9-year-old boy home for Christmas after life-saving organ transplant
Sitting in his hospital room, surrounded by beeping machines with tubes coming out of his body, little Kaysen Hyman wondered if he’d ever be a “normal child” again.
The 9-year-old Brooklyn boy was awaiting a life-saving multi-organ transplant, after having already spent nearly a year in and out of medical facilities — and desperately wanted to be home for Christmas.
“I told him once you get your transplant you’re going to go home… you’re going to be a normal boy, go to school, play basketball,” his mom, Phylicia Hyman, told The Post.
It wasn’t that easy. But after grueling surgery and months of hard work on the part of little Kaysen and his crew of caregivers, the brave boy finally got his wish granted and will spend the holiday in his apartment.
“I’m super excited!,” Kaysen told The Post. “I wanted to be home for Christmas… 100 percent.”
His mom said that “he’s been through a whole lot.”
“It’s amazing how far he’s come in such a short time. It’s remarkable.”
Due to lifelong medical issues, Kaysen had to get a new stomach, pancreas, liver and small and large intestine during a single transplant surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian in October.
When he got to St. Mary’s Hospital for Children in Queens for rehabilitation, he needed a wheelchair and couldn’t stand for more than one minute at a time.
He spent the next two months there learning how to walk again and do basic activities, like brushing his teeth and getting dressed on his own.
“He used to always say, ‘Why can’t I be a normal child?,” his mom recalled.
Her son was born eight weeks early with Necrotizing enterocolitis, a devastating disease that affects mostly the intestine of premature infants.
Following a surgery at two days old, Kaysen was fine for the next eight years, until, last October, when he began throwing up “green, yellowish stuff,” his mom said.
He was rushed to the emergency room with an obstruction in his intestine.
Two surgeries and many months later, the boy couldn’t eat on his own, requiring a catheter and IV for nutrition.
“He kept asking ‘Am I going to die?,’” his mom recalled. “He would break down. He kept saying he doesn’t want to die.”
“I was very nervous and just kept praying, hoping for the best.”
When he got to NewYork-Presbyterian’s Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in February, he was a “desperate case,” said Dr. Mercedes Martinez, the medical director of the intestinal transplant program there.
“By the time he came to us he had been through so much,” and had a badly-damaged liver, stomach and had lost nearly all of his intestine, Martinez said.
Doctors believed the only way Kaysen could survive was with a multivisceral transplant, which includes removing the damaged organs and simultaneously replacing them with new ones, including the liver, small intestine, pancreas, stomach, and large intestine from a donor.
“Without this surgery, he could have died,” Martinez said.
Kaysen was sent home in March to wait for a donor — but his condition kept getting worse and he returned to the ER nearly every two weeks with fevers and issues with his catheter, his mom and doctors said.
Finally, on Oct. 12, the family got a call. A donor had been found.
But even after the surgery, there was still a lot more Kaysen had to work through to make it home.
He spent the next two months at St. Mary’s in Bayside re-learning to do everything little boys his age can do, during therapy sessions to improve his strength, balance and endurance.
“He just really pushed through. Even when it was super hard and even when he didn’t want to do therapy, he got out of bed and did it anyway,” said Amber Carmiencke, the boy’s occupational therapist.
“In all aspects of his life he’s shown tremendous gains,” she said. “He really did all the work to get… here he really found that motivation within himself.”
Through it all, Kaysen talked about missing family and his home and “how he really wanted to be able to have a normal Christmas,” Carmiencke said.
Even Martinez, the NewYork-Presbyterian doctor, said she had “really wanted to get him home for Christmas.”
On Wednesday, Kaysen strolled through St. Mary’s doors on his own, ecstatic, and surrounded by his mom and caregivers.
“Its so amazing to know he’s going to be able to be with his family for Christmas and have a normal life,” Carmiencke said.
“He worked so hard he deserves to be able to spend this special day with his family.”
Though he still needs a feeding tube, Kaysen can eat some solid foods, like his favorite, chicken soup, which his mom plans to make him for the holiday meal.
On Thursday, Kaysen had an appointment at home with a nurse at home, but also got to do one of his favorite holiday activities, decorating the tree.
His favorite part of Christmas is “I get to spend time with my family,” he said, adding: “And the gifts.”
Phylicia said it’s amazing to have her son home — and thanked the team of healthcare workers who were able to get him there, calling them “a Godsend.”
