming on health and living well. In announcing the deal, Oprah said, "I will now have the opportunity to do this 24 hours a day on a platform that goes on forever."
Oprah says things like this without irony. But really, how could it not go to her head, even a little? Her most ardent fans regard her as an oracle. If she mentions the title of a book, it goes to No. 1. If she says she uses a particular wrinkle cream, it sells out. At Oprah's retail store in Chicago, women can purchase used shoes and outfits that she wore on the show. Her viewers follow her guidance because they like and admire her, sure. But also because they believe that Oprah, with her billions and her Rolodex of experts, doesn't have to settle for second best. If she says something is good, it must be.
This is where things get tricky. Because the truth is, some of what Oprah promotes isn't good, and a lot of the advice her guests dispense on the show is just bad. The Suzanne Somers episode wasn't an oddball occurrence. This kind of thing happens again and again on Oprah. Some of the many experts who cross her stage offer interesting and useful information (props to you, Dr. Oz). Others gush nonsense. Oprah, who holds up her guests as prophets, can't seem to tell the difference. She has the power to summon the most learned authorities on any subject; who would refuse her? Instead, all too often Oprah winds up putting herself and her trusting audience in the hands of celebrity authors and pop-science artists pitching wonder cures and miracle treatments that are questionable or flat-out wrong, and sometimes dangerous.
Oprah would probably not agree with this assessment. She declined to be interviewed for this article, but in a statement she said, "The guests we feature often share their first-person stories in an effort to inform the audience and put a human face on topics relevant to them. I've been saying for years that people are responsible for their actions and their own well-being. I believe my viewers understand the medical information presented on the show is just that—information—not an endorsement or prescription. Rather, my intention is for our viewers to take the information and engage in a dialogue with their medical practitioners about what may be right for them."
The first-person story that, as Oprah says, puts "a human face on topics" is an important part of the show's success. Perhaps Oprah's most attractive quality, and one that sets her apart from other daytime hosts, is that she abhors the celebration of victimhood. She succeeded despite a childhood of abuse, and her own experience left her with very little tolerance for people who indulge in self-pity or blame cruel fate for their troubles. She often features regular people or, even better, celebrities, who have met challenges in their lives.
This perpetual search for The Answer (to all problems even hers) reached its apex a couple of years ago, when Oprah led the frenzy over The Secret. The video and accompanying book were a rehash of one of the oldest of self-help truisms—"think positive"—refreshed with a dusting of "science." The secret of The Secret was something called the Law of Attraction. As Oprah put it on the show, "It says that the energy, that the thoughts and feelings that you put out into the world, both good and bad, are exactly what is always coming back to you, so you have the life that you have created." Oprah and the teachers of The Secret, as they call themselves, did not mean this metaphorically. They explained that the universe and everything in it are made of vibrating energy, and by thinking positively we can actually "attract" the positive vibrations of the universe and bend them to our will. "You're a field of energy in a larger field of energy," one of The Secret's teachers said. "And like attracts like, and that's very, very scientific."
By harnessing this powerful science, they said, we can have anything we want—happiness, love, fabulous wealth. This was so inspiring to Oprah that she devoted three shows to the product and appeared on Larry King to talk it up more. She said it encapsulated everything she believes. "I've been talking about this for years on my show," she said. "I just never called it The Secret."
On one of the Secret shows, Oprah gave an example of the scientific power of the concept. She said that once, while she was hosting an episode about a man who could blow really big soap bubbles, she was thinking to herself, "Gee, that looks fun. I would like to blow some bubbles." When she returned to her office after the show, there, on her desk, was a silver Tiffany bubble blower. "So I call my assistant," Oprah told the audience. "I say, 'Did you just run out and get me some bubbles? 'Cause I got bubbles by my desk.' And she says, 'No, the bubbles were always there. I bought you bubbles for your birthday and you didn't notice them until today'."
