Cystic Fibrosis

Stacy M. Danko, a retired registered nurse who was also a longtime cystic fibrosis survivor and a spokeswoman for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, died Friday of complications from the chronic disease at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The North Baltimore resident was 44. "Stacy's life was defined by her courage in dealing with the challenges of cystic fibrosis. She represented hope and optimism and the fact that hope sometimes is truly the best medicine," Dr. Robert J. Beall, president and chief executive officer of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, said yesterday.

For Essex comic book collector Joseph A. Cramer, terminally ill with cystic fibrosis, owning a comic book kiosk for several weeks was a dream come true.With help from the Grant-A-Wish Foundation and Steve Geppi, president of Diamond Comic Distributors, and the Rouse Co., young Cramer opened Comic Copia at a kiosk in the Mall in Columbia for several weeks in December 1995.Joey Cramer died Tuesday at his Essex home. He was 17."He was recommended to us by Joy Goldberger, a child life specialist at Johns Hopkins Hospital," said Linda Krach, program director for the Grant-A-Wish Foundation.

Morgan A. Fogle is battling a fatal disease with the same determination she tackles school tasks and karate chops.The 6-year-old New Windsor girl is the 1997 calendar child for the state Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The photograph of a robust, smiling Morgan pulling a puppy on a skateboard graces the cover on a brochure listing the organization's monthly fund-raisers."That picture told the whole story, and the foundation unanimously agreed it should be on the cover," said Joan Rettaliata, director of special events for the foundation.

IT'S THE SECOND time Mount Airy Volunteer Fire Company has been there to help the Esworthy family.More than 35 years ago, fire company volunteers went door to door collecting donations to help little Joan Esworthy, who suffered from cystic fibrosis and died in infancy.Fire company members are rallying again, organizing a fund to help Chris Esworthy, Joan's younger brother, who also was born with the disease. The Mount Airy native was a fire company volunteer until he moved to Westminster three years ago.Most cystic fibrosis patients don't survive past their early 20s, but Chris, who is 30, has been fortunate and has lived a relatively healthy life until recently.

Univax Biologics Inc., a Rockville-based biotechnology company, said yesterday that it has formed a partnership with Genzyme Corp. under which Genzyme will underwrite most of the costs of clinical trials to test a possible treatment for a respiratory infection that kills 95 percent of cystic fibrosis patients.Genzyme, based in Cambridge, Mass., will invest $5 million in Univax stock and will provide $6 million in payments to the Maryland company in return for marketing rights to HyperGAM+CF, a therapy for fighting the pseudomonas bacteria.

WASHINGTON -- A scientific panel gave its approva yesterday for experimental gene therapy for cystic fibrosis patients, marking the first time the revolutionary but still-developing technique will be tried against so prevalent and lethal a disease.The unanimous approval by the federal Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee underscores the accelerating pace of gene therapy experiments.Until now, they had been tried only against a handful of extremely rare genetic diseases and a few types of cancers for which there are no cures.

At the molecular level, electricity governs so much of the interaction that drives the life force of organisms. Photosynthesis, by which green plants use sunlight to make food; vision, which tells an animal what to eat, run from or mate with; or the explosive bursts of energy that move a predator to the dinner table. Even thought itself.Until recently, little was known about the electrical interactions of cells. Two German scientists, Erwin Neher, 47, and Bert Sakmann, 49, began two decades ago to perfect their "patch clamp" technique, which can detect currents crossing a cell's outer membrane that are so small they must be measured in trillionths of an ampere.

Sandy Scott has a vested interest in raising money to help find a cure for cystic fibrosis.Scott, Westminster's chairwoman for Bowl USA, an annual fund-raiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, has twoyoung children with the inherited disease, which affects the lungs and digestive tract."

IT'S THAT TIME again, faithful party animals, to dust off your tux, scrape the clam dip off your favorite cocktail dress and find out if your checking account balance is sufficient to withstand some serious dipping into for this season's dizzying lineup of fund-raisers. If that doesn't make you a little weak in the knees, grab your scissors and clip this out for future reference.LAST NIGHT'S BSO gala was, of course, the official kickoff of the social season, but don't fret 'cause there's plenty more.

Emmylou Harris concert at Merriweather to aid cystic fibrosis 0) researchCountry vocalist Emmylou Harris will perform at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia as part of the third annual concert for Cystic Fibrosis.Ms. Harris, 43, sang backup with Gram Parsons, one of the creators of country rock, until his death in 1973, then in 1975 started her own band. Hosted by the Hard Travelers, the concert will also feature Charlie Byrd, Pete Kennedy, Schooner Fare, Bill Danoff, Donal Leace and Allen Damron.