“Last year, he spent Christmas in the hospital…,” Phylicia said. “It’s amazing to have him home.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/24/boy-9-home-for-christmas-after-multi-organ-transplant/
Photo Credit: Matthew McDermott
Cop shot unarmed black man within 10 seconds of encounter, bodycam video shows
Shocking bodycam video shows a police officer in Columbus, Ohio, gunning down an unarmed black man holding a cellphone — opening fire within just 10 seconds of encountering him.
Columbus police officer Adam Coy was dispatched around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday to a non-emergency call about a man who had been idling a car, repeatedly turning it on and off in the Cranbrook neighborhood.
Shortly after the officers arrived, a black man later identified as Andre Maurice Hill, 47, who had been inside a garage, approached them on foot while holding a phone in his left hand and his other hand not visible.
Footage from Coy’s body camera then showed him opening fire on Hill, just six seconds after Hill entered the frame.
No audio is available since Coy did not activate his body camera until after the shooting, which only captured video due to an automatic “look back” feature.
Without audio, it’s unclear whether Coy yelled any commands at Hill.
Hill’s right hand isn’t visible in the footage, but authorities said no weapon was recovered from the scene.
After being shot, Hill lay on the ground for several minutes without any officer on the scene providing aid. He died less than an hour later at a nearby hospital.
In a statement, Police Chief Thomas Quinlan called it “a tragedy on many levels. Most importantly, a life has been lost.”
Quinlan said he has suspended Coy, a 17-year veteran, requiring him to turn in his gun and shield pending an internal review and an investigation by state authorities.
According to his union contract, the officer will still be paid.
“In this case the chief of police directly observed what he believes to be potential critical misconduct and is taking an intervening action of relief of duty until a disciplinary investigation can be completed,” said Glenn McEntyre, a spokeman for the city’s Department of Public Safety.
Public Safety Director Ned Pettus Jr. on Wednesday promised “a fair, impartial hearing” for Coy.
Mayor Andrew Ginther on Wednesday called for Coy to be booted from the force.
“After further review of the incident, today, I’m calling for the immediate termination of Coy … who failed on two directives: not turning on his body-worn camera, and failure to offer aid after the shooting and not rendering aid,” Ginther said.
Meanwhile, Hill’s family has hired nationally known civil rights attorney Ben Crump to represent them, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/24/cop-shot-unarmed-black-man-within-10-seconds-of-encounter-video/
Photo Credit: City of Columbus
‘Incredibly inappropriate’ teacher, 28, ‘covered classroom windows, had sex with teen boy student more than 100 times’
Kate Boozer, a Lake Orion, Michigan, Spanish teacher, allegedly sexually abused her 16-year-old student more than 100 times, the Daily Star reports.
The student, Ryan Crue, has come forward years later and publicly accused Kate Boozer, saying she began sexually preying upon him when she was a 28-year-old teacher in 2014.
The alleged abuse took place at Lake Orion High School. The local sheriff’s department has thoroughly investigated the matter, however, and decided not to press charges against the teacher
Crue, now a young man, told Fox 2 Detroit that Kate Boozer’s campaign of sexual abuse began when the teacher instigated a “physical interaction that was incredibly inappropriate” after school one afternoon.
Allegedly abusive teacher Kate Boozer made certain that no one saw her inappropriate conduct with the boy.
She enlisted Crue’s help in covering the windows, he said, with “big sheets of black construction paper.”
The two saw to it that they covered “every window in the classroom including even the small notch window in the door so there was no way to see in the classroom.”
Boozer and her attorney told Fox 2 Detroit in a statement, “This matter came up and there was an investigation done by the Oakland County Sheriff. The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office reviewed the investigation and declined to authorize charges against my client. As far as we are concerned, the case is closed.”
Fox 2 Detroit reports that during his time at the high school, Crue was a stand-out scholar and athlete who played varsity basketball.
Crue reports that when it comes to his memories of that time in his life when he thrived at school yet was preyed upon for sex by his teacher, Kate Boozer, “I have some pretty good ones and I have some that are pretty haunting.”
He reports that Kate Boozer seduced him more than 100 times, sometimes in the teacher’s classroom, sometimes elsewhere.
As evidence of the inappropriate relationship that Boozer maintained with him, Crue showed Fox 2 records of phone calls they exchanged at all hours.