There are many lessons that might be drawn from this anecdote. One is that if you give Oprah a thoughtful gift, she may not bother to notice it or thank you for it. This is not the lesson Oprah took away from her story. Because the way she sees it, her assistant hadn't really given her the gift at all. She gave it to herself. Using the power of The Secret, she said, "I had called in some bubbles."
According to The Secret, however, the Law of Attraction can use the vibrations of the universe to deliver more than just bubbles. The book that Oprah urges everyone to live by teaches that all diseases can be cured with the power of thought alone: "The question frequently asked is, 'When a person has manifested a disease in the body temple … can it be turned around through the power of "right thinking"?' And the answer is absolutely, yes." The book then offers the testimonial of a woman identified as Cathy Goodman. "I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I truly believed in my heart, with my strong faith, that I was already healed. Each day I would say, 'Thank you for my healing'." Goodman watched "very funny movies" to make herself laugh. "From the time I was diagnosed to the time I healed was approximately three months. And that's without any radiation or chemotherapy."
The message got through. In March 2007, the month after the first two shows on The Secret, Oprah invited a woman named Kim Tinkham on the program. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and her doctors were urging surgery and chemotherapy. But Tinkham wrote Oprah to say that she had decided to forgo this treatment and instead use The Secret to cure herself. On the show, Oprah seemed genuinely alarmed that Tinkham had taken her endorsement of The Secret so seriously. "When my staff brought this letter to me, I wanted to talk to her," Oprah told the audience. "I said, get her in here, OK?" On air, Oprah urged the woman to listen to her doctors. "I don't think that you should ignore all of the advantages of medical science and try to, through your own mind now because you saw a Secret tape, heal yourself," she said. A few weeks earlier, Oprah could not say enough in praise of The Secret as the guiding philosophy of her life. Now she said that people had somehow gotten the wrong idea. "I think that part of the mistake in translation of The Secret is that it's used to now answer every question in the world. It is not the answer to all questions," she instructed. "I just wanted to say it's a tool. It is not the answer to everything." The Law of Attraction was just one law of many that guide the universe. "Although I live my life that way," Oprah said, "I think it has its flaws."
There were limits to The Secret's healing powers even for Oprah. For there she was, in the months that followed, worrying over her thyroid, ingesting bioidentical hormones and putting on pounds. The Secret warns that all illness and misfortune is caused by attracting the negative power of the universe. "You cannot 'catch' anything unless you think you can," it says. "You are also inviting illness if you are listening to people talking about their illness."
It is possible that this is what happened to Oprah. Listening to so many guests talk about their troubles dampened her energy fields. Yet it may be for the best that things didn't quite work out. What if Oprah had managed to solve all of her problems, to end her search for meaning and fulfillment and spiritual calm and a flatter, firmer stomach by summoning the very power of the universe itself? It might have been hard for her to take Suzanne Somers seriously after that.
UPDATE thesun.co.uk BRITAIN'S Got Talent sensation Susan Boyle was in the Priory clinic last night suffering from exhaustion.
The singer, dubbed SuBo, had an "emotional breakdown" following Saturday's final in which she was runner-up, but the talent show favourite was still eyeing a mega United States tour.
The 48-year-old virgin, tipped to earn $8MILLION, survived tears and a tantrum to finish second in Saturday's gripping final of telly's Britain's Got Talent.
But the pressure finally told late yesterday as the Scots singer - dubbed SuBo by fans - was rushed to the private clinic suffering from exhaustion. Show aides had contacted police to say she was acting strangely at her London hotel.
Paramedics helped the "spaced-out" star through the lobby and into an ambulance just after 6pm.
A Met Police Inspector and a police doctor were called to assist. The ambulance, tailed by a police car, then took her to the Priory in Southgate, North London.
A source at the hotel said last night: "She'd been at the hotel for a few days, but since Saturday's final had been acting strangely, causing a bit of a stir.
"The staff were concerned - something wasn't right.
"When the paramedics and police arrived she agreed to go voluntarily. She didn't make a fuss. The paramedics calmly took her out through the main lobby and into the waiting ambulance.
"It was all done very calmly. They didn't want to stress or upset her. She didn't look well - she looked lost, not all there."
