Follow-Up on Carmen

A few days ago I wrote about a book I recently finished reading called Overcome: Burns, Blinded and Blessed about a woman named Carmen who was burned over 80% of her body in 2007 when her estranged husband poured industrial-strength lye over her in a vicious attack.

In my post I also mentioned Carmen's recent face transplant. Carmen was recently interviewed by Dr. Travis Stork from The Doctors and that interview aired yesterday. I've been eagerly looking forward to this interview ever since I saw the preview for it a few weeks ago, especially since I just finished Carmen's book, and feel like I know so much about her.

I was very interested in seeing what Carmen's new face looks like. All I have two say is that technology is amazing! Who would believe that a face can be transplanted?! Carmen's new face looks amazing. It still isn't "normal" looking and you can tell that she's been through something traumatic, but it's a major improvement on her old face and is much more comfortable for her. The scarred skin on her old face/neck was very tight and caused her a lot of pain. Carmen now has more flexibility/movement with the face transplant.

I was so excited to hear that Carmen has found love. A few years ago she decided to start taking piano lessons and she and her teacher, Sheldon, fell in love. I'm so happy for her, and I know that if Carmen can find love, then there's still hope for me. It's just nice to know that there are good men out there like Sheldon who are able to look past disfigurement/disabilities to see the beauty on the inside.

Here's a picture showing what Carmen looked like before she was burned, what she looked like after and what she looks like now with her "new" face:

The morning after I published my post about Carmen's book I received an email from a woman that works at the company that published Carmen's book. She thanked me for writing such a nice review and told me that she had shared my review/blog with Carmen. I thought that that was really neat and I was elated when a few hours later Carmen herself emailed me and thanked me for reading her book and writing about it on my blog. It was my pleasure! I have no idea how they found the post I made about Carmen's book (and so quickly), but I'm glad they did. Carmen is a remarkable person and a true inspiration. 

Miracle Twins

Yesterday I heard a really cool story about an Irish woman named Marie Jones-Elliott who was pregnant with twin girls last year. When she was 23 weeks along her water broke and she went into labor. One of her babies was born on June 1, weighing in at just over 1 pound. After the first baby (Amy) was born Marie's contractions stopped. The doctors tried to induce labor again, but it didn't work. After hours of trying, Marie said, "Enough is enough. Let's let nature take its course."

Marie stayed on bed rest in the hospital for the next 13 weeks and her doctors induced her for a second time on August 27, during her 36th week of pregnancy. After about an hour, the other twin (Katie) was born… 87 days after her twin sister!

Amy and Katie's story is quite unique. Surviving being born four months prematurely is an amazing accomplishment for any baby, especially for a twin since they are weaker than single babies. The nurse reunited the twins and put Katie in the incubator with Amy, who immediately smiled.

A Guinness World Records spokesman said that if the claim of 87 days between the birth of the twins is substantiated they will break the world record. Pretty amazing!

Here are pictures of the cute Elliott family:

Boston Bombing Follow-Up

Now that it's been more than two weeks since the bombing at the Boston Marathon and more than one week since the suspenseful killing/capture of the bombing suspects, I thought I would make a follow-up post with some of the additional details that have come to light in the past week. 

I'm going to start by going back to the evening of Thursday, April 19. The bombing suspects (26 and 19-year-old brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev) killed MIT police officer, Sean Collier, to allegedly get his firearm. After that, the brothers hijacked a car. I listened to an interesting news story on 20/20 last Friday that talked about what happened that evening. Here's my synopsis of the summary:

26-year-old "Danny" was at a gas station in his Mercedes Benz when Tamerlan carjacked him at gunpoint. Tamerlan boasted to Danny about being responsible for the Boston marathon bombing. "You remember that bombing at the Boston Marathon? I did it." He then pulled out a semi automatic weapon and showed Danny that it was loaded. Danny was then forced to drive through the streets of Boston and was told to stop and pick up another passenger; Dzhokhar. Danny was now carpooling with the two most wanted men on the planet. It wasn't until Danny saw Dzhokhar that he put two and two together and realized that the men who had carjacked him were the Boston Marathon bombing suspects that he'd been seen all over TV. The two brothers loaded Danny's Mercedes with explosives, including another one of those pressure cooker bombs.

