Predicting shifts in technology and science can be tricky, but here’s what could happen in 2020 – inews

NewsScienceIt's likely to be an eventful year for gene editing and stem cell research

Tuesday, 31st December 2019, 7:03 am

Gene editing

It was suggested that prime editing has the potential to mend about 89 per cent of the 75,000 harmful genetic mutations that lie behind hereditary diseases, such as cystic fibrosis and the blood disorder sickle cell disease.

3D rockets

Major strides were made in rocket science last year, with a number of 3D-printed engine prototypes being successfully tested.

This year, Relativity Space, a California startup, hopes to go one better. It plans to become the first company in the world to print almost an entire rocket 95 per cent of it which it hopes will be ready for launching at the end of the year.

Only a handful of components, such as electronics and circuit boards, will have to be made by hand for the craft, named Teran 1.

If successful, the launch will pave the way for numerous 3D-printed rockets to be sent into space much more quickly and cheaply than they are at the moment.

Stem cells

Scientists are working around the world on trials of promising stem-cell treatments for blindness, spinal cord injury, heart failure, diabetes, Parkinsons disease and lung cancer, and some of the first results should become available later in the year.

Embryonic, or pluripotent, stem cells have extraordinary medical potential because they can develop into any of the 220 or so mature, specialised cells of the body, from insulin-making pancreatic cells to the nerve cells of the brain.

Mars

The 2020 mission of the ExoMars programme, if all goes to plan, will deliver a European rover and a Russian platform to the surface of Mars.

ExoMars will be the first mission to combine the capability to move across the surface of the planet and to the ability study Mars at depth. Meanwhile, Nasa will launch a separate mission to study the habitability of Mars and prepare for future human missions.

Smart needle

They have demonstrated that the technique works in the laboratory, and are in the early stages of a three-year clinical trial to test it in living people.

The researchers have focused on lymphoma so far, but said that they are hopeful the technique could also be used further down the line to diagnose other forms of the disease, such as breast and prostate cancer.

At the moment, diagnosing lymphoma can be an invasive process that involves a surgical biopsy followed by a nerve-racking wait for the result, which can often take two weeks or more.

The smart needle uses light to pinpoint cancerous tissues almost instantaneously.

Using a technique called Raman spectroscopy, the optical biopsy measures the light scattered by tissues when a laser contained in the needle is shone on it.

The light scatters differently from healthy tissues than it does from diseased tissues, meaning that doctors can make their diagnosis straight away.

Japan's robotic Olympics

Japan has pledged to make the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics the most innovative in history by deploying robots to assist spectators and staff during the games.

The Human Support Robot (HSR) and Delivery Support Robot (DSR), developed by Toyota, will be used in tandem.

HSR, a one-armed robot about 3ft (1m) tall, can hold objects, pick things up off the ground and reach up high. It can move by itself, or can be controlled remotely as it attends to people in wheelchairs, guiding them to their seats and helping to carry items.

When people order food or drinks using a tablet computer, DSR will transport the items in a basket and HSR will then deliver them directly to guests.

Waste to Energy

The worlds largest waste-to-energy plant is set to open on the outskirts of Shenzhen, China. The new plant is made to handle 5000 tons of waste per day, burning the waste to generate electricity.

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Predicting shifts in technology and science can be tricky, but here's what could happen in 2020 - inews

None of these four beaming children would be alive today if a stranger had not given blood – The Sun

HERE are four beaming children none of whom would be alive today if a stranger had not given blood.

Each of their lives was saved by a transfusion, yet many of us never find the time to sign up to become a donor.

NHS Blood and Transplant is encouraging readers to make giving blood one of their New Year resolutions.

It is particularly calling on men to donate because their blood can be more suitable for treating patients. The families of these four survivors tell Lynsey Hope their stories.

'We worry every day he might suffer a serious bleed'

GEORGE CLAXTON lives with mum Faye, 36, a salon owner, dad Luke, 34, an electrical engineer, and sister Ella, six, in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. Faye says:

"When George was 14 months old he was diagnosed with a rare platelet disorder.

"The condition doesnt have a name but it means his blood cant clot properly.

"Tiny blood cells called platelets in his blood are the wrong shape and size and he has to take medication daily.

"We found out he had it after he suffered a virus and came out with a rash.

"Its called petechiae but can look similar to meningitis.

"We took George to A&E at Hinchingbrooke Hospital near Huntington. Blood tests came back negative and we were sent home.

"But two weeks later, we were back again.

"We were referred to specialists at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, who discovered George was bleeding under the skin.

"Its been hard to accept its a lifelong condition and not something that can be cured.

"There have been two occasions when George has needed a transfusion.

"The first was in June 2016.

"Doctors had to perform a transfusion before he had a tooth extracted to make sure he didnt bleed too much during the procedure.

"In May last year, he fell over in the school playground and hurt his elbow, causing a bleed in his joint.

"George has been brave from the start.

"He loves football but we worry every day he may have an accident that causes a serious bleed.

"He can also have spontaneous bleeds.

"His little sister was also diagnosed with the condition.

"She hasnt needed a transfusion yet but she may do and that is devastating for us as parents.

"Were so grateful to people who donate blood.

"It can enable people to live."

'Just an hour of your time could be the gift of a lifetime'

JESSICA FAY lives in Burnley with her mum Laura Bell, 32, dad Adam Fay, 39, who is a carer, and her brothers Kyle, 14, Denver, 13, Jayden, eight and Taylor, six. Laura, a full-time mum, says:

"Jessica was diagnosed with meningitis and septicaemia when she was 15 weeks old.

"I took her to the GP when she started feeling unwell.

"She wasnt feeding and had a high temperature.

"The doctor was concerned and said I must take her straight to hospital.

"Within hours of arriving at A&E, Jessica stopped breathing and was put on life-support.

"The disease had taken over her body and, one by one, her organs were shutting down.

"There was only one option. A blood transfusion might dilute the infection in her blood and give her a chance.

"There was a risk her body would reject the blood and we knew if that happened wed lose her.

"Incredibly though, that blood transfusion saved her life.

"She remained in intensive care for a week and, after three weeks, she came home.

"Jessica was being given so many treatments in those terrible few weeks that I didnt think too much about where the blood had come from.

"But when she recovered, I realised that without it she would not have made it. Unfortunately, Jessica suffered some brain damage because of what happened.

"She has social communication disorder and finds it hard to make friends.

"She is an incredible child and Im so grateful to whoever it was that took the time to donate blood for her.

"If someone hadnt donated that blood, Jessica would be dead.

"She has done all she can to give something back.