A source at the clinic said last night: "I was having a cigarette break when a whole load of ambulances arrived.
"Everyone was saying, 'Who's that'? Then I saw her and it was Susan Boyle. I was gobsmacked."
The singer, from Blackburn in West Lothian, has learning difficulties. The specialist clinic has 52 bedrooms and specialises in the treatment of mental health.
A Britain's Got Talent spokeswoman said last night: "Following Saturday's show, Susan is exhausted and emotionally drained.
"She has been seen by her private GP, who supports her decision to take a few days out for rest and recovery. We offer her our ongoing support and wish her a speedy recovery."
A show source said: "It's very tough, Susan is emotionally drained - she gave it her all and is absolutely shattered.
"Simon Cowell spoke to her backstage on Saturday night and told her she had everything going for her - a record deal, an American tour. But it's up to her, she has to see what she wants.
"We do realise that we have a care of duty to look after her."
Favourite Susan, beaten by dance act Diversity, faced a backlash last week when she was ushered from her previous hotel by worried show bosses after a rant in a bar.
She was also spoken to by cops after arguing with her sister. And The Sun can reveal the brave singer fled the final stage in tears after belting out I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miserables, the song that made her famous. She had been booed by sections of the audience after show judge Piers Morgan made her his tip to win. After leaving the spotlight, Susan sank into the arms of producers and buried her head in her hands before starting to cry.
Earlier, she had launched into a furious four-letter outburst when told her glittering stage costume had failed to arrive just 15 minutes before she was due to appear on stage.
The singer was made a floor-length silver gown for the event, but a source said: "I was in the dressing room when she came in with some production staff. She looked like she was about to explode and was swearing.
"Susan was wearing a red robe, and a girl from production was trying to calm her down by saying, 'Your dress will be here any moment'.
"That was what set her off. It was 15 minutes before the show, and she didn't have her dress. I guess that could push anyone over the edge. They ushered her into a room, but we could still hear her swearing like a trooper."
Yet Chiefs at SyCo - Cowell's division of Sony BMG - have big plans for Susan.
They are this week set to take her to America, where she is already a huge star and is due to score a Sony record deal.
Offers have been coming in thick and fast for the BGT phenomenon. A string of US shows have been trying to lure SuBo as a guest and to get her to sing.
Experts reckon she could make up to $8million after selling the rights to her fairytale life story, as well as a book deal, record cash and further millions from image rights, product endorsements and TV appearances.
A Sony source said: "Susan is going to be huge - it doesn't matter in the slightest that she didn't win.
"We're going to look after her. Never mind the States, she's had offers from round the world." TV Simon said: "We've never had a runner-up like Susan before. She won over a lot of fans - not just with her voice, but with her graciousness. She's got a massive future."
Proud neighbours in Susan's Scottish home town were last night preparing to give her a hero's welcome - unaware of her admission to the Priory.
Brian Smith, 51, said: "I thought she was a certainty to win.
"She has put Blackburn on the map and is a winner to us.
"We are keeping up all the bunting and banners up until she gets back.
"I think we will throw her a massive party - she deserves it."
Michelle McCabe, 34, said: "I thought she would win hands down. She can come back with her head held high."
LONDON, England (CNN) -- She may have finished second, but Susan Boyle continued to make newspaper headlines in the UK Sunday following her shock defeat in the final of "Britain's Got Talent."
"Boyle Backlash" said the headline in the tabloid News of the World, suggesting that the Scottish 48-year-old's alleged "four-letter tantrum" earlier this week had influenced millions of viewers to switch their votes to dance act Diversity.
The buildup to Saturday night's live final had been dominated by reports that Boyle lost her temper in a London hotel and had even considered pulling out of the talent show finale.
The Mail on Sunday said she had been been "comforted by psychiatrists" ahead of Saturday's final.