News Break reports that according to Crue’s mother, he was a big fan of attending sports events at his high school in those days.
Lake Orion Schools provided Fox 2 Detroit with a statement about the sexual abuse allegations that Crue has levied at his former teacher, Kate Boozer.
It read: “Lake Orion Schools promptly investigated the allegation at the time it was brought to the district including cooperation with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department.”
According to the school district, the last time alleged sex abuser Kate Boozer was a teacher there was in 2016.
In a recent similar case Knewz reported on, 31-year-old Springfield, Oregon high school basketball coach Lisa DeFluri was taken into custody on suspicion of sex abuse at her school.
via: https://knewz.com/michigan-teacher-kate-boozer-abuse/?utm_source=nypost
Photo Credit: knewz.com
KFC launches game console that keeps your chicken warm
(CNN Business)Fast-food chain KFC has launcheda new Intel-powered games console that comes with a built-in “chicken chamber” to keep your snacks warm.The KFConsole is part of a partnership with hardware manufacturer Cooler Master, KFC said in a statement on Tuesday.”The Bargain Bucket-shaped machine features the world’s first built in chicken chamber, which is kitted out to keep its contents hot, ready for consumption during intense gaming sessions,”KFC added.
Your chicken will be kept hot thanks to a custom-built cooling system that keeps the console hardware at a regular temperature while using heat produced by its components to warm the chicken chamber.
Other specs include an Intel Nuc 9 Extreme Compute Element and two Seagate® BarraCuda® 1TB SSD drives for storage, according to the Cooler Master website.
The console can handle virtual reality games and offers smooth gameplay thanks to 240 frames per second frame rate and 4K display compatibility, according to details published by Cooler Master.
“This machine is capable of running games at top-level specs, all on top of keeping your meal warm for you to enjoy during your gaming experience… what’s not to like?,” said Mark Cheevers, PR & social media lead at KFC UK & Ireland, in the company’s press release.”If Sony or Microsoft want any tips on how to engineer a chicken chamber for their efforts next time, they’d be welcome to get in touch.”
Intel (INTC) said it had nothing to add to details released by Cooler Master or KFC and did not comment on pricing or release date when contacted by CNN. KFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.This is not the first time the fast food chain has collaborated with other brands.In February, KFC and Crocs announced the KFC X Crocs Bucket Clog, a limited edition shoe covered in a fried chicken print. And, in December 2019, the fast food chain teamed up with artificial fire log company Enviro-Log to offer the chicken-scented 11 Herbs & Spices Firelog.
via: https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/23/tech/kfc-games-console-chicken-scli-intl/index.html
Photo Credit: CNN
Dispute over dipping sauce leads to shooting of Wendy’s employee in St. Louis
ST. LOUIS — An argument over dipping sauce led to the shooting of a fast-food worker in St. Louis early Tuesday, authorities said.
The incident occurred at about 1 a.m. at a Wendy’s restaurant, KTVI reported.
According to police, the employee, a 31-year-old man, had been shot in the arm and torso, KSDK reported.
The victim told police he got into an argument with a customer in the drive-thru window, the television station reported. Workers told KTVI that the customer had asked for extra dipping sauce with his order, and when he did not receive it, he pulled up to the front of the store.
The employee told police he went outside to speak with the customer, but as he turned to go back inside the restaurant, the customer allegedly fired shots at him and left in a dark-colored Nissan, KSDK reported.
The victim was conscious and breathing when he was taken to the hospital, KMOV reported. Police did not release the man’s condition but said his vital signs were stable, the television station reported.
An investigation is ongoing.
via: https://www.boston25news.com/news/trending/dispute-over-dipping-sauce-leads-shooting-wendys-employee-st-louis/IVFJ5FGZMRE7LGSSFVP63CCS6E/
Photo Credit: www.boston25news.com
Indiana woman fatally shot herself while sitting in police car
A 32-year-old woman involved in a car crash in Indiana on Saturday morning fatally shot herself as she waited inside a police cruiser, authorities said.
Amanda Elbert, 32, was a passenger in a 2007 Chevrolet Impala that crashed into a utility pole in Grant County at about 8:15 a.m., according to a release from the Indiana State Police.
The driver of the car allegedly fled the scene on foot, police said.
As police were investigating, Elbert took up their offer to sit inside a police car in order to stay warm, the release said.