Stacy M. Danko, a retired registered nurse who was also a longtime cystic fibrosis survivor and a spokeswoman for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, died Friday of complications from the chronic disease at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The North Baltimore resident was 44. "Stacy's life was defined by her courage in dealing with the challenges of cystic fibrosis. She represented hope and optimism and the fact that hope sometimes is truly the best medicine," Dr. Robert J. Beall, president and chief executive officer of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, said yesterday.

On Friday, July 4th, 2008, TRICIA BROOKE BOWLEY, cherished wife of Jeffrey Bennett Carlson, from complications of cystic fibrosis. Devoted stepmother of Christopher John Carlson and Caela Ann Carlson. Dear sister of Robert F. Bowley III. Daughter of Robert F. Bowley Jr. and Linda Waiting Prior. Treasured aunt of four. In lieu of flowers the family has requested a donation be made in Tricia's name to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation at 10155 York Road, Suite 101, Cockeysville, MD, 21030.

Two hours a day, Jeff Davis works at staying alive. He inhales a succession of medications, runs on a treadmill and sometimes performs breathing exercises that produce gurgly, crackling sounds. It's tedious work, crammed into a life that includes a full-time job as a machinist and leisure time with his wife and two young children in the horse country north of Westminster. But it has paid dividends: A generation ago, few people with cystic fibrosis lived past their teens - and Davis is 35. If there's a miracle in this story, it's that Davis is fairly typical, having soldiered through childhood with a closet full of medications and parents who spent untold hours thumping his torso to keep his lungs clear.

A Harford County couple accused of starving their 8-year-old adopted Russian son pleaded guilty yesterday to first-degree child abuse resulting in death. Additional charges, including second-degree murder and four child-abuse charges, were dropped against Samuel Merryman, 40, and his wife, Donna Jean Merryman, 45, of Whiteford. In January 2005, their youngest son, Dennis Gene Merryman, was found dead on his bedroom floor. At the time of his adoption from Russia in 2000, he was 4 years old, weighed 39 pounds and was 38 1/2 inches tall.

FLASHBACK TO THE 1940S AT THE SCOTTISH Rite, courtesy the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The theme for this, the 15th annual Harbor Gala, was "Swanky Club Soiree." When guests entered the building, they were greeted with a glass of champagne and tunes from a trio of would-be Andrews Sisters. And when it was time for supper, they made their way downstairs to the ballroom, which was decked out in glamorous white linens and ostrich-feather centerpieces. But, what made those nightclubs -- like the Coconut Grove, Copacabana and Latin Quarter -- the "in" places in their day was the chi-chi crowd who went there.

Grants The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has awarded a four-year, $1.5 million grant to Lai-Xi Wang, an associate professor of chemistry at the Institute of Human Virology in Baltimore. The grant will be used to study how carbohydrates in the HIV virus can stimulate the body's immune system. Wang's research will contribute to the institute's quest to develop an HIV vaccine. IHV is a center of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute and affiliated with the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Herbert C. Buchanan Jr., a Chicago hospital executive with a background in health care administration and engineering, has been named senior vice president and chief operating officer of the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. He comes from Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he served as vice president for operations since 2001. A native of Maryland, Buchanan grew up in Prince George's County, earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a master's in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, and a master's in hospital and health service management from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Hip-hop culture The Elements Party, a regular event in Baltimore that's organized by Timmy Grins of the hip hop group Arcane and DJ P-Funk of QBeats, is named after the four elements of hip-hop culture: MCing, DJing, graffiti-ing and breakdancing. This month, the party will feature the OkayPlayer Fall Tour, consisting of underground performers Little Brother, The Away Team, Yahzarah, The Foreign Exchange and L.E.G.A.C.Y. with 360 and Bishop. The Elements Party will be held at 9 p.m. tomorrow at the Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St. Admission is $14 at the door.

Celiac disease, a digestive disorder that can cause children to starve no matter how much they eat, is much more common than previously thought, according to a study by researchers at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Despite the perception that the disorder is rare, Dr. Alessio Fasano found celiac disease in 1 out of 133 people who did not have obvious symptoms or risk factors. This means celiac disease may afflict more than 1.5 million Americans, making it more common than Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and cystic fibrosis combined.

KAREN GEISSLER of Ellicott City spent a good deal of her youth going from door to door in her Pennsylvania hometown with a can in her hand, collecting donations for various causes. "Sometimes I was collecting for cystic fibrosis, sometimes I was collecting for cancer," she said. "I just felt like it was something I could do, and I did it willingly." She started when she was in elementary school, but her efforts intensified in high school, when her boyfriend's sister died of cystic fibrosis, she said.