"They have a whole army of doctors, psychiatrists and experts all available to any contestant at any time. They have all been taking great care of Susan," the paper quoted "Britain's Got Talent" judge Piers Morgan as saying. Video Watch how Boyle's rise to fame has been an emotional ride »
In Scotland, where crowds had gathered in Boyle's hometown of Blackburn in anticipation of victory, celebration parties were stopped in their tracks as the unexpected result was announced.
"Boyle foiled in final: Susan's dream is over," said the headline in the Sunday Mail.
Earlier, the paper said, Blackburn's community center had been "a sea of hands" as Boyle performed her signature tune, "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical "Les Miserables."
"They stood with tears in their eyes as Susan hit every note. Stamping and chanting her name, her fellow villagers could not have been more proud." Video Watch the dramatic end to Susan Boyle's dream »
But "the cheers were caught in the collective gullet ... as dance troupe Diversity gatecrashed this most expectant of parties," the Sunday Herald reported. "Jaws were left agape. Tears were shed. And then the supportive chanting of 'SuBo' began again."
Boyle could still be the real winner from the series, which became a global hit after clips of her audition of "I Dreamed a Dream" racked up millions of hits on YouTube.
"£6M superstar" said the Sunday Mirror, claiming that "Britain's Got Talent" impresario Simon Cowell plans to take Boyle across the Atlantic to "conquer the U.S."
The News of the World upped Boyle's likely earnings on the back of "Britain's Got Talent" to £8 million ($13 million).
On top of a multi-million dollar record deal and share of album sales, Boyle is also set to earn from a Hollywood movie of her rags-to-riches life, a book deal, and millions more from image rights, endorsements and television appearances, the paper said.
In an interview with the News of the World, Cowell said Boyle could be the biggest star he had ever discovered.
"They don't care in America whether she wins a British TV show -- they care about the woman they saw singing on YouTube," a Cowell insider also told the paper. "If anything, £8 million in her first year might be an underestimate." advertisement
Meanwhile, competition winners Diversity are also set to cash in on their success with a film deal and a possible slot supporting Michael Jackson when the superstar plays a series of shows in London next month, the Sunday Mirror said. The group collected £100,000 ($162,000) for winning the final and will perform in front of Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Variety Show later this year.
"We feel electric. Words can't describe it. I'm genuinely shocked. We thought Susan was unstoppable -- she's an unbelievable talent," the paper quoted the group's choreographer, Ashley Banjo, as saying.
SALT LAKE CITY ksl.com-- Scorpion venom as a cancer treatment! We brought that story a couple of years ago. Now, the poison of the scorpion is back; this time, with a partner that could make it even more effective in killing brain tumors.
We first got a glimpse of what the scorpion might do for cancer patients more than two years. The Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah was in the process of selecting five patients for this unique therapy, but the clinical trials were discontinued.
Human clinical trials might reopen again if the latest discovery from this creature proves to be true. Molecules pulled from scorpion toxin do in fact kill brain tumor, but researchers had difficulty getting the stuff to its target.
Dr. Randy Jensen, with the Huntsman Cancer Institute, said, "I would like to revisit that again, and I think some of the problems that have been experienced in a lot of drugs that we've tested is that they are not just delivered properly."
But scientists at the University of Washington have now found if you combine the scorpion molecule with nanoparticles, you cut the spread of cancer cells not by a mere 45 percent but by 98 percent.
Jensen said, "If they can get better delivery and get more efficacy of the delivery of the drug, then a new clinical trial, I'm sure, would be the next step after that."
A nanoparticle is a very small molecule that helps another molecule (such as one found in a drug) do a specific job. How small is small? A red blood cell is a teeny six microns. Thousands of nanoparticles could fit inside a single red blood cell.
Now imagine these nanoparticles as little bodyguards, transporters if you will, taking the drug anywhere you want it to go.
"These nanoparticles sort of shield them around, form circles around the drug that you want to deliver and allow it to pass through the blood-brain barrier," Jensen said.
Nanoparticles can lead a drug, such as one made from scorpion toxin, to specific cells. They can also image the drug, showing researchers exactly where it's going.