"Shes raised thousands of pounds for charity by organising events in the community.

"I would urge anyone who can to give blood it is just an hour of your time but it could be the gift of a lifetime to a child like Jessica.'

'Our baby can be in a lot of pain due to the disease'

EZRAH PINK was born with sickle cell disease. He lives with his mum Serena, 30, who looks after an office building, and her partner Courtney, 32, an estate agent, in Beckenham, Kent. Serena says:

"We knew before Ezrah was born that he might have sickle cell disease.

"When I was pregnant, doctors found out I carried a gene.

"About a week after he was born, they confirmed Ezrah had the disease.

"People with sickle cell produce unusual C-shaped red blood cells, meaning they sometimes get stuck or block blood vessels. At first, he didnt show any symptoms.

"He started having problems when he was around 11 months.

"Since then its been a whirlwind. We have been in and out of hospital.

"Id never known anyone with sickle cell so its been a tough learning curve and the condition will affect him for life.

"Ezrah has already had four blood transfusions.

"When one of his odd-shaped blood cells gets stuck, it causes what is called a sickle cell crisis and this can cause a great deal of pain.

"Ezrah is also prone to serious infections.

"He takes penicillin every day as well as folic acid to boost his immunity.

"Id never given blood before having Ezrah.

"It wasnt until the first time doctors told me that they were going to have to transfuse him that I realised how important it was.

"Im pregnant now so I cant do it myself just yet, but as soon as I can sign up, I will.

"You never know whats round the corner.

"Its not until it happens to someone close to you that you realise how important it is."

'While recovering he's had more than 50 transfusions'

JACOB JESSEL lives with mum Emma Riley, 47, an NHS project manager, dad Nick Jessel, 44, a sales manager, and brother Sam, eight, near Grimsby, Lincs. Emma says:

"Jacob was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder when he was seven.

"We went on a camping trip and he was bitten by a mosquito. A huge bruise came out, which covered most of his forearm.

"Our GP took blood and told us his blood count was dangerously low and that we had to take him straight to hospital.

"It was a huge shock and it was obvious to us that doctors feared he had leukaemia.

"Jacob was given an emergency bone marrow biopsy at Sheffield Childrens Hospital and we were told he probably had cancer.

"Waiting for the results of the biopsy was horrible.

"We were relieved when the tests came back negative, but more tests revealed he had an incurable bone marrow disorder.

"Doctors said hed need a transplant, which he had in 2017.

"There was only one match on the register at the time so we went ahead with it. But sadly that didnt work.

"About a month later, he had a transplant using his dads stem cells, which has been effective.

"While recovering, he had more than 50 blood transfusions.

"He now attends a follow-up clinic every four to six months to make sure his blood keeps working properly.

"Before Jacob was ill, I was one of these people who never got round to giving blood.

"I thought it was a good thing to do but I kept putting it off.

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"But every time a unit of blood was delivered to the ward for Jacob, I felt incredibly relieved that someone, somewhere, had taken the time to give blood.

"Now I give blood regularly. Its a good feeling to know you are helping someone else.

"I know how grateful the recipient will 7 be. Its the best gift anyone can give."

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None of these four beaming children would be alive today if a stranger had not given blood - The Sun

On the Road: A year to remember – WCBI

On the Road with Steve Hartman: A Year to Remember will air on CBSN on January 1 at 8 p.m., 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. ET. Its also available on the free CBS News app. And dont missOn the Road for the holidays with Steve Hartman.

Every week, Steve Hartman travels America, talking to regular people and looking for the extraordinary in the ordinary. Theyre from all walks of life, but all are inspiring. Its amazing the impact kids have, especially.

11-year-old expands her charity granting wishes

At a nursing home in northwest, Arkansas, theres a gem named Ruby. As CBS News first reported in March, 11-year-old Ruby Chitsey likes to go to work with her mom, Amanda, a nurse who travels to several nursing homes in the area. It was on one of those visits that Ruby started going up to residents with her notepad and asking, If you could have any three things, what would they be?

Ruby said she was mostly curious about what theyd say. Instead of asking for money or a fancy car, they asked for electric razors, new shoes, Vienna sausage and other basic items. So she started a charity calledThree Wishes for Rubys Residents. Now, while her mom is caring for patients, Ruby goes room to room, jots down wishes and sets out to grant them.

Since first sharing her story, Ruby has helped start chapters of her charity in other states. She speaks to advocates for the aging, and of course, she is still very much hands-on.

Texas school bus driver gives more than just a ride

Bus driver Curtis Jenkins loves delivering little ones to Lake Highlands Elementary in Dallas, Texas. To show his love and understanding, Curtis gives presents throughout the year and each one is personally selected with that child in mind.

Over the year he has bought these kids bikes, backpacks, handed out cards on birthdays and even turkeys at Thanksgiving. He has spent thousands out of his own pocket. And yet, if you ask the kids what they like most about Curtis, the gifts dont even come up.

He really cares about us, one child said.

Since that story first aired in May, Curtis has gotten a big promotion. He still sees the kids all the time, but hes no longer a bus driver. Instead, hes been granted the title of Relationship Consultant, teaching staff all across the district how they can form bonds with students like he did.

Toddler contributes to making a sign language town

At the far end of Islington Road in Newton, Massachusetts, lives a little girl near and dear to the neighborhood. Samantha Savitz, 2, is deaf, but boy does she love to talk to anyone who knows sign language. If someone cant, that makes her just a little sad.

Her desire for engagement has been painfully obvious to everyone in the neighborhood. Whenever they see her on a walk or in her yard, they find themselves at a frustrating loss for words. So on their own, Sams neighbors got together, hired an instructor and are now fully immersed in an American Sign Language class.

Sometimes it feels like America is losing its sense of community. But then you hear about a place like this, where the village it takes to raise a child is alive and well and here to remind us that what makes a good neighborhood is nothing more than good neighbors. Since Steve visited Newton in February, Sam celebrated her 3rd birthday, and the class size has doubled to 40 students.

Middle school teacher takes in student battling kidney disease

Good educators can make all the difference. At AXL Academy in Aurora, Colorado, middle school math teacher Finn Lanning has gone above and beyond for one student, 13-year-old Damien.

One day, Damien told Finn he wasnt coming back to school. He learned Damien was in foster care, had kidney disease and because social services couldnt find a foster family willing and able to meet his medical needs, Damien had to leave school and move into a hospital. He also needed a transplant, desperately. A lot of times, you cant get a transplant if you dont have a stable home to return to after surgery.

Thats how Finn became a foster parent. He took in Damien, dialysis needs and all, even though prior to that, hed been a confirmed bachelor who delighted in his childlessness. But he decided to adopt Damien.

