Upfront HEALTH
Boy’s death sparks blood donations Rare O-negative blood type in demand due to influenza he death of a 10-year-old boy from complications following influenza has sparked a request from his family for local donations of a rare blood type. Joshua Mark Hansen was like any boy until he contracted a Type B influenza and strep throat more than two weeks ago. A resident of Ausberry, Calif., near Fresno, he was a vibrant kid who played all kinds of sports and rode dirt bikes. But on Sunday morning, Feb. 3, he struggled to breathe and developed bacterial pneumonia, according to his uncle, Rod Hansen. Joshua was flown from Valley Children’s Hospital to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, where he was put on life support and received several units of rare O-negative blood each day, Hansen said. Supplies from the Stanford Blood Center were running low due to high demand from flu victims and winter accidents, so the Central California Blood Center in Northwest Fresno started a blood drive to help him. Although Joshua died on Feb. 18 at the hospital, his family is encouraging Palo Alto and other local communities to donate blood of any type — especially O-negative — to the Stanford Blood Center to help other needy patients in Joshua’s memory, his aunt, Missy Hansen, said. While Joshua was at Packard, he used many units of blood from the Stanford center. People from all over the state donated 199 units of O-negative blood, and the blood
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you don’t see a single kid outside,” he said. “People are doing everything they can to optimize kids’ future potential: We schedule them to the max and we’re happy if they do homework.” “But I don’t adapt, and I said, ‘I’m not going to raise my kids this way.’” After testing different Palo Alto and Menlo Park neighborhoods through rentals from Midtown to Guinda Street to Creek Drive, Lanza and Ni purchased a house in Menlo Park — not their favorite, but one they felt had “neighborhood potential.” They’ve tried to foster street play by constructing an “outdoor family room” in their front yard. “We’re doing some pretty wild things with our kids, but I’m pretty sure their lives are better,” he said. The family doesn’t entirely shun typical routines for their three boys, who are now 8, 5 and 3. The oldest takes tennis after school and participates in the Young Builders workshop at Midtown. But, Lanza said, “We’re not big on organized sports, and we try to leave two or three days open for him.” Their efforts have won what they
by Sue Dremann bank received 460 additional units of other blood types in Joshua’s name while he was ill, she said. “Mark and Monica (Joshua’s parents) would like to thank all of the people that worked on Josh. From the nurses, doctors, support staff. There were 100, Mark estimates. They are forever grateful for the care that was provided Joshua but also the care that was extended to them,” Missy Hansen said in an email. The family is also asking that people sign up as organ donors, as they saw f i rst-ha nd the relief and joy a donated organ Joshua Mark Hansen brought to another family while at Packard, whose son’s life was saved after waiting for a month, she said. While O-negative is urgently needed, all other blood types are also in reduced supply, Stanford Blood Center spokesperson Dayna Kerecman Myers said. The blood bank supplies Packard and Stanford hospitals, as well as other area institutions, she said. Stanford Blood Center’s supply became critically low in late January due to the winter holidays and the flu outbreak. The blood supply remains low, despite outreach to O-
negative donors, she said. O-negative is the universal blood type and can be transfused to anyone. It is vital for trauma patients who sometimes need transfusions before there is an opportunity for blood typing, she said. Approximately half of Stanford Blood Center’s supply of O-negative blood is designated for neonatal patients. O-negative patients can only receive blood from O-negative donors, and only about 6 percent of people have this blood type, she added. Rod Hansen said the experience with Joshua opened his eyes to the ongoing need for blood. “It’s selfish of us,” he said of not donating, adding that it takes little time and saves people’s lives. Hansen has heard from many people who donated for Joshua. Many said it was their first time giving blood. Hansen also donated for the first time and plans to become a lifelong donor, he said. Persons donating blood must be in good health without cold or flu symptoms. Donors must eat well and drink fluids before coming to the center and present photo identification at the time of donation. The process takes about an hour, Myers said. Donors can give blood at one of the center’s locations: 3373 Hillview Ave., Palo Alto; 515 South Drive, Suite 20, Mountain View; or 445 Burgess Drive, Menlo Park. More information and appointments are available at http://bloodcenter.stanford.edu. N
hope is the gradual acceptance by neighbors. “There’s lots of excitement from certain people — Ohlone (Elementary School) types — but for most people it’s, ‘We like it, but we’re not going to start canceling our kids’ activities so they can hang out in your yard more,’” he said. “Others are ‘living the life,’ scheduling their kids like crazy. But interestingly, two of our neighbors have independently come to us and said, ‘We used to not really want our kids to come to your place, but now we realize it’s just a lot of fun.’” Lanza’s research has led him to a few urban and suburban pockets around the country where outdoor street play is supported and thrives. In a low-income neighborhood of the Bronx a dedicated resident for the past 37 years has created a sanctuary for play on Lyman Place, a small street, where she gets through traffic banned for the summer and kids populate the space. He’s been invited to speak next month with the mayor and department heads of Somerville, Mass., who are interested in promoting the idea. His research on play has led Lanza to the belief that it doubles as the best path for nurturing curious and engaged adults. He’s been interviewing parents of
entrepreneurs and social activists, including winners of the Thiel Fellowship, which pays selected students under 20 $100,000 over two years to drop out of college and pursue entrepreneurial, social or scientific work. He theorizes that pressured, overscheduled childhoods create unprepared adults. “We have an epidemic of 20-somethings who are listless, don’t have direction in life and living with their parents — and a lot of them are very well-educated,” he said. “To some extent it’s because of the economy, but the key statistic is that the labor-participation rate of 20-somethings is at an historic low, so they’re not even trying. The statistics say there’s not as much trying going on.” In his next book, tentatively titled “Raising Doers,” Lanza said he will connect the dots between playful childhoods and adults who are “active, caring, solutions-oriented participants in the world.” His Feb. 25 talk, “From Players to Doers,” is free and open to the community. Part of Preschool Family’s “Parents Survive & Thrive” speaker series, it will be from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Cubberley Theatre, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. N Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can be emailed at ckenrick@paweekly. com.