Researchers at the University of Washington experimented only with cells grown in the lab. They'll now move to mice to see if they get the same dramatic results there.
Do your nightmares ever include two-headed monsters? The red-tailed boa constrictor was born with two heads at a Hayward pet shop last week. The reptile has four eyes and two tongues, with the heads splitting off at the base of their skulls.
The snake's deformity could be deadly,because they have problems with basic functions, like slithering around and catching prey. However, if the snake does survive, it could bring in big bucks for the pet shop owner. One expert says if the snake is able to digest food, it could sell for $20,000 or more.
Storybook dragons and serpents may have a basis in reality. "Two-headed snakes are rare, but they shouldn't be looked at as freaks," said Gordon Burghardt, a herpetologist at the University of Tennessee. Herpetologists study reptiles like turtles, snakes and lizards. Each two-headed animal is highly individual, and has its own personality and reasons for doing things the same as any other creature, he said.
Just imagine all the problems you would have if you had two heads. It would be as if you had to get one of your brothers or sisters to agree with every decision you made—what to wear, what to eat, when to eat, what to watch on television, what site to visit on the Internet—all the time, every time.
That's how it is for a snake with two heads. First the two heads have to decide they're both hungry at the same time, and then they have to agree to pursue the same prey. Then they might fight over which head gets to swallow the prey. To make it even more complicated, since snakes operate a good deal by smell, if one head catches the scent of prey on the other's head, it will attack and try to swallow its second head.
"They also have a great deal of difficulty deciding which direction to go, and if they had to respond to an attack quickly they would just not be capable of it," said Burghardt.
Two-headed snakes raised in captivity can do quite well though. Burghardt had a two-headed black rat snake that lived to be almost 20 years old. Arizona State University was home to a two-headed king snake that was found in the desert as a baby. The snake lived for close to 17 years at the university. Thelma and Louise, a two-headed corn snake that lived at the San Diego Zoo until its death, had 15 normal babies.
Siamese Twins
Snakes born with two heads happen the same way Siamese twins are born to humans. A developing embryo begins to split into identical twins but then stops part way, leaving the twins joined. The point at which the embryo stops separating varies, and just as Siamese twins can be joined at the head, breast, or hip, the same is true for snakes.
The king snake at ASU had two heads supported by separate necks, and they shared a stomach. The two-headed black rat snake that lived for close to 20 years at Burghardt's lab each had a complete throat and stomach. The ladder snake in Spain has two completely separated heads that join the body at about neck level. The two heads on Thelma and Louise were quite close together.
"If the two heads are very close together it's going to be much more difficult for them; with more separation, they can act a little more independently," Burghardt said.
AP/File – A US weapons lab pulled back the curtain on a super laser with the power to burn as hot as a star.(AFP/File/MONICA …
by Glenn Chapman Glenn Chapman – Sat May 30, 4:23 am ET
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – A US weapons lab on Friday pulled back the curtain on a super laser with the power to burn as hot as a star.
The National Ignition Facility's main purpose is to serve as a tool for gauging the reliability and safety of the US nuclear weapons arsenal but scientists say it could deliver breakthroughs in safe fusion power.
"We have invented the world's largest laser system," actor-turned-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said during a dedication ceremony attended by thousands including state and national officials.
"We can create the stars right here on earth. And I can see already my friends in Hollywood being very upset that their stuff that they show on the big screen is obsolete. We have the real stuff right here."
NIF is touted as the world's highest-energy laser system. It is located inside the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory about an hour's drive from San Francisco.
Equipment connected to a house-sized sphere can focus 192 laser beams on a small point, generating temperatures and pressures that exist at cores of stars or giant planets.
NIF will be able to create conditions and conduct experiments never before possible on Earth, according to the laboratory.
A fusion reaction triggered by the super laser hitting hydrogen atoms will produce more energy than was required to prompt "ignition," according to NIF director Edward Moses.
"This is the long-sought goal of 'energy gain' that has been the goal of fusion researchers for more than half a century," Moses said.