Because of Finn, Damien got back on the transplant list and got his new kidney. Today, his kidney is doing well and the adoption is almost complete.

97-year-old veteran still hard at work bagging groceries

When you reach a certain age, just getting down to the driveway can feel like a full days work. But for 97-year-old Benny Ficeto of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, overcoming those stairs is just the beginning of his workday. Two days a week, he clocks in for a 4-hour shift as a bag boy at the local Stop & Shop.

Benny used to be warehouse supervisor for a cosmetics company. He supposedly retired back in the 80s, but hes been doing odd jobs ever since because he said he loves a hard days work and always has.

Benny served in the Army Air Force during World War II. He was a gunner on a B-25 Mitchell bomber, flying mostly over northern Africa and Italy. He still approaches his job with that same tireless, warrior-like determination. For example, Benny said hed sooner stack a honeydew on white bread than loaf around on the job.

For Benny, his reason to continue working is to go out and earn, not just a paycheck, but a purpose. And avoid breaks, at all costs.

Cleveland auto mechanic fulfills lifelong dream to become a doctor

If youre having trouble motivating to go back to work or school after the holidays, 48-year-old Carl Allamby might help you with that. He dreamed about becoming a doctor but said growing up, that wasnt always realistic.

We were on welfare. I remember the powdered milk, the government powdered milk, he said.

Because they were so poor, young Carl quickly set aside his professional aspirations and focused instead on becoming the best auto mechanic he could be. Eventually he got his own shop and for 15 years, he did OK. Until one day, he decided to step it up a notch.

In 2006, Carl enrolled at Ursuline College. His intention was to get a business degree to help him manage his repair shop. But there was one hurdle: a biology class. He couldnt understand why he had to take it and he put it off as long as possible.

Im a business major, what do I care about biology. And in the first hour of being there, I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. All those ideas of wanting to be a doctor just came rushing back, Carl said.

Now the car doctor is now a doctor-doctor. Last spring, he graduated from Northeast Ohio Medical University and today hes an emergency medical resident at Cleveland Clinic Akron General.

Once housebound, young boy gets his chance to see the world

Aside from immediate family, no one was allowed in the house to see 3-year-old Quinn Waters of Weymouth, Massachusetts. More importantly, Quinn wasnt allowed out. Parents Jarlath and Tara Waters say Quinns natural immunity was temporarily wiped out after he got a stem cell transplant to treat his brain cancer.

Fortunately, the kid is a fighter, and as we first reported a few months ago, he kept a mostly positive attitude. But it still stunk. There would be days when Quinn was literally pounding to get out.

Unfortunately, staring out a window is a poor substitute for walking out the door. Quinns connection to the outside world has been limited to whoever passes by, which hasnt been all that limiting, actually. The neighbors started showing up to entertain Quinn, the police caught wind of it and pretty soon topnotch performers were just showing up on Quinns front lawn.

One minute it could be a dog parade, the next, a team of Irish step dancers. Everyone brought together by word of mouth and a will to help Quinn get better. Which his parents said, did start happening.

Its the positive energy from all these people that we believe has gotten him through his sickness, you know. You can never repay, you know, just maybe pay it forward, Jarlath said.

After this story first aired in August, things got even better for Quinn. By Halloween, doctors had released him from home confinement and free to be a kid again, he rushed outdoors at warp speed. He also got to drop the puck at a Boston Bruins game, feel the sand between his toes at the Massachusetts shore, and even watch the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade pass by.

To contact On the Road, or to send us a story idea, email us: OnTheRoad@cbsnews.com.

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On the Road: A year to remember - WCBI

2019: the year gene therapy came of age – Breitbart

Washington (AFP) In the summer, a mother in Nashville with a seemingly incurable genetic disorder finally found an end to her suffering by editing her genome.

Victoria Grays recovery from sickle cell disease, which had caused her painful seizures, came in a year of breakthroughs in one of the hottest areas of medical research gene therapy.

I have hoped for a cure since I was about 11, the 34-year-old told AFP in an email.

Since I received the new cells, I have been able to enjoy more time with my family without worrying about pain or an out-of-the-blue emergency.

Over several weeks, Grays blood was drawn so doctors could get to the cause of her illness stem cells from her bone marrow that were making deformed red blood cells.

The stem cells were sent to a Scottish laboratory, where their DNA was modified using Crispr/Cas9 pronounced Crisper a new tool informally known as molecular scissors.

The genetically edited cells were transfused back into Grays veins and bone marrow. A month later, she was producing normal blood cells.

Medics warn that caution is necessary but, theoretically, she has been cured.

This is one patient. This is early results. We need to see how it works out in other patients, said her doctor, Haydar Frangoul, at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville.

But these results are really exciting.

In Germany, a 19-year-old woman was treated with a similar method for a different blood disease, beta thalassemia. She had previously needed 16 blood transfusions per year.

Nine months later, she is completely free of that burden.

For decades, the DNA of living organisms such as corn and salmon has been modified.

But Crispr, invented in 2012, made gene editing more widely accessible. It is much simpler than preceding technology, cheaper and easy to use in small labs.

The technique has given new impetus to the perennial debate over the wisdom of humanity manipulating life itself.

Its all developing very quickly, said French geneticist Emmanuelle Charpentier, one of Crisprs inventors and the cofounder of Crispr Therapeutics, the biotech company conducting the clinical trials involving Gray and the German patient.

Cures

Crispr is the latest breakthrough in a year of great strides in gene therapy, a medical adventure started three decades ago, when the first TV telethons were raising money for children with muscular dystrophy.

Scientists practising the technique insert a normal gene into cells containing a defective gene.

It does the work the original could not such as making normal red blood cells, in Victorias case, or making tumor-killing super white blood cells for a cancer patient.

Crispr goes even further: instead of adding a gene, the tool edits the genome itself.

After decades of research and clinical trials on a genetic fix to genetic disorders, 2019 saw a historic milestone: approval to bring to market the first gene therapies for a neuromuscular disease in the US and a blood disease in the European Union.

They join several other gene therapies bringing the total to eight approved in recent years to treat certain cancers and an inherited blindness.

Serge Braun, the scientific director of the French Muscular Dystrophy Association, sees 2019 as a turning point that will lead to a medical revolution.

Twenty-five, 30 years, thats the time it had to take, he told AFP from Paris.

It took a generation for gene therapy to become a reality. Now, its only going to go faster.

Just outside Washington, at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), researchers are also celebrating a breakthrough period.

