hospital

Filed under: Regular Contributors, Lewis Schofield, Themes, Auties & Aspies, Irked Videos

Quoting Elyse Bruce:

Recently, the news carried an item about Canadian Blood Services. In light of the H1N1 flu and vaccines, blood donors have been shying away from donating blood. Blood donations are important all year round however they are even more important at this time of year. In some areas, blood donations are half of the required weekly minimum for hospitals in their region.

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After hearing the news, 14-year-old Lewis “Codeboy” Schofield decided to do what he could to help get the word out that blood donations are greatly needed, after having undergone IVIg treatments in 2008 and 2009. So he scripted, filmed and produced this 55 second PSA currently uploaded to YouTube.

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Please forward the link to this video to friends, family, colleagues and the media in your area. It doesn’t matter if you live in Canada or live in another country … blood donations save lives!

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Thanks!

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Elyse Bruce
Lewis Schofield’s mom
Peterborough, Ontario

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To buy Lewis’ beautiful art cards (with 20% of the proceeds going to autism organizations) CLICK HERE.

And then…

Read Irked posts tagged “Lewis Schofield”
Read Irked posts tagged “advocacy”

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Filed under: Themes, The Skinny on Fat

Quoting Erin Matson’s truly beautiful editorial for minnesota.publicradio.org:

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“I remember flipping through fashion magazines disinterestedly as a girl, never realizing the extent to which Photoshop could be used as a weapon of mass destruction.

We have all come to expect that photos of models are airbrushed in advertisements and fashion magazines. It’s a fact—one that’s all too easy to swallow and throw back up.

Recently, Ralph Lauren fired size-four model Filippa Hamilton, allegedly for being too large. This story is an outrage in itself. She is, by the standards of the World Health Organization, underweight.

What made me want to burst into tears was far worse: A dramatically Photoshopped Ralph Lauren ad that surfaced in Japan after she had been fired.

I know all too well that the modeling and fashion industries love to portray women who struggle with eating disorders or have been digitally altered to dangerously unrealistic standards, and they do it with dramatic glamour.

While I was dying of anorexia during my late teens, I was recruited by modeling agencies three times. One of the times I was hospitalized, a fellow patient climbed on stage at the Mall of America to win a modeling contest while on a day pass, her hospital bracelet flopping off her wrist as she waved to an applauding crowd.

Recently, Self magazine ran a “total body confidence” issue and digitally slenderized singer Kelly Clarkson before putting her on the cover, even though she has said that she’s comfortable with herself just the way she is.

Women and girls are watching, and the results aren’t pretty. Eighty-one percent of 10-year-old girls are afraid of being fat, and an estimated 10 million … CONTINUE READING THIS WONDERFUL ESSAY

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Join the National Organization for Women’s “Love Your Body” campaign

Then…

Read Irked posts tagged “body image”

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Filed under: Themes, Bum Deal

According to Philip Stern writing October 9th on the Homeless Man Speaks website, Tony Clemens’ heart was “a thin beat away from not working at all. The cardiologists are doing everything they can. Thank god for socialized medicine. Tony says many, many thanks for all the good wishes and prayers.”

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Then, writing October 16th in a post titled On the street once more, Philip states: “Tony was sprung—so to say—yesterday. He’s back at his old location [on Roncesvalles Avenue]. His face has good colour (it’s autumn, after all). I bought him a coffee from Alternative Grounds and I gave him a toonie so he could buy a bagel from Mabel’s.

Learn more at HomelessManSpeaks.com

And…

Read all Irked posts tagged “Tony Clemens”

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Filed under: Themes, Bum Deal

Quoting Philip Stern, writing on HomelessManSpeaks.com:

Hi Everyone, I just visited Tony at St. Joe’s. He’s got cancer, probably in the lungs, though it’s not certain if it’s in one lung or two—or even which lung. While I was there, the doctors took him for an x-ray, but I don’t know the results—if any. In addition, he’s got heart problems, and an ugly hernia protruding from his upper abdomen.

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Our thoughts, prayers, support, and deepest deepest condolences are with Tony during this difficult time.

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Keep up to date at HomelessManSpeaks.com

And…

Read all Irked posts tagged “Tony Clemens”

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*PLEASE NOTE: Tony’s on the 4th floor of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Toronto, Room #4M16. If you’d like to visit him, he’d be delighted. Any ready-to-eat food you can bring him (only stuff that is easily chewable) will be very much appreciated, as his appetite is well beyond what hospital meal portions can fulfill. Before you visit, check the hospital visiting times and associated regulations at stjoe.on.ca/patients/visitor/index.php.

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Filed under: Themes, Bum Deal

Remember Tony Clemens, the warmhearted homeless blogger we first profiled in March 2008 and then again in October ‘08?

Tony’s not doing so well.