The brothers robbed Danny, but he only had $45 which wasn't enough money for them, so they stopped at a gas station to withdraw some money from an ATM machine. (There is surveillance footage of Dzhokhar using Danny's bankcard at a gas station.) During the drive Danny said that the talk alternated between mundane guy talk and murderous threats. He said that Tamerlan was really gruff and abrasive , while Dzhokhar was goofier and marveling at Danny's "really cool" car. At one point during the abduction, Danny got a call on his cell phone and Tamerlan said, "If you say a word in Chinese, I'll kill you" (because he doesn't know Chinese and wouldn't have been able to understand anything Danny would've said). In English Danny told his Mandarin-speaking friend that he was "sick and staying with a friend." He quickly ended the phone call and Tamerlan said, "Good boy. Good job."

This is where the brazen carjacking started to go awry. The getaway car was out of gas, so they stopped at a Shell station in Cambridge, MA, to get gas. This was a risky move since the brothers are known in that town. While stopped at this gas station Danny made the decisive decision to run for it. Dzhokhar had gone into the gas station to pay for the gas, leaving Tamerlan and Danny in the car together. Danny realized that Tamerlan was playing with the car's GPS system and wasn't holding the gun anymore (he'd slipped it into the side pocket of the car door). Danny thought, "now's my chance to make a run for it." In his mind he rehearsed what he was going to escape. "Undo the seatbelt, open the door, get out, slam the door…"

Tamerlan grabbed for Danny as he got out of the car, but missed him. Danny made himself a moving target and ran across the street to another gas station. He ran in and told the clerk behind the counter to "call 911" and he ran into the back storeroom to hide. The clerk called 911 and the operator asked to speak with Danny. A few minutes later the place swarmed with police.

This was the break that law enforcement had been waiting for. Danny's cell phone was still in the car and the Mercedes itself had a built-in tracking beacon. The police were able to track the signals of the cell phone and the Mercedes and tracked the car to nearby Watertown. The police caught up with the Mercedes and engaged in a firefight with the brothers. Tamerlan was killed in this shootout with the police and Dzhokhar escaped.

So this sums up what happened during the carjacking that evening. It's really fortunate that the police were able to track the car because they say that the brothers were planning to head to New York City to set off more bombs in Times Square.

I also learned that Tamerlan spent six months in Russia last year, so now the police are investigating why he was there and what he was doing. The police are also looking into Tamerlan's personal life and what's been going on the past few years. Lots of his friends/acquaintances have said that he's really changed a lot in the past year or two, as far as his personality and his religious/political views. The police want to know the reason behind this, and his the reason for his radical thinking. Police are also trying to find out if there were other people indirectly responsible for the attack.

It's definitely been an interesting few weeks as more details have come to light about everything. I've also enjoyed hearing some of the survivor stories and how complete strangers came to the aid of those in need. There have also been lots of interviews with the survivors and how they are making sense of what's happened, how they are recovering/coping and what's in store for their future.

"Zeke" Bread

Have you ever heard of Ezekiel bread? I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't, because I hadn't until a few months ago when one of my mom's friends told her she needed to try some. My mom bought some from the grocery store and we gave it a try. My mom liked it and wanted to try her hand at making it from scratch since she loves to bake bread. She found a recipe for it on the internet and started experimenting. She made it a few times and thought it was good, but not great, so she tweaked the recipe until she got it just right.

You might be wondering what this bread is and where it gets its unusual name. In the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament the Lord tells Ezekiel, "Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches [spelt], and put them in one vessel and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shall lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof." Ezekiel 4:9 This was a foreshadowing of the siege and famine that would happen in Jerusalem. Here's a little more info about the origins of Ezekiel bread from the Bible:

The Lord told Ezekiel to do certain things that symbolized conditions that would prevail when Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem.