We have hit an inflection point, said Carrie Wolinetz, NIHs associate director for science policy.

These therapies are exorbitantly expensive, however, costing up to $2 million meaning patients face grueling negotiations with their insurance companies.

They also involve a complex regimen of procedures that are only available in wealthy countries.

Gray spent months in hospital getting blood drawn, undergoing chemotherapy, having edited stem cells reintroduced via transfusion and fighting a general infection.

You cannot do this in a community hospital close to home, said her doctor.

However, the number of approved gene therapies will increase to about 40 by 2022, according to MIT researchers.

They will mostly target cancers and diseases that affect muscles, the eyes and the nervous system.

Bioterrorism

Another problem with Crispr is that its relative simplicity has triggered the imaginations of rogue practitioners who dont necessarily share the medical ethics of Western medicine.

Last year in China, scientist He Jiankui triggered an international scandal and his excommunication from the scientific community when he used Crispr to createwhat he called thefirst gene-edited humans.

The biophysicist said he had altered the DNA of human embryos that became twin girls Lulu and Nana.

His goal was to create a mutation that would prevent the girls from contracting HIV, even though there was no specific reason to put them through the process.

That technology is not safe, said Kiran Musunuru, a genetics professor at the University of Pennsylvania, explaining that the Crispr scissors often cut next to the targeted gene, causing unexpected mutations.

Its very easy to do if you dont care about the consequences, Musunuru added.

Despite the ethical pitfalls, restraint seems mainly to have prevailed so far.

The community is keeping a close eye on Russia, where biologist Denis Rebrikov has said he wants to use Crispr to help deaf parents have children without the disability.

There is also the temptation to genetically edit entire animal species malaria-causing mosquitoes in Burkina Faso or mice hosting ticks that carry Lyme disease in the US.

The researchers in charge of those projects are advancing carefully, however, fully aware of the unpredictability of chain reactions on the ecosystem.

Charpentier doesnt believe in the more dystopian scenarios predicted for gene therapy, including American biohackers injecting themselves with Crispr technology bought online.

Not everyone is a biologist or scientist, she said.

And the possibility of military hijacking to create soldier-killing viruses or bacteria that would ravage enemies crops?

Charpentier thinks that technology generally tends to be used for the better.

Im a bacteriologist weve been talking about bioterrorism for years, she said.Nothing has ever happened.

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2019: the year gene therapy came of age - Breitbart

The health stories we won’t forget and what 2020 holds – nation.co.ke

Which stories made the headlines and why?By EUNICE OMOLLOMore by this AuthorBy NASIBO KABALE More by this Author2daysago

It has been a year marked by milestones from new vaccines for deadly diseases to a law that meant life for recipients of organs. But, along the way there were hitches that threatened crucial programmes.

In September, Kenya became the third African country to start the routine immunisation of children against malaria using the worlds first vaccine. Kenya was picked by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the malaria drive to vaccinate 360,000 children per year. The drive has already taken place in eight counties in Western Kenya and all endemic counties in a pilot that will end in 2021.

Mosquirix, the brand name for RTS, S vaccine, triggers the immune system to defend itself against the first stages of the disease shortly after a malaria parasite enters the bloodstream through a mosquito bite.

Children in the eight counties will receive four doses of RTS, S at six, seven, nine and 24 months in addition to standard vaccines.

Kenya also became the 16th African country to introduce the cervical cancer vaccine. The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine works by preparing the body to fight the germs that cause the infections.

The vaccination rollout in Kenya targets 766,207 girls aged 10 and will cost the government Sh467 per dose for the same vaccine that costs more than Sh10,000 in high-income countries.

The vaccine is most effective when given to girls before they are sexually active and could be exposed to the virus.

Two doses of the vaccine are given to the girls six months apart at about 9,000 public, private and faith-based centres countrywide.

Signed into law in June and published in July, the 2017 Health Act operationalises and ensures important constitutional provisions for health services. Before its enactment, organ transplant donation procedures were not clear. With the law in place, patients have hope as it now allows people to donate their organs to others or for research when they die.

The law also gives weight to some of the more aspirational health language in the Constitution. It seeks to safeguard access to healthcare services for vulnerable groups by making clear the governments obligation to provide these for women, the elderly, the disabled, children, youth and members of minority or marginalised communities.

The Act also instructs the national government to expand free maternity care and childhood immunisation by mandating funding for these services through ring-fenced, conditional grants grants earmarked for a specific activity and must meet certain conditions. Employers and all formal workplaces will also be required to provide breastfeeding facilities to promote the well-being of infants, and health facilities must provide emergency care or face punitive measures.

For the second time since 1994, renowned population and development scholars, scientists and researchers met in Nairobi in November for the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). The 179 governments present at the Nairobi meet reaffirmed their commitment to the goals they set in Cairo 25 years ago to end the unmet need of child spacing, to end preventable maternal deaths, to end sexual and gender-based violence and to end early marriages and other harmful practices against women and girls.

Countries agreed to bring down to zero cases of maternal and infant deaths, and gender-based violence by 2030.

For instance, as a way of reducing unsafe abortions, Kenya is expected to reinstate post-abortion care guidelines which had been revoked.

The aims of the ICPD are rooted in the sacred value and dignity of every human life.

President Uhuru Kenyatta directed the Health ministry to establish a task force to assess the status of mental health in the country.

The team is expected to come up with new policies to address growing concerns about mental health among Kenyans.

The teams findings will help the government in allocation of resources to mental health.

The task force is expected to assess the mental health systems including the legal, policy and administrative environment to identify areas that may benefit from reform for optimal delivery.

In addition, the team will consider the changing societal dynamics and associated threats to mental well-being such as substance abuse, gambling, sexual and gender-based violence, cyber bullying, child abuse and neglect.

Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki said the implementation of the national mental health policy will create a sustainable response mechanism, including resource mobilisation, training and creation of awareness.

Four counties have this year taken part in the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) pilot which kicked off in December last year.

Residents of Isiolo, Machakos, Kisumu and Nyeri have been receiving next to free medical services as part of the programme ahead of the nationwide roll-out.

About 80 per cent of the money for the pilot has gone into the purchase of drugs and basic medical equipment, the Health ministry said, with additional Sh800 million allocated to each of the regions for complicated cases that would be referred outside the participating counties.

The pilot has had its fair share of troubles especially in Kisumu where doctors have been on strike for the three months. Counties have also had to grapple with drug shortage.

The ministrys approach to achieving UHC has been through removal of user fees at all public hospitals, including level four and five facilities and ensuring commodity security through the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa). Kemsa, however, has been unable to deliver 100 per cent of the required drugs.