Once inside the vehicle, police say Elbert shot herself with a gun she had in her purse.
She was declared dead on scene.
Indiana State Police are investigating the woman’s death at the request of the Grant County Sheriff’s Department, which responded to the crash, along with officers from the Gas City Police Department and the Upland Police Department.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/21/indiana-woman-fatally-shot-herself-while-sitting-in-police-car/
Photo Credit: EPA
Alabama nursing student fatally shot while trying to sell AirPods
A 20-year-old nursing student was fatally shot in the parking lot of an Alabama university last Thursday night, according to police and reports.
Destiny Washington was with her boyfriend trying to sell AirPods for $100 when she was shot by a suspect in the parking lot of the Hill Student Center at the University of Alabama Birmingham, AL.com reported.
The nursing student was taken to Children’s Hospital of Alabama, but could not be saved.
Washington’s suspected shooter, 22-year-old Carlos Stephens, was arrested Saturday after turning himself in to police, the Birmingham Police Department announced Monday on Facebook.
The victim, from Trussville, attended nursing classes at Lawson State through a UAB joint admissions program, the report said.
Washington’s high school principal, Michael Lee, told the newspaper that she stood out from the other students at Clay-Chalkville High School.
“She was outstanding,’’ Lee said. “The thing I remember most about Destiny was her smile. She was a sweet, sweet soul.
“We love all of our students, but she was one of those special ones.”
Stephens, a UAB student and one-time football player there, was charged with capital murder, AL.com reported.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/21/alabama-nursing-student-fatally-shot-trying-to-sell-airpods/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
8-year-old boy killed by ‘single shot’ from BB gun
An 8-year-old North Carolina boy was killed this week by a “single shot” from a BB gun, authorities said.
The boy, who was not immediately identified, was shot Sunday at a home in Stony Point, where responding deputies found him struck in the chest with a “single shot from a BB or pellet gun” while shooting at targets with another child, the Alexander County Sheriff’s Office said Monday.
The boy was rushed to a hospital in Statesville before going into cardiac arrest while being transferred to another facility in Winston-Salem. He was then diverted to Davie Medical Center, where he died from his injuries, sheriff officials said.
The shooting occurred as the boy, and a 7-year-old pal were firing a BB gun and a pellet rifle at targets near one of their family’s homes.
An initial probe indicates that the shooting was accidental, authorities said.
Sheriff Chris Bowman told The Post Tuesday he doesn’t foresee any criminal charges filed in the shooting. Bowman declined to identify the 8-year-old who died.
“The investigation is continuing,” department officials said Monday in a statement. “There is no other information at this time.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/22/8-year-old-boy-killed-by-single-shot-from-bb-gun-deputies/
Photo Credit: Google Maps
Man arrested on a cross-country trip with a twelve-year-old girl
FRESNO, Calif. — A self-proclaimed pedophilia advocate who once ran for political office in Virginia has been arrested by authorities who said they caught him flying across the country earlier this week with a 12-year-old girl he had persuaded to run away from her California home.
Nathan Larson, 40, made the girl wear a long-haired wig to make her look older and told her to pretend to be mute during their travel, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims announced on Saturday.
The investigation began Monday morning when the girl’s family reported her missing from her bedroom in Fresno, California.
Mims said detectives learned that Larson, a resident of Catlett, Virginia, met the girl previously through social media, flew to California and persuaded her to sneak out of her house around 2 a.m. Monday. They took a rideshare car to the Fresno Airport, where they board a plane bound for Washington, D.C., she added.
Larson was taken into custody and the girl was rescued by a Denver police officer who stopped the pair during their layover in Colorado, Mims said. The girl was not injured and later was reunited with her family.
Mims said that while the girl was not physically harmed detectives have evidence of inappropriate touching at the airport.
She said the steps Larson had taken to groom the girl were of a “sophisticated nature” and asked anyone who may have had inappropriate contact with Larson to contact police. She also urged parents to always monitor their children’s internet activity and who they are communicating with online.
Federal agents searched Larson’s house and discovered that during the past two months since meeting her online in October, Larson persuaded the girl to send him pornographic images of herself, according to Mims. During the search, Larson’s 69-year-old father, Arthur Larson, assaulted a federal agent and was arrested, she said.
Charged with assault and battery, the father was later released from jail after posting bond.