"NIF's success will be a scientific breakthrough of historic significance; the first demonstration of fusion ignition in a laboratory setting, duplicating on Earth the processes that power the stars."
Construction of the NIF began in 1997, funded by the US Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
"NIF, a cornerstone of the National Nuclear Security Administration's effort to maintain our nuclear deterrent without nuclear testing, will play a vital role in reshaping national security in the 21st century," said NNSA administrator Tom D'Agostino.
"This one-of-a-kind facility is the only place in the world that is capable of providing some of the most critical technical means to safely maintain the viability of the nation's nuclear stockpile."
Scientists say that NIF also promises groundbreaking discoveries in planetary science and astrophysics by recreating conditions that exist in supernovas, black holes, and in the cores of giant planets.
Electricity derived from fusion reactions similar to what takes place in the sun could help sate humanity's growing appetite for green energy, according to lab officials.
"Very shortly we will engage in what many believe to be this nation's greatest challenge thus far, one that confronts not only the nation but all of mankind -- energy independence," said lab director George Miller.
The lab was founded in 1952 and describes itself as a research institution for science and technology applied to national security.
"This laser system is an incredible success not just for California, but for our country and our world," Schwarzenegger said.
"NIF has the potential to revolutionize our energy system, teaching us a new way to harness the energy of the sun to power our cars and homes."
reference: theexaminer.com As if Octomom wasn't bad enough, a Tennessee man, 29 year old Desmond Hatchett has now fathered at least 21 children he can't support. Hatchett was in child support court again last week. His name appeared on the dockett 11 times in one day, representing 15 of his children.
Hatchett says he wasn't out to set a record. He says he never intended to have this many children, "It just happened." He fathered the children by at least 11 different women and he claims all of the mothers knew about his large family. The children range in age from newborn to 11 years old.
The question Knox County officials now face is how to support all these children. Hatchett works a minimum wage job and by law the state can only take 50% of his paycheck for child support. By the time that money is split 21 ways, some of the mothers get less than $2 per month. That leaves the taxpayers footing a large portion of the bill for these children.
Even though Hatchett can't support the children he has, there is nothing the state can do to prevent him from having more. Hatchett reports that he had 4 children in one year, twice. He says he's done having children now, but only time will tell. He does say that he's a good father and knows the names, ages, and birthdates of all of his children.
All of the blame can't be placed on Hatchett in this case. One has to wonder about the women who chose to have his children. In the end, the children and the taxpayers of Tennessee will pay for their choices for years to come
55 Pilot whales began beaching themselves since early this morning and officials and volunteers have tried in vain to help them back into the water. Some of the whales were successfully returned to the water with front-end loaders. "They are huge animals and are stranded over a vast area. Unfortunately they (the volunteers) couldn't do it."
One woman suffered suspected fractured ribs after being pinned between a whale and rocks. A number of volunteers had to be rescued from the surf while trying to swim the whales beyond the breaking waves, according to Ian Klopper of the National Sea Rescue Institute.
Cape Town authorities mobilized the police, fire brigade, navy, lifeboat services, disaster management teams and expert divers as part of the rescue operation.
About 35 whales that had stranded themselves on Kommetjie beach have been euthanized after efforts to rescue them failed.
Three whales had died by late afternoon as National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) volunteers and marine scientists battled to collect them across a wide section of beach and get them back to sea, using municipal front-end loaders. But as soon as they were returned to the surf, the whales, which measure between 4 and 6 metres in length, kept pointing their noses for shore, forcing marine scientists to take the painful decision to euthanize them with a gunshot to the head. "Many of them came back onto the beach again and washed up on the rocks," a spokesman for the NSRI, Craig Lambinon, told the German press Agency dpa.
Crowds of people had gathered on the beach to watch the rescuse efforts and many became emotional when the decision to euthanize the animals was made.
Nan Rice, head of the Dolphin Action and Protection group said "mass strandings are extremely stressful for whales and to save stranding whales is an extremely difficult task".
As we were walking away, we heard the shots - a sound that will stay with me for a long time. Television footage of the scenes on the desolate beach was interspersed by the sound of gunshots. "One shot, one whale. Another shot, another whale," said the commentator.