The hospitals have also experienced a surge in numbers where the county data shows a 300 per cent increase, which could mean trust in the facilities or easier access to healthcare given the low costs.

A deal that would see 100 Cuban doctors come to Kenya was sealed in 2018. Under the agreement, 47 would work as specialists and 53 family physicians would be deployed to the counties.

At the same time, Kenya secured space for its 50 doctors to study in Cuba, famed for its world-class healthcare system.

The programme was meant to instill much-needed skills in the ailing sector.

However, this year, the suicide of a Kenyan doctor who was sponsored by the government to study family medicine in Cuba exposed the programmes soft underbelly. Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union Nairobi Secretary-General, Dr Thuranira Kaugiria, said the doctors who travelled to Cuba were given a raw deal and had on several occasions unsuccessfully sought to air their grievances with the ministry.

Here in the country, two Cuban doctors were kidnapped in Mandera County which led the ministry to reassign 10 medics stationed in border counties to Kenyatta National Hospital, National Spinal Injury Hospital, Mathare Mental Hospital and Kiambu County hospitals.

For the 37 million people who have HIV around the world, the news of a possible cure for the disease was more than welcome.

A London patient with HIV became the second person ever to be free of the virus after a bone marrow transplant, raising hopes of a cure. In 2007, another patient identified as the Berlin patient received a bone-marrow transplant from a donor with natural immunity to the virus.

Timothy Brown, the so-called Berlin patient, who later went public, and the London patient, who does not want to disclose his identity, received stem cells from a donor with a rare genetic mutation of the CCR5 gene, making them HIV-resistant. Brown has been virus-free ever since. The London patient stopped taking the medication 18 months ago and there is no sign of a return of HIV.

The procedure in itself can never be offered as a cure for HIV infection because stem cell transplants carry risks.

An expos by NTV investigative team revealed how supermarkets are using toxic chemicals to make their meat look fresher for longer.

The expos, which involved laboratory tests on meat samples which revealed that supermarkets use chemical as a food preservative to keep the food fresh for longer.

The documentary highlighted how rotten the system is. The fact that more than one supermarket was doing it means that it is an open secret which led the Ministry of Health to conduct a random survey on the safety of meat sold in the capital city.

The survey exposed just rotten the system is the results showing that six out of 40 samples collected tested positive to the preservative Sodium Metabisulfite which is harmful in large doses.

All the meat in the affected outlets were destroyed and some outlets were closed.

The year was characterised by adverse weather conditions, with drought being experienced at the start of the year and heavy rainfall at the end.

Just before the start of the short rain in October, between August and October, at least 3.1 million people were projected to be facing acute food insecurity.

The most hit areas were Turkana, Marsabit, Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Tana River and Baringo counties, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report.Then came the floods caused by the October-November-December rainfall.

As of December 2019, at least 130 people had been reported dead from the flooding and landslides and more than 17,000 displaced.

Earlier in December, the government announced it had set aside Sh6.1 billion to restore infrastructure damaged by floods.

Blood test for breast cancer

Recent findings by scientists from University of Nottingham in England that a blood test could potentially detect breast cancer at least five years before other symptoms and lumps appear, could just be the answer to the killer disease that claims lives in millions globally.

A more elaborate research on the blood test is set to kick off in 2020. According to the scientists, if all goes well, the test could be in the market within the next five years.

According to the Kenya Medical Research Institute cancer registry, eight out of 10 cancers in the country are detected late due to low awareness of symptoms.

Breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer in the country, with women under 50 accounting for 50 per cent of cases.

The test, which would be much cheaper and easier to conduct than a mammogram, looks for autoantibodies which are produced by the body in reaction to the presence of cancer bodies in the blood. According to WHOs International Agency for Research on Cancer, the global cancer burden is estimated to have risen to 18.1 million new cases and 9.6 million deaths in 2018. One in five men and one in six women worldwide develop cancer during their lifetime, and one in eight men and one in 11 women die from the disease.

These new figures highlight that much remains to be done to address the alarming rise in the cancer burden globally and that prevention has a key role to play, said International Agency for Research on Cancer Director Christopher Wild.

Kenyans countrywide will experience UHC in 2020. This is after a 12-month pilot programme that has been running in the four counties of Nyeri, Machakos, Isiolo and Kisumu. Speaking during the last meeting of the Council of Governors held early this month in Nairobi, chairman Wycliffe Oparanya hinted that counties are ready for the roll out.

But, the national government should find ways to solve the challenges that have been experienced in the four counties, he said.

Speaking to HealthyNation, Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki had said her ministry was ready for the scale up and had outlined the challenges experienced. The lessons we have picked is that once we invest right, once we are consistent and speak to the population, the issue of confidence comes back within the shortest time possible, she said.

The Kenya-Cuba relationship is set to bring in an additional tactical move in the fight against malaria in 2020. The ministry is setting sights on the introduction of malaria bio larvicide method to combat transmission in endemic areas.

Larviciding refers to the regular application of chemical or microbial insecticides to water bodies or water containers to kill the aquatic immature forms of the mosquito (the larvae and pupae).

According to Ms Kariuki, the collaboration with the Cuban government would help Kenya learn how the country eradicated the disease.

In the first quarter of the coming year, we have identified the experts that we will require to bring in and train our own people in collaboration with the experts coming from Cuba.

It is good to note that there is no malaria in Cuba. They got to that stage by applying the technology, which we believe will play a big role in Kenya in the fight against Malaria, she said.

The aim of larviciding is to reduce the adult population of mosquitoes by killing the aquatic immature forms, so that fewer will develop into adults. This should reduce the number of mosquitoes that bite and infect humans with malaria.

Additional reporting by Bernadine Mutanu

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The health stories we won't forget and what 2020 holds - nation.co.ke

Chinese scientist who claimed he genetically edited babies gets prison term – Los Angeles Times

A Chinese scientist who set off an ethical debate with claims that he had made the worlds first genetically edited babies was sentenced Monday to three years in prison because of his research, state media said.

He Jiankui, who was convicted of practicing medicine without a license, was also fined the equivalent of $430,000 by a court in the southern city of Shenzhen, Chinas official Xinhua News Agency reported. Two other researchers involved in the project received lesser sentences and fines.

The verdict said the three defendants had not obtained qualification as doctors, pursued fame and profits, deliberately violated Chinese regulations on scientific research and crossed an ethical line in both scientific research and medicine, according to Xinhua. It also said they had fabricated ethical review documents.

The court said the researchers were involved in the births of three gene-edited babies to two women, confirming reports of a third baby. It said all three pleaded guilty during the trial, which Xinhua reported was closed to the public because of privacy concerns.

