Angelic Taxi Driver is Perfect Match Donor for Arizona Kidney Disease Sufferer

An angelic taxi driver is a perfect match donor for Arizona kidney disease sufferer, Rita Van Loenen.

“There are better odds of getting struck by lightning,” said 63 year old Van Loenen. “A random taxi driver offering to give me his kidney and all these pieces match. There has to be something behind this. How can this be?”

Well, dear readers, I believe it’s a story of divine intervention.

Van Loenen and her angelic taxi driver, Thomas Chappell, met  more than three months ago.

It actually wasn’t a good beginning because Chappell was half an hour late picking Van Loenen up for a dialysis appointment.

“When I got there she was not happy,” Chappell said. “And I can understand it now. She’s sick and all these things she goes through…The next day, it  just so happens I got her again.”

After that, by pure chance, he was her taxi driver three to four times a month. Last month he brought her to tears when he offered to donate his kidney. Shockingly, doctors found they had the same blood type and that they were compatible.

Van Loenen said, “He calls me all excited. If we were a closer match, we would’ve been siblings. I was ready to fall off the floor.”

The Phoenix taxi driver said he was a man of faith and that a higher power wanted him to step in. “By then, me and the good Lord already had a talk. He said, ‘Tom, you go give her one. It will work.” Chappell said.

Now Chappell has started undergoing the arduous process of donor screening, undergoing tests and exams. 

“This has put a whole new kind of lift in my boots. I never knew what it felt like to give somebody life and that’s what I’m doing,” said Chappell.

The transplant hasn’t been scheduled yet but afterwards Chappell will have to rest between four and six weeks. Following the pattern of everything falling into place, his work is standing behind him and promising to cover his lost wages.

“I’ve had drivers do some pretty incredibly amazing things for no charge. But this is just over the top, ” said Jim Hickey, national sales and marketing director for the company that owns VIP Taxi. “We’re just so proud of him.” 

“Whenever I tell my friends or my family, they just find it so incredible, ” Van Loenen said. “They do call him an angel. My friend says there’s angels everywhere. That’s the right was to capture it.”

Finding an angel in a taxi is a little far fetched but for Rita, her taxi driver is her perfect match donor and her chance to live a normal life. To me, that qualifies Thomas Chappell as a real live angel!

Rise in Drugs Abused by Teenagers Now Include Stimulants Prescribed for ADHD

A growing worry about drugs abused by teenagers now include stimulants prescribed for ADHD. An alarming new study shows calls to poison control centers regarding teens abusing attention deficit drugs rose 76 percent over eight years.  

The calls were made not only by concerned parents but also by emergency room doctors and others. Four deaths were among the cases evaluated in the study.

Researchers from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center evaluated 1998-2005 data from the American Association of Poison Control Centers. Nationwide, during that time, calls related to teenage abuse of ADHD drugs, specifically stimulants, increased from 330 to 581 yearly. Overall, 42 percent of the teens involved had moderate to severe side effects and most ended up obtaining emergency treatment.

The study author Dr. Randall Bond, medical director of the hospital’s Drug and Poison Information Center, said the true number of teen abusers who have bad side effects is likely much higher, because many cases don’t result in calls to poison control centers.

Mark Stein, a psychiatry professor and ADHD expert at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said abuse typically involves crushing and snorting the pills, which speeds up the effects and can produce a buzz or sense of euphoria–along with dangerous side effects.

These life threatening side effects include agitation, rapid heartbeat, and extremely high blood pressure.

Kids who develop serious side effects should be taken to the emergency room, where sedatives can be used to treat the problem, Stein said.

The study lacks information on whether abusers were teens with ADHD but evidence suggests many were not.

Interestingly, Stein said the study should not deter use of ADHD drugs in teens who really need them, particularly since there’s evidence that kids with ADHD who don’t get medication are at risk for abusing illicit drugs.

Getting Ready to Plant Bulbs for Spring Blooming

I’ve been busy getting  ready to plant bulbs for spring blooming. Next spring I want to see clusters of yellow, red, purple and pink in every nook and cranny of my yard!

This last spring I tried my first ever bulb planting with 3 little ole bags of gladiolas I bought at the dollar store. I had 12 bulbs all together. Didn’t really have a clue about how to plant them but just followed the simple instructions on the bag and lo and behold 12 absolutely gorgeous gladiolas bloomed!  My glads were a variety of colors-yellow, red, lavender, white, pink and a really eye catching salmon color.

The best part about bulbs is they should come back every year.

Now I can’t wait to plant lots of bulbs this fall so I can enjoy them in the spring. I’m shopping for tulips, of course, daffodils, hyacinth and crocus. There are so many different varieties and colors to choose from but  shopping for them is part of the fun! I’m wearing my bulb catalog out!

Every time I plant something I think of that little poem:

Who plants a seed beneath the sod
And waits to see
Believes in God

It’s so easy to put a little bulb in the ground and then stand back and wait for the miracle to happen. If you’ve never tried it, you’re in for a refreshing treat.

You too should be getting ready to plant bulbs for spring blooming!

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