“In times of scarcity, it is customary in all countries to mix several kinds of coarser grain with the finer, to make it last longer. This mashlin, which the prophet is commended to take, of wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and fitches, was intended to show how scarce the necessaries of life should be during the siege.

"… The whole of the above grain, being ground, was to be formed into one mass, out of which he was to make three hundred and ninety loaves; one loaf for each day; and this loaf was to be of twenty shekels in weight. All this shows that so reduced should provisions be during the siege, that they should be obliged to eat the meanest sort of aliment. (Clarke, Adam. The Holy Bible… with a commentary and Critical Notes.)

I shortened the name to "Zeke bread" since giving nicknames to people/things is just something I do. Ever since I was a little girl I've altered the names of people/things, oftentimes by using the first syllable of the word or by dropping a syllable off the end or something like that. Anyway, this is where the name "Zeke" comes from.

I love, love, LOVE toast! It's one of two or three different breakfasts that I alternate between. Things just don't get any better than hot, buttered toast! Ezekiel bread makes THE BEST toast. I actually don't think I've ever eaten Ezekiel bread as bread… I always have it toasted. This bread is very hearty and has a semi-coarse texture with a wonderful flavor. You can see from the pictures that the holes in the bread are rather large, so the butter really sinks into the nooks and crannies of the bread as it melts. I wish I could describe it better because everyone should know how delicious this toast is!

Here are pictures of the Ezekiel bread as bread, and then as toast

This bread is very nutritious, so I don't feel at all guilty about eating it! The bread has seeds and grains in it, which makes a complete protein. Zeke bread also does wonders for the bowels, so you can't eat it with reckless abandon. If you do you'll be sorry! 

"Overcome: Burned, Blinded and Blessed"

Last week my mom and I finished reading a wonderful book called Overcome: Burned, Blinded and Blessed  by Carmen Blandin Tarleton. Here is the synopsis on the back cover of the book:

On June 10, 2007, Carmen Blandin Tarleton's estranged husband broke into her rural Vermont home, and beat her with a baseball bat and doused her with industrial-strength lye. Doctors called it "THE MOST HORRIFIC INJURY A HUMAN BEING COULD SUFFER."

Tarleton spent the next three and a half months in a medically induced coma, and when she awoke, it was to an unimaginable reality: she was blind and permanently disfigured, with burns covering more than 80% of her body. Her recovery would include months of painful rehab, dozens of surgeries and total dependence on family, friends and strangers for physical and financial care.

With so much taken away, no one could have anticipated what Tarleton would gain from her experience: an awakening. A purpose. Joy. By sharing her struggles and ultimate victory over catastrophic loss, Tarleton proves this life is a choice––and, in the process, offers a rare glimpse into the best and worst corners of the human heart.

I first heard about this book a few months ago while watching The Doctors one morning on TV. Dr. Travis was interviewing Carmen just weeks after her receiving a face transplant. The  interview was conducted over the phone, so you couldn't see Carmen's new face, but my interest was piqued, nonetheless. People often tell me how inspiring I am, which is very humbling since I don't feel worthy of such high praise. I don't feel like I'm doing anything that grand. Now someone like Carmen, on the other hand, she's the true inspiration! Carmen is going to be on The Doctors again this Wednesday, May 1. This is her third interview on The Doctors, but her first interview debuting her new face. I'm really looking forward to watching!

I love reading true stories and accounts of real people who have been through tremendous trials, but have still managed to face life with joy and a positive attitude. That's the example I'm trying to follow. This book is very uplifting and one that I would recommend to anyone who is struggling with their own challenges and needs a little inspiration.

Below is a picture of Carmen before her face transplant, and a picture of her being interviewed by Dr. Travis Stork on The Doctors.

Click here to read my follow-up on Carmen.