He, the lead researcher, shocked the scientific world when he announced in November 2018 that he had altered the embryos of twin girls who had been born the same month. He described his work in exclusive interviews with the Associated Press.

The announcement sparked a global debate over the ethics of gene editing. He said he had used a tool called CRISPR to try to disable a gene that allows the AIDS virus to enter a cell, in a bid to give the girls the ability to resist the infection. The identity of the girls has not been released, and it isnt clear if the experiment succeeded.

The CRISPR tool has been tested elsewhere in adults to treat diseases, but many in the scientific community denounced Hes work as medically unnecessary and unethical, because any genetic changes could be passed down to future generations. The U.S. forbids editing embryos except for lab research.

He, who is known as JK, told the AP in 2018 that he felt a strong responsibility to make an example and that society would decide whether to allow the practice to go forward. He disappeared from public view shortly after he announced his research at a conference in Hong Kong 13 months ago, apparently detained by authorities, initially in an apartment in Shenzhen, a city in Guangdong province that borders Hong Kong.

It wasnt clear whether the three-year prison term includes any of the time he has already spent in Chinese custody.

A Chinese scientist said the sentence should have been harsher to deter others. Kehkooi Kee, a Tsinghua University researcher who conducts gene-editing research on stem cells, also said that He should be held responsible for any fallout from the experiment on the lives of the babies and their families.

Dr. William Hurlbut, a Stanford University bioethicist whose advice He sought for more than a year before his experiment, said he felt sorry for the scientist, his wife and two young daughters.

I warned him things could end this way, but it was just too late, Hurlbut wrote in an email to the AP and to the director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, and gene-editing pioneer Jennifer Doudna at UC Berkeley.

Sad story everyone lost in this (JK, his family, his colleagues, and his country), but the one gain is that the world is awakened to the seriousness of our advancing genetic technologies, Hurlbut wrote.

He studied in the U.S. before setting up a lab at the Southern University of Science and Technology of China in Shenzhen. The verdict accused him of colluding with Zhang Renli and Qin Jinzhou, who worked at medical institutes in the same province.

Zhang was sentenced to two years in prison and fined the equivalent of $143,145, Xinhua said. Qin received an 18-month prison sentence, but with a two-year reprieve, and the equivalent of a $71,573 fine.

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Chinese scientist who claimed he genetically edited babies gets prison term - Los Angeles Times

Year in Review: Gene Therapy Technology and a Milestone 2019 for Medical Research – News18

In the summer, a mother in Nashville with a seemingly incurable genetic disorder finally found an end to her suffering -- by editing her genome. Victoria Gray's recovery from sickle cell disease, which had caused her painful seizures, came in a year of breakthroughs in one of the hottest areas of medical research -- gene therapy. "I have hoped for a cure since I was about 11," the 34-year-old told AFP in an email.

"Since I received the new cells, I have been able to enjoy more time with my family without worrying about pain or an out-of-the-blue emergency." Over several weeks, Gray's blood was drawn so doctors could get to the cause of her illness -- stem cells from her bone marrow that were making deformed red blood cells. The stem cells were sent to a Scottish laboratory, where their DNA was modified using Crispr/Cas9 -- pronounced "Crisper" -- a new tool informally known as molecular "scissors." The genetically edited cells were transfused back into Gray's veins and bone marrow. A month later, she was producing normal blood cells.

Medics warn that caution is necessary but, theoretically, she has been cured. "This is one patient. This is early results. We need to see how it works out in other patients," said her doctor, Haydar Frangoul, at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville. "But these results are really exciting." In Germany, a 19-year-old woman was treated with a similar method for a different blood disease, beta thalassemia. She had previously needed 16 blood transfusions per year.

Nine months later, she is completely free of that burden. For decades, the DNA of living organisms such as corn and salmon has been modified. But Crispr, invented in 2012, made gene editing more widely accessible. It is much simpler than preceding technology, cheaper and easy to use in small labs. The technique has given new impetus to the perennial debate over the wisdom of humanity manipulating life itself. "It's all developing very quickly," said French geneticist Emmanuelle Charpentier, one of Crispr's inventors and the cofounder of Crispr Therapeutics, the biotech company conducting the clinical trials involving Gray and the German patient.

Cures

Crispr is the latest breakthrough in a year of great strides in gene therapy, a medical adventure started three decades ago, when the first TV telethons were raising money for children with muscular dystrophy. Scientists practising the technique insert a normal gene into cells containing a defective gene. It does the work the original could not -- such as making normal red blood cells, in Victoria's case, or making tumor-killing super white blood cells for a cancer patient. Crispr goes even further: instead of adding a gene, the tool edits the genome itself.

After decades of research and clinical trials on a genetic fix to genetic disorders, 2019 saw a historic milestone: approval to bring to market the first gene therapies for a neuromuscular disease in the US and a blood disease in the European Union. They join several other gene therapies -- bringing the total to eight -- approved in recent years to treat certain cancers and an inherited blindness. Serge Braun, the scientific director of the French Muscular Dystrophy Association, sees 2019 as a turning point that will lead to a medical revolution. "Twenty-five, 30 years, that's the time it had to take," he told AFP from Paris.

"It took a generation for gene therapy to become a reality. Now, it's only going to go faster." Just outside Washington, at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), researchers are also celebrating a "breakthrough period." "We have hit an inflection point," said Carrie Wolinetz, NIH's associate director for science policy.These therapies are exorbitantly expensive, however, costing up to $2 million -- meaning patients face grueling negotiations with their insurance companies. They also involve a complex regimen of procedures that are only available in wealthy countries.

Gray spent months in hospital getting blood drawn, undergoing chemotherapy, having edited stem cells reintroduced via transfusion -- and fighting a general infection. "You cannot do this in a community hospital close to home," said her doctor. However, the number of approved gene therapies will increase to about 40 by 2022, according to MIT researchers. They will mostly target cancers and diseases that affect muscles, the eyes and the nervous system.

Bioterrorism

Another problem with Crispr is that its relative simplicity has triggered the imaginations of rogue practitioners who don't necessarily share the medical ethics of Western medicine. Last year in China, scientist He Jiankui triggered an international scandal -- and his excommunication from the scientific community -- when he used Crispr to create what he called the first gene-edited humans. The biophysicist said he had altered the DNA of human embryos that became twin girls Lulu and Nana.

