an eye doctor in a third world country: Jun 26, 2007

CARCAR BOY HERO: A REFLECTION OF APATHY AMIDST POVERTY AND TRAGEDY, but sometimes, stories have happy events, but not always a happy ending.

Boy who saves brother gets scholarship, cash

By Nilda Gallo
Cebu Daily News
Last updated 02:05pm (Mla time) 06/26/2007

Cebu, Philippines - The future appears brighter for a nine-year-old boy who saved his five-year-old brother from a fire that engulfed their home in an interior village in southern Carcar town last Saturday.

The chancellor of a big university in Cebu City has pledged to provide free education and P10,000 in financial assistance to Antonio “Dan Boy” Fernandez Jr. and his family.

The provincial government also promised to extend assistance to help the boy's family rebuild their home in Sitio (district) Cambuntan, Barangay (village) Bolinawan in Carcar, which was gutted down by the fire caused by an unattended kerosene lamp.

Candice Gotianuy, daughter of the president and owner of the University of Cebu (UC), Augusto Go, said she would provide a scholarship to Dan Boy from grade school to college. She would also give P10,000 in financial help the boy and his family.

She said she was moved by the story of Dan Boy which came out in Cebu Daily News on Monday.

“I'm doing this because I was touched with the statement of the boy wanting to work in a bakery because there is bread,” she said.

Gotianuy said the boy needs an education if the family is pinning their hopes on him.

She said Sr. Sandra Clemente, UC community extension officer, would coordinate with Carcar Mayor Patrick Barcenas to locate the family and inform them of the good news.

Linda Vasquez, a staff member of Carcar Municipal Social Welfare, said Antonio Fernandez Sr. brought along his three sons - Dan Boy, five-year-old Nathaniel and three-year-old Kent – to their office on Monday morning to ask for help.

But she said the family was told to return on July 2.

Vasquez said they would have wanted to give the family P3,000 – the maximum amount that the town could extend to fire victims. But they were prohibited to do so due to the scheduled plebiscite for the town's conversion into a city on July 1, she added.

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia promised to help the boy's family and sent provincial social worker Marivic Garces to assess their needs.

“We are extending financial assistance to rebuild their house and we are also giving them assistance in kind...we will maximize the assistance, as to how much we are allowed to give,” she said.

She also instructed the social worker to make the necessary arrangement with the Carcar municipal government to ensure that the family would have a place to stay in.

“I hope to meet him (Dan Boy) soon. I plan to give him citation. Yup, I am seriously thinking of giving him educational assistance,” she said.

While Garces had yet to submit her report and recommendation, the provincial government, in the meantime, would give rice, sardines and noodles to the family.

Dan Boy was playing with his brother Kent in his aunt's home in Cambuntan on Saturday afternoon when he heard Nathaniel crying and saw smoke coming from their home.

He immediately ran home. Their father Antonio Sr. was out driving a trisikad (a bicycle with side car) to earn a living.

Dan Boy got scared when he saw Nathaniel crying a few feet away from the door, as the fire crept behind his brother. He immediately ran up, carried his brother and stormed out of the house.

He wanted to go back to get some clothes but the fire had already engulfed his home.

Antonio Sr. and the three kids are forced to take shelter in a two-meter-by-1.5-meter open shanty located near the ricefields after their relatives and neighbors refused to take them into their homes.

They were afraid that the bad luck that struck the Fernandez family would spread to them – a superstitious belief associated to fire victims. It was widely believed in the neighborhood that they should wait three days before they would invite fire victims to their homes because by then, the bad luck had dissipated.

Although they did not save anything, not even a single piece of clothing, Antonio Sr. is grateful that he still has his children.

He said he was also thankful for his son's quick thinking.

Dan Boy has been assuming the responsibility of taking care of his younger siblings whenever their father was out of the house to work. He would cook for them and feed them.

Because he has to take care of his siblings, Dan Boy has to stop going to school.

But he has simple dreams: “Gusto kong motrabaho sa bakery, kay naay daghang pan (I want to work in a bakery because there is plenty of bread there).” /with reports from Chief of Reporters Suzzane S. Alueta

thanks to Uncle Vip for the buzz

WWE Smackdown in Manila

WE CAME , WE WATCHED, WE SCREAMED.

THE PRIZED TICKETS

JOE'S HANDWRITTEN POSTER TO BATISTA

GO PAUL LONDON !, clap 2x AND REPEAT, GO PAUL LONDON!

ONE , TWO, AWHHHS!

BATISTA ! BATISTA ! BATISTA !

GO BENOIT, GO BENOIT, GO BENOIT

GOODBYE, CHRIS BENOIT !

RIP

CHRIS BENOIT, WWE WRESTLER, FOUND DEAD AT HOME WITH WIFE AND SON,

Chris Benoit

My Son was wearing his Benoit shirt when I told him of the tragedy that has happened. WWE repeatedly shouts that "Please do not do this at home", are we still going to believe this crap from the purveyor of all things violent.

By DEBBIE NEWBY, Associated Press Writer
June 26, 2007

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. (AP) -- Pro wrestler Chris Benoit canceled a pay-per-view appearance at the "Vengeance" event in Houston because of "personal reasons" a day before he, his wife and their 7-year-old son were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide.

Details of the deaths "are going to prove a little bizarre" when released to the public, Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Autopsies were scheduled Tuesday by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in DeKalb County.

Authorities were investigating the deaths at a secluded Fayette County home as a murder-suicide and were not seeking any suspects.

Investigators believe Benoit, (pronounced ben-WAH) killed his wife and son over the weekend and then himself sometime Monday. The bodies were found Monday afternoon in three different rooms of the house on Green Meadow Lane, in a subdivision off a gravel road about two miles from the Whitewater Country Club.