The bulldozers brought in to push the whales out to sea were used to clear the carcasses from the seaweed-strewn sand.
Police desperately tried to clear the beach of dozens of families who had flocked to the shores in hope of a happy ending which turned nightmarish. There were also minor scuffles between officials and distraught volunteers trying to protect the whales.
Klopper said authorities were urging those who had young children there to seek trauma counseling.
"Despite many theories on why marine animals beach it has not been determined what caused these whales to beach today," he said.
The South African coast is renowned for its whale watching during the winter season, which is in progress. But mass beachings are rare.
Chester Stiles will spend the rest of his life in prison for raping two young girls.
This case gained national attention when a videotape was found showing one of the assaults. But as News 3's Denise Roschreports, it wasn't the sentencing that surprised many in the packed courtroom. Rather, it was what Stiles said to the judge.
"I sentence the defendant to life in prison."
It's a phrase Chester Stiles would hear a total of 21 times as Judge Jennifer Togliatti handed down the maximum sentence to a man who prosecutors call a "master manipulator." Stiles received 21 life sentences for the rape and molestation of two little girls - one of the attacks memorialized for all time on videotape.
Deputy District Attorney Mary Kay Holthus used words like "despicable," "worst of the worst," and "con man" while describing Stiles actions.
"He should spend every year, every month, every week, every hour of every day that this court can give him behind bars," says Holthus.
But instead of apologizing, the convicted pedophile delivered his own surprising statement, painting himself as the victim.
"So legislation dictates that a child's virtue is more important than life itself? A 12 minute videotape that shows no use of force, no drugs, no violence or brutality. There are no tears or threats, no blood. Indeed, a doctor could not find evidence of molestation and the child did not remember in any event. Yet I am to die in prison?"
For several minutes Stiles read from a prepared statement, telling the courtroom that the truth never came out and that he believes his punishment does not fit the crime.
"Weekly on the news I see murderers get 10-year sentences in town while I incur 21 life sentences for a non-violent act?"
These words did not sit well with the judge, who says it is rare to get this sort of glimpse into the mind of a pedophile.
"He has no remorse for the actions in this case, no acceptance of responsibility," says Judge Togliatti.
While some of his life sentences will run back-to-back and others will overlap, the bottom line is this: Chester Stiles will have to serve 140 years behind bars before he's even eligible for parole.
A New York toddler still in diapers has a growing reputation as a pool shark with a mean bank shot, even though he has to stand on a chair to reach the table.
Two-year-old Keith O’Dell Jr. from upstate New York has pool shooting videos posted on YouTube, has his own Web site (http://www.poolprodigy.com) and is the youngest member of the American Pool Association.
The son of pool-playing parents, the toddler recently traveled to Las Vegas to put on a demonstration for the APA, the governing body of amateur pool.
O’Dell started playing pool on a child-size table, but has since moved up to a regulation table.
His parents say his learning hasn’t been limited to billiard games. Pool is also teaching him colors and how to count.
CBS) Mothers wait nine months to see their babies for the first time. But Kimberly Robinson had to wait a little longer.
Her son, Jordan Jamal Smith, was born on March 25, with a nearly two-pound tumor obscuring his face -- he survived despite long, long odds.
Robinson and Drs. Elvire Jacques and Ramzi Younis told his story on The Early Show Friday. The physicians are from Holtz Children’s Hospital in Miami, which is part of the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Co-anchor Harry Smith asked Robinson why she decided to go against convention and have the baby, despite the risks.
"Just seeing him on the monitor," Robinson repliled. "He was moving, and just the connection that we had from day one, I just couldn’t" terminate the pregnancy.
Jacques, a perinatologist, said Robinson wanted to do everything she could to give little Jordan Smith a chance to live.
"Even if the chance was less than 10 percent of survival," Jacques said, "I was willing to take that chance with her."