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News Digest Mayor to offer ‘State of the City’ Palo Alto Mayor Greg Scharff will highlight the city’s recent accomplishments and 2013 goals as part of his “State of the City” speech Wednesday night, Feb. 27. The City Council’s three official priorities for the year are “infrastructure strategy and funding,” “future of downtown and California Avenue” and “technology and the connected city.” The “State of the City” speech will be held at 7 p.m. at Tesla headquarters, 3500 Deer Creek Road, Palo Alto. The event is open to the public. N — Palo Alto Weekly staff
Nonprofit gives $33 million in science prizes A group of executives that includes local names such as Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki awarded $33 million in prizes to recognize research in life science aimed at curing disease and lengthening human life. The group, which awarded 11 researchers $3 million each, makes up the board of directors of a new nonprofit called the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Foundation, according to a statement from the foundation. Winners came from institutions such as the Hubrecht Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College and Princeton University. They made discoveries in cancer genomics, mechanisms of angiogenesis that led to therapies for cancer and eye disease, and research on telomeres. “We are thrilled to support scientists who think big, take risks and have made a significant impact on our lives. These scientists should be household names and heroes in society,” said Wojcicki, the co-founder of Mountain View-based 23andme, which provides individualized genetic testing. The board also includes Zuckerberg’s wife, Priscilla Chan; Art Levinson, member of the boards of directors for Apple and Genentech; and Yuri Milner, the founder of Mail.ru. In the future, the foundation will award five annual prizes of $3 million each to winners who are chosen by a selection board that includes the previous year’s winners. The foundation touted its “transparent selection process” in which anyone will be able to nominate a candidate online. Also, prizes can be shared between any number of deserving scientists and can be received more than once, and there will be no age restrictions for nominees. N — Eric Van Susteren
Old oak in Rinconada Park to be felled An inspection of oak trees at Rinconada Park in Palo Alto after a large tree fell onto Walter Hays Elementary School grounds last month has found one more tree that must be removed, City of Palo Alto’s urban forester said. The city conducted root inspections of similar oaks as the one that fell on Jan. 4 and discovered that the roots of another coast live oak on Embarcadero Road were compromised, Urban Forester Walter Passmore said in a statement. City crews are scheduled to remove the tree on or after Feb. 22. Replacement trees will be planted in March. Crews inspected the trees by excavating and temporarily removing soil to assess below-ground root conditions. The majority of the root systems of the park’s large coast live oaks are in fair to good condition. The Rinconada Oak, a designated heritage tree, has a healthy root system and is likely to live for many more years, inspectors found. One oak, however, is in poor condition, poses a safety hazard and must be removed. The tree has severe root decay that has rotted 40 percent of the exterior of the base of the trunk and compromised large anchor roots. The tree is the nearest neighbor to the one that fell in January. Tree decline is often caused by an accumulation of stressors, Passmore said. Old age reduces a tree’s tolerance to changing conditions and reduces resilience to insects and disease. The root rot on the tree outpaced the tree’s ability to grow new roots, which has reduced the ability of the roots to anchor the tree to the soil, he said. “Trees are living organisms with a finite life span, and after careful consideration of the inspection results, we recommend that this tree be removed due to advanced decay in the root system. This tree has a high risk of failure due to its condition and no treatment is available that will allow new growth to outpace the decay,” Passmore said in a statement. City crews will recycle the tree, and the wood will be used as mulch to sustain other trees, he said. A planting plan has been developed to replace the fallen tree and the tree proposed for removal. Passmore said the goal is to plant more than 10 large-growing oak trees with compatible shade-tolerant smaller trees in the next two months. New trees can be established this planting season prior to mid-March, he said. Many of the established trees in the park will receive maintenance pruning and mulching to improve their health and safety, he added. N — Sue Dremann LET’S DISCUSS: Read the latest local news headlines and talk about the issues at Town Square at PaloAltoOnline.com