His goal was to create a mutation that would prevent the girls from contracting HIV, even though there was no specific reason to put them through the process. "That technology is not safe," said Kiran Musunuru, a genetics professor at the University of Pennsylvania, explaining that the Crispr "scissors" often cut next to the targeted gene, causing unexpected mutations. "It's very easy to do if you don't care about the consequences," Musunuru added. Despite the ethical pitfalls, restraint seems mainly to have prevailed so far.

The community is keeping a close eye on Russia, where biologist Denis Rebrikov has said he wants to use Crispr to help deaf parents have children without the disability. There is also the temptation to genetically edit entire animal species -- malaria-causing mosquitoes in Burkina Faso or mice hosting ticks that carry Lyme disease in the US. The researchers in charge of those projects are advancing carefully, however, fully aware of the unpredictability of chain reactions on the ecosystem.

Charpentier doesn't believe in the more dystopian scenarios predicted for gene therapy, including American "biohackers" injecting themselves with Crispr technology bought online. "Not everyone is a biologist or scientist," she said. And the possibility of military hijacking to create soldier-killing viruses or bacteria that would ravage enemies' crops? Charpentier thinks that technology generally tends to be used for the better. "I'm a bacteriologist -- we've been talking about bioterrorism for years," she said. "Nothing has ever happened."

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Finding Joy While Struggling With Infertility Over The Holidays – SheKnows

Last night, my parents hosted Chanukah dinner for my siblings and our significant others. My father declared it the best Chanukkah hes ever had. It was truly joyous. We took down several shots of vodka (we are of Russian Jewish heritage) toasting to good health and a drama-free new year.

Our family hasnt had a holiday season like this in a few years. In January of 2018, I was diagnosed with a rare form of non-hodgkin lymphoma, one that afflicts otherwise perfectly healthy young women. Just a few months after I wrapped up graduate school and my husband wrapped up internal medicine residency, we found ourselves in an emergency room. I had been on a long flight and had experienced a very strange sensation in my chest.

Because I was of child-bearing age and my husband had accompanied me to the ER, the doctors almost instinctively thought I was pregnant. Indeed, I had taken out my IUD six months beforehand. After two years of a difficult start to our marriage, living 300 miles apart, Ben and I were finally starting to think about having a child. We werent trying, but we werent not trying. So while we waited for test results, Ben squeezed my hand and whispered, maybe were pregnant?

Little did we know how far off our hopes would be. Six hours later, after the doctors had ruled out everything else that would be normal for a 29-year-old to walk into the ER complaining about, a CT scan revealed a 6x by 8cm tumor in my chest, snug between my lungs, nestled behind my breastbone in a cavernous spot called the mediastinum.

Truly in the blink of an eye, our lives fell apart. It wasnt until my medically-trained husband reviewed the scan results, emerging to face me with tears in his eyes, that I started to digest the doctors words: I had cancer.

As unfortunate as the diagnosis was, and as badly as I wanted to start treatment, I somehow more badly wanted to preserve the chances of us starting a family, as we had been whispering about at bedtime for many months. I didnt know much about how to handle the aftermath of my diagnosis, but I knew I had to move fast to determine if I had the time to freeze my eggs.

We were fortunate to set up care at Memorial Sloan Kettering, where a fertility advisor arranged for me to see a reproductive endocrinologist the next morning. I negotiated about 2 weeks of treatment delay with my oncologist to let me try to squeeze in a cycle of IVF injections before chemotherapy would ensue. Fortunately, he agreed and my IVF doctor took care of the rest.

Within 10 days, and many syringes and ultrasounds later, my egg retrieval day landed on the eve of the most fertile lunar moon in 150 years (after cancer you start to take this woo-woo stuff more seriously). The lunar moon delivered: I retrieved 39 eggs. We decided to put aside nine eggs (I learned the real truth behind the saying, dont put your eggs in one basket) and we attempted fertilization on the remaining 30 eggs. As IVF math would have it, we ended up storing 13 frozen embryos in a freezer on 72nd and 1st avenue.

Having crushed IVF, I thought (foolishly) that treatment might be a breeze. What neither my oncologist nor my reproductive endocrinologist could have prepared me for was that the first phase of treatment didnt work. Within four months of completing first-line therapy, the tumor had regrown.

Last Chanukah, I was in the middle of trying a different, more intense chemotherapy alongside an experimental immunotherapy. This would be followed by ten days of twice-a-day radiation therapy and then lastly an auto stem-cell transplant that rendered me a bubble girl for a number of months.

Today, I am 31 years-old and I am in medically-induced menopause. But, despite all I have been through, I couldnt be happier. I just had my third clean scan of 2019. This year, not only did I learn how to mountain bike in the Sedona desert and kayak in the Norwegian fjords, I learned how to cry. Like, really cry. Cry from your deepest belly, when life feels unsurmountable with its unfairness. I learned how to be genuinely happy for the good news, because theres too much bad news on this planet. Finally, I learned how to enjoy what you have, even when you cant have other things you may want.

Its unclear if and when well be able to have a family. Though we have a plentiful frozen reservoir of embryos on the Upper East Side, I need about 3-4 additional clean scans before my doctors will even consider letting us attempt to try to get pregnant. Those scans, six months apart, are the end dates to these short-term leases on life I feel am living between.

So, for now, I just focus on each six-month lease and dream up other type of babies that I can nurture in the interim, whether thats precious time with my family, new places to visit or new ventures to attempt. Perhaps, most importantly, Im focusing on nurturing me and giving myself the tender love and care Ive been saving for somebody else.

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Finding Joy While Struggling With Infertility Over The Holidays - SheKnows

The reporter driven to do ‘whatever it takes’ to conquer cancer and return to the press box – The Athletic

CLEVELAND Matt Loede stores an orange paper credential on a shelf in his home office. Even after 25 years, its mostly free of smudges and creases.

It includes Loedes name, his media affiliation and the date of the first Indians game he was assigned to cover: July 21, 1994. In the bottom right corner, team employee Susie Giuliano planted her initials to grant Loede access to the interview room. Dennis Martinez tossed a complete game that night but relinquished the Indians late lead in a 6-5 loss to the White Sox.

The credential reminds Loede of the thousands of hours he has spent milling around the Indians clubhouse and tracking jump shots at Cavaliers shootaround. He has reported on three World Series. He has placed his recorder within inches of LeBron James beard. He has attended countless Browns introductory news conferences in Berea.

Nearly 25 years to the day of his initiation to the media, Loede covered the MLB All-Star Game in...

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The reporter driven to do 'whatever it takes' to conquer cancer and return to the press box - The Athletic

A blood cancer diagnosis helped me find true happiness – The Guardian

December 2017, and the Christmas party season is in full flow. Everywhere I look are scenes from some hilariously awful Dickens pastiche: revellers squeezed into warm pubs; joyful chatter spilling out on to the street; the sound of carols and the scent of mulled wine in the air. Its as if I am peering in at it all through frosted glass, wishing my own Christmas could be as carefree.