Ballard told The Associated Press a gun was not used in any of the deaths. But he declined to say how the three died.

"We're pretty sure we know, but we want to confirm it with the crime lab," Ballard said early Tuesday.

Fayette County Coroner C.J. Mowell did not return phone calls. The answering service for his funeral home said he was out of town.

World Wrestling Entertainment said on its Web site that it asked authorities to check on Benoit and his family after being alerted by friends who received "several curious text messages sent by Benoit early Sunday morning."

Sheriff's Lt. Tommy Pope told WSB-TV that the three were found about 2:30 p.m., but he wouldn't release other details.

Stamford, Conn.-based WWE also said on its Web site it had been asked by authorities not to release further information on the deaths of Benoit, 40; his wife, Nancy, 43; and son, Daniel.

Benoit was born in Montreal. He was a former world heavyweight champion, Intercontinental champion and held several tag-team titles over his career. He was known by several names including "The Canadian Crippler."

"WWE extends its sincerest thoughts and prayers to the Benoit family's relatives and loved ones in this time of tragedy," the company said in a statement on its Web site.

Benoit had maintained a home in metro Atlanta from the time he wrestled for the defunct World Championship Wrestling.

The WWE canceled its live "Monday Night RAW" card in Corpus Christi, Texas, and USA Network aired a three-hour tribute to Benoit in place of the scheduled wrestling telecast.

Benoit's wife managed several wrestlers and went by the stage name, "Woman," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

They met when her then-husband drew up a script that had them involved in a relationship as part of an ongoing story line on World Championship Wrestling, the newspaper said.

Benoit has two other children from a prior relationship.

	Cataracts There are over 1 million Cataract operations performed annually in the USA. Cataract surgery is an outpatient procedure with a very high success rate. Due to the lack of modern medical technology in the developing world, it is also the world's leading cause of blindness. Over 16 million people are blind from cataracts.

	Diabetic Retinopathy This complication of diabetes is a leading cause of blindness among middle-aged Americans. The longer a person has had diabetes the more apt they are to develop diabetic retinopathy. Laser surgery can slow the progression of this disease along with management of blood glucose levels. There are 2.4 million people blind from retinopathy worldwide.

	Glaucoma This disease increases the fluid pressure inside the eye, leading to loss of side vision and eventually total blindness. The increased pressure destroys the optic nerve. With early detection, it can be kept under control with pressure reducing eye drops and surgery. Chances of developing it increase with age. There are over five million people blind from glaucoma worldwide.

	Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) This is a degenerative disease of the macula; the macula is the part of the retina responsible for central vision. There is no way yet of repairing the vision that has been lost, but if detected early laser surgery can help slow the progression of the disease. (AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss in people over age 65. Eight million people are legally blind from macular degeneration worldwide and as the population ages this number is expected to grow.

	Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) This rare inherited degenerative disease slowly destroys the retina. Signs of (RP) first show up in early childhood. The side vision is lost first. The disease progresses over many years leaving the person with only a small portion of their central vision. There is no cure for (RP) yet. There are 1.6 million people blind from (RP) worldwide.

	Left Field Homonymous Hemianopia A left (or right) homonymous hemianopia (also called hemianopsia) means that the patient cannot see anything in the entire left or right visual field in both eyes. Because both eyes are affected more or less equally, the location of the problem must be at the optic chiasm or further back along the visual pathways. Some patients may state, truthfully, that they cannot see anything in the affected visual field. But sometimes the patient may be able to fixate or look directly at or point to a visual object located in the affected visual field, even though they do not consciously "see" the object. This condition is referred to as "Blind Sight."

	Left Field Homonymous Hemianopia with Macular Sparing Sometimes a left homonymous hemianopia (hemianopsia) will not include the very central part of the visual field, called the macula. As a consequence, "...with macular sparing."

	Migraine Fortification Phenomenon Sometimes in a migraine, the patient will experience visual symptoms similar to that shown to the left. The center of the visual effect may be in the patients central vision or it may appear off to one side. First, the very central part of vision is affected with decreased vision and the shimmering appearance of lines as illustrated. As time goes by, the area of vision affected grows and when central vision may appear somewhat blurred, the shimmering lines expand outward and may engulf most of the visual field. The visual effect affects both eyes similarly. Once the visual effect diminishes, vision returns to normal and the patient may experience other symptoms of the migraine including headache, nausea, loss of balance, ringing in the ears and other body sensations.

	Ring or Donut Scotoma A ring or donut shaped scotoma is an area of reduced vision that forms a shape similar to a ring or donut - the patient can see fine in the center and off-center a little bit but then there is an area of reduced vision followed by another area or normal vision as depicted in the photograph. Sometimes the ring or donut will not be totally round or complete but may appear like two crescent moons facing each other. A ring scotoma is often an early sign of a serious retinal disease/degeneration such as retinitis pigmentosa or other type of rod-cone degeneration.

	Scotomas Caused by Pituitary Tumors (Lesions) Pituitary tumors (lesions, classic pituitary adenomas) can sometimes cause very different losses of vision in the left and right eyes. For example, as simulated in the pictures, with the left eye the patient may see clearly only on the right side while with the right eye the patient may see clearly only on the left side. If the scotomas (i.e., blind spots in vision) are large, the patient may experience unstable vision characterized by bouts of double vision (diplopia) and confusion with object localization in 3D space. Visual acuity may also be affected in one or both eyes, again sometimes very differently: Visual acuity can be 20/20 in one eye and the patient may only be able to count fingers with the other eye. Any field loss of vision warrants an immediate trip to the eye doctor; ASAP. Other types of pathology can also cause visual field losses, so just because you have a field loss does not mean that you have a pituitary tumor. Left eye view shown in top photo, right eye view on bottom.