The tumor was initially thought to be an undeveloped twin, but was later identified as just a mass. The tumor started at the back of Jordan Smith’s mouth, almost killing him in the womb. In the last stage of Robinson’s pregnancy, Jacques said, doctors were removing a liter of fluid a week from Robinson’s abdomen through amniocentesis because Jordan couldn’t properly swallow.
And when Jordan was born by C-section, the tumor left him unable to breathe, so doctors -- while he was still connected to his mother -- had to insert a tube into the tumor and into his mouth to clear an airway.
"We were not sure how much of an opening and how much of a mouth or face existed in this miraculous baby," said Younis, chief of pediatric otolaryngology at University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital. "I had a few minutes to take a look, identify a mouth and an opening that would leave me to maintain an airway, and give him a life."
The tumor has since been removed completely, and Robinson said seeing her baby’s face for the first time was "wonderful."
"Every time I hold him, it’s joy, it’s nothing but pure joy. And he’s just beautiful. He has the brightest eyes, and we have such a connection."
SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- A pathologist hired by the family of one of two women whose mysterious deaths in Thailand drew worldwide attention says her "lungs were 100 percent congested," Jill St. Onge's fiancee and brother said.
"He said her lung tissue was gone," said her brother, Robert St. Onge.
The pathologist has not determined what caused her lungs to fail, he said, and a final report on her May 2 death may still be weeks away.
But members of St. Onge's family said they feel the pathologist's findings, though preliminary, are enough to contradict public statements made by Thai investigators that St. Onge was the victim of food poisoning.
"I am 99.9 percent sure she did not die of food poisoning," said Ryan Kells, St. Onge's fiancee, who was with her when she died. "She suffocated to death. I am not a doctor, but I know when someone can't breath."
Kells and St. Onge, both artists from Seattle, were on a three-month vacation through Southeast Asia when they arrived on Thailand's Phi Phi Island.
They had gotten engaged while on the trip and were keeping friends and family up to date with their adventures.
"Having a blast," Jill St. Onge, 27, wrote about the surroundings in a blog dedicated to the couple's travels. "Food, drink, sun and warm waters ... what else do ya need?"
The couple's vacation ended tragically when Kells found his fiancee in their hotel room vomiting and unable to breath. He rushed her to a hospital where she died.
St. Onge was healthy and there was no obvious explanation for her sudden death, her brother said.
Just hours after St. Onge fell ill, Julie Bergheim, a Norwegian tourist who was staying in a room next to St. Onge's at the Laleena Guesthouse, came down with similar symptoms. She also died.
According to Thai media reports, police there are focusing on food poisoning as the cause of the women's deaths. Monday the Phuket Gazette quoted a police commander as saying blood samples from both women indicated possible food poisoning from seafood.
Still, the commander said, those results were only preliminary. "I don't know when the official results will be released," Maj. Gen. Pasin Nokasul told the newspaper. "The lab work [is being] expedited because the embassies of the two tourists want to know the cause of death as soon as possible."
Kells response to Nokasul's statement was harsh.
"That she died of food poisoning is a ridiculous statement to make," he said, adding it is unlikely they would have been "the only ones affected."
Dr. William Hurley, medical director for the Washington Poison Center, is also skeptical that food poisoning could have been responsible. In food poisoning cases, he said, "usually what kills you is the dehydration, not the toxin."
He added, "Food poisoning is not something that typically kills someone this quickly. It takes days."
Ingestion of a variety of chemicals could have caused Onge and Bergheim's sudden deaths, Hurley said, and could be consistent with the condition of Onge's lungs. But without further information, he said, it is impossible to say what killed the two women.
Kells said he thinks something in the hotel where they were where staying made Jill sick. He remembers a "chemical smell" in the room and thinks he avoided becoming ill because he spent less time in the room.
On Saturday, the Phuket Wan newspaper reported that investigators that visited the Laleena Guesthouse, taking samples and removing filters from the air conditioning units in the rooms where both victims had stayed.
Rat Chuped, the owner of the hotel, told the newspaper her property was not to blame. "There is no problem with my guesthouse," she said.