Updates…after the jump

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Filed under: Regular Contributors, Lewis Schofield, Themes, Auties & Aspies, QuIrked Kids

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Quoting trentu.ca:

The Trent University Award for Youth Leadership recognizes individuals under the age of 25 who play a leading role in their community. Lewis Schofield educates youth and adults globally about Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome and Myasthenia Gravis, a rare and complex neuromuscular autoimmune disease for which there is no cure. Mr. Schofield raises money for Autism organizations in Canada and the United States while promoting awareness, tolerance and acceptance of difference through his artwork, writings and videos in the classroom, in the community and on the internet. Mr. Schofield is 14 years old and has Asperger Syndrome and Myasthenia Gravis. To accelerate the establishment of the student bursaries in honour of the Community Leaders Award winners, donors can take advantage of the Ontario Trust for Student Support Program (OTSS). Established by the Government of Ontario in 2005, OTSS matches endowed donations on a dollar-for-dollar basis to provide bursaries and awards to Ontario students. On October 26 2009, Trent University will host a gala event to pay tribute to the 2009 winners.

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Quoting a recent article about Lewis, also on trentu.ca:

[Lewis] raises money for autism organizations in Canada and the U.S. by selling his Art Cards online. He is also a junior moderator on FAM Family Autism Forum on Yahoo groups, providing parents with insight and understanding from a kid’s perspective on living with what he calls “an alphabet soup of diagnoses.” Lewis is also a “SouperIntendent” and regular contributor to Irked Magazine, where he has attracted readers globally since 2006 for his writings, interviews, information and currently a series of humourous videos, “Wisecrackin’ with Lewis Schofield.” “I guess I’m just not afraid to say what I’m thinking when it really matters to me,” he explains. In his interview with the International Best-Seller, Donna Williams, Lewis is asked about the “extras” that he has been diagnosed with. “I understand that you’re a kind of burger with the lot, that your AS includes added extras,” Williams asks. To this Lewis replies, “Boy oh boy–do I ever have extras and it’s ketchup for sure. I have Anxiety Disorder, Sensory Integration Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Learning Disabilities, Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities, Severe Allergies and Asthma. That’s a lot of things to have on a burger, don’t you think?” Lewis was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis in 2008, a rare autoimmune disorder and neuro-muscular disease usually found in seniors that causes extreme fatigue and muscle weakness, slack jaw, semi-closed eye lids, face droop and trouble breathing. He created a video called, “Tell Me What Time It Is,” on You Tube describing his experience with the diagnosis and explaining the procedure of Intravenous Hemo Globulin (IVIG) treatment. The video includes text with facts about the disease, narrated with original music composed by Lewis. “He exhibits a startling and rare ability to take his pain and play with it, to communicate it to others and have them learn from it,” writes Sacha Vais, Managing Editor of Irked Magazine . . . Lewis describes how being the way he is makes him strive harder to get things right: “It makes me want to change things in the world so kids and babies feel safe almost all the time. It’s not enough to want to make things better for people. You have to really make things better…You don’t have to do something really big to make a difference. You just have to do something. Otherwise, nothing changes or gets better.”

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Learn more >>

Article in The Peterborough Examiner

News segment on CHEX Television

Click here for all Irked posts by Lewis

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Filed under: Uncategorized

Quoting The New York Times:

Earlier last month, news of a surgical “cure” that touts a high success rate ricocheted worldwide. The double-blind study, published in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, found that more than 80 percent of patients who underwent surgery in one of three “trigger sites” significantly reduced their number of headaches compared with more than 55 percent of the group who had sham surgery. More than half of the patients with the real surgery reported a “complete elimination” of headaches compared with about 4 percent of the placebo group. Forehead lifts are cosmetic procedures that plastic surgeons typically perform to smooth furrowed brows. But a decade ago, after some of his patients reported that their migraines improved post-operation, Dr. Bahman Guyuron, a plastic surgeon and the lead author of the study, began to search for a surgical solution that could address migraine trigger points—which he defines as where the headache begins and settles—in the forehead, temples and the back of the head. Headache specialists tend to be neurologists or internists, so Dr. Guyuron’s work has not always been taken seriously.

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Read the entire article on NYTimes.com >>

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Filed under: Irked Videos

Jason Koger is a loving husband to his wife Jenny and father to his beautiful girls Billie Grace and Cambell Leigh. Anyone who has ever come in contact with Jason knows what a wonderful, kind and caring person he is (and that he gets it from his upbringing). He is the type of person that would give you the shirt off his back and expect nothing in return.

On March 1, 2008 Jason was involved in a horrible accident in which he was electrocuted by a down power line. Both of Jason’s arms were amputated below the elbow and he’s been facing the long road to recovery.

In ordinary circumstances, this might seem like a hopeless cause, but not in Jason’s case. He is a fighter with the drive and determination to overcome this obstacle, and he will win.

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Watch Jason’s commercial for Superior O&P

Read Jason and Jenny’s detailed journal

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Filed under: Uncategorized

Hilary Lister is a 37-year-old quadriplegic yachtswoman—she can only move her head, eyes and mouth. Hilary recently became the first female quadriplegic to sail solo around the UK. Wow!

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Filed under: Regular Contributors, Lewis Schofield, Themes, Auties & Aspies, QuIrked Kids, Campaign Watch

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Market Hall Performing Arts Centre

336 George Street North in Peterborough, Ontario

Doors Open: 6:30 p.m.

Show Starts: 7:00 p.m.

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