Mims said detectives also discovered the son’s “deeply disturbing background.”
“He is a white supremacist and a well-known advocate for pedophilia,” she said of the younger Larson. “This is a man who runs a website, which encourages the raping of children and sharing of naked photos and video of children being raped.”
Nathan Larson ran and lost a 2017 campaign to become a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, representing the 31st House District encompassing Prince William and Fauquier counties in northern Virginia. He ran as an independent and his platform included advocating for fathers to be able to marry their daughters, legalizing child pornography and suppressing women’s rights.
In 2009, while living in Boulder, Colorado, he was sentenced to 16 months in prison after pleading guilty to sending an email to the Secret Service that he intended to kill the president “in the near future.” It is unclear whether Larson was referring to then-President George W. Bush or then-President-elect Barack Obama.
He wound up serving 14 months.
Larson was being held in the Denver County jail facing a misdemeanor charge of harboring a minor. However, Fresno County authorities will seek an extradition request to Fresno where he will face felony charges of kidnapping, child abduction, soliciting child pornography from a minor and meeting a child for the intention of sex.
It wasn’t immediately known whether he has a lawyer.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/20/man-arrested-during-a-cross-country-trip-with-a-12-year-old-girl/
Photo Credit: AP
In California, wealthy patients are offering top dollar to cut the line for a Covid-19 vaccine
(CNN) — While the nation continues to see record levels of new Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, wealthy patients in Southern California — the epicenter of the state’s Covid-19 crisis — are offering to pay top dollar to cut the line and be among the first to receive a vaccine.
At a number of concierge medical practices in Southern California, doctors say they’ve received calls from their well-off clients asking if they can have early access to the extremely limited supply of vaccine doses in exchange for a financial contribution to a hospital or charity.
Dr. Jeff Toll, whose boutique internal medicine practice has admitting privileges at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said one patient offered to donate $25,000 to the hospital in exchange for an early shot of the vaccine. Toll’s practice services a well-heeled clientele that includes chief executives and entertainment figures, but the doctor said he is telling his patients they too must wait as the first round of vaccines are distributed to those most in need of protection.
Earlier this week, California received 327,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, administering the first shots to front line health care workers battling the virus that has caused more than 22,000 deaths statewide since the start of the pandemic.
“I think one of the difficult things is for physicians who take care of these high-power people to be able to say, no you have to wait,” Toll said. “These people don’t usually have to wait.”
Toll said his practice has applied with the state of California to become a vaccine distribution center for his clients and has already purchased special ultra-cold freezers in anticipation of storing vials of the Pfizer vaccine.
‘They wanted it yesterday’
Dr. David Nazarian, of My Concierge MD in Beverly Hills, said a number of his A-list clients are contacting him, saying that money is no object if it helps them get the vaccine early.
“They wanted it yesterday,” said Nazarian. “We will play by the rules but are doing everything we can to secure and distribute the vaccine when its available to us.”
Southern California has in recent weeks seen an unprecedented surge of new Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations, with hospital intensive care bed capacity plunging to 0% and health officials issuing dire warnings if the virus continues to spread out of control.
The founder of Concierge MD LA, Dr. Abe Malkin, said he’s received over a hundred phone calls from people trying to get early access to the initial doses.
“I’d say that 5 to 10 percent of those were willing to try to make some contribution to a charity to get themselves bumped up in line,” according to Malkin.
Malkin’s practice has also applied to become a vaccine distributor but is focusing on the newly FDA-authorized Moderna vaccine, which will be easier to handle because it doesn’t have the same extreme temperature storage requirements as the Pfizer doses.
When it comes cutting in line, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has warned the state will be “very aggressive in making sure that those with means, those with influence, are not crowding out those that are most deserving of the vaccines.”
“To those that think they can get ahead of the line, and those that think because they have resources, or they have relationships that will allow them to do it. We will be monitoring that very, very, closely,” Newsom said this month.
“We will prioritize, and we will expect that everyone in the health care delivery system is held to the same ethical standard of prioritizing truly, those that are most in need. And the real heroes in this pandemic are front line health care workers, and those are the folks that we must protect, and we must prioritize moving forward.”
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/in-california-wealthy-patients-are-offering-top-dollar-to-cut-the-line-for-a-covid/article_bc2d32c8-53df-511b-8adf-c8aafcbb057a.html
Photo Credit: Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times