Instead, I have spent a morning turned on my side on a hospital bed while a nervous-looking young doctor works up a sweat attempting to force a long needle into my hipbone. He needs it to go deep enough that he can suck out some of the marrow inside, but my tough bones are making life difficult for him.

I dont feel so tough. My wife and I spend the next fortnight anxiously waiting for the results. Results that should confirm why my body is behaving in unexpected ways: the unusual infections; the crushing fatigue; the old jeans that suddenly slip off my waist.

Christmas is never a nice time to feel alone. Yet, despite the fact I am surrounded by loved ones, that is how I feel: terrifyingly alone. The emotions of the season get warped and amplified. I attempt to go to one party, see a friend who is going through her own hellish time, and we both sob on each others shoulders for five minutes straight. Everything feels raw and heavy. My little girl is not even 18 months old, and I love her more than anything but I find it hard to even be in the same room as her. Its all too much.

If Christmas has lost its religious meaning, then it hasnt for me. I try praying for the first time in about three decades: Er, yes, it has been a while sorry about that but could you just help me out with this one thing? I promise God and Santa Ill be all sorts of good if things turn out OK.

***

My results arrive on 22 December. There is a wait in a hospital corridor that is still too triggering to think about properly. And then a doctor calls me in, sits me down and tells me that I have a rare blood cancer called essential thrombocythemia, which sounds like some cult artist signed to Warp Records in the 90s (the doctor doesnt say that bit). There is no known cure. But dont worry, he says, its manageable. I just need to take some aspirin and keep an eye on it. You will lead a normal life, he says. My wife tells me my face instantly changed colour, the pallid grey lifting for the first time in weeks.

My little girl throws up all over the seat when we pull out of the drive, and it doesnt even feel slightly annoying

Its a strange gift, receiving blood cancer for Christmas. In some ways I preferred the Mr Frosty slushy-making kit I got when I was eight, and maybe even the Scalextric that never quite played out the way you hoped it would from the adverts. And yet what the doctor is telling me you will lead a normal life feels like the biggest and best present I have ever received. Queueing up to be discharged, I let wave after wave of euphoria run through me and think to myself: This has to be the weirdest cancer diagnosis ever.

A day later, we pack up the car and head off to my parents. My little girl throws up all over the back seat as soon as we pull out of the drive, and it doesnt even feel slightly annoying. We laugh. Life is good. That Christmas, for the first time since I can remember, I am truly happy; just living in the moment. The light seems brighter and more beautiful. I notice dew drops on plants and the smell of fresh air. I hug my wife and daughter even more tightly than usual.

***

All this relief is not to last long. In the first week of 2018, I attend a follow-up appointment and am told that, sorry, they hadnt seen all of the bone marrow samples before. My condition is, in fact, developing into a much more serious disease called myelofibrosis, which needs treatment.

A week on from that, I turn up at the hospital, steeled to start chemotherapy. But there is worse news: a team of specialists have discussed my case and they believe I am at high risk of developing acute myeloid leukaemia, a swift and deadly cancer. They recommend you have a stem cell transplant, says the doctor. I ask when. As soon as possible. If I can find a match on the stem cell donor register, then I will be dosed up with drugs so intense that my entire immune system will be wiped out; then a strangers cells will be fed into me and we will all cross our fingers and hope that my body doesnt reject them. The chance of survival and the disease not returning does not seem to me to be all that much better than 50/50. Even if it all succeeds, the recovery process will be long and gruelling.

I spend the next few weeks in a state of catatonic depression. Or do I? Because I am somehow getting things done: I organise a will, I arrange a sperm bank visit (the transplant, even if successful, will leave me infertile), I cry myself senseless writing a letter to my daughter in case the worst should happen. I also drink all the good bottles of wine I had been saving for special occasions. A bottle of Domaine Dujac Morey Saint-Denis 2012 on a Tuesday night with defrosted Quorn chilli not the pairing Id had in mind, but saving it for the future seems silly.

Through all the gloom I see something with startling clarity. I realise that what Im mourning is not so much my old life before all this started a life of pointless anxieties, petty rivalries and overthinking but rather the carefree, optimistic version of life I had briefly glimpsed over Christmas. And yet no sooner have I understood all this than the chance to enact it has been snatched away. I feel like an old professor who has finally unravelled the mysteries of the universe with his dying breath.

***

Over the next few months, something happens that I still find hard to believe. I am transferred to a new hospital with a more specialist team on the case. There are more blood tests and scans, and another long needle is forced into my hip. And then I get another gift, this one in time for Christmas 2018: my condition is not so serious as I was led to believe. It appears to be a peculiar version of a peculiar cancer caught somewhere between the relatively benign essential thrombocythemia and the more concerning myelofibrosis. But it is stable, at least for now, with no signs to suggest it will progress any time soon.

***

I like to think that this year I have made good on my promise to live like I did during the Christmas of 2017. My outlook has certainly changed. When people ask how, I always say the same thing: that its great to get older. The idea of panicking about a milestone such as my imminent 40th seems so ridiculous now. Instead, just think what a privilege it is to be able to get there.

I am more present for my family these days, and less consumed with things I cant control. I have returned to the volunteering role I thought I didnt have time for; I have got fit; I dont let work define my happiness; I am kinder to myself. I have bought lots more nice wine to replace the nice wine I drank with defrosted Quorn chilli.

Do I still get annoyed by delayed trains, lost keys or the fact my daughter is taking half an hour to put on a pink tutu, the only item of clothing in the house that shell wear? It would be a lie to say no. But the second I think: But youre not quite likely to die any more, the problem disappears. I am, undeniably, a happier person.

I still have a malfunction inside me and I still have to think about it every day. Its hard not to my spleen, inflated with excess blood cells, gently nudges against my ribs like an annoying acquaintance who would hate me to forget that all is not quite right. At some point in the future and not even the best doctors can predict exactly when the disease might whirr into life and start scarring my bone marrow, turning it into a barren wasteland that can no longer produce enough blood to keep me alive. Im hopeful that science will find a fix before that time comes. There are encouraging signs on the horizon. And if not? Well, these days I try not to dwell on the future. I am here, instead, for the present. I am alive. I am alive with the spirit of Christmas.

MPN Voice provides information and emotional support to people diagnosed with a myeloproliferative neoplasm

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A blood cancer diagnosis helped me find true happiness - The Guardian