by Mark Smiley | Nov 2, 2015 | Travel
by Mark Smiley
Cherry Creek Valley resident Elizabeth (Biz) Erickson, age 31, watched as her sister Emily, age 36, slowly wasted away and began to die from the liver disease Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) as she waited for a transplanted liver from a cadaver. Football legend Walter Payton died from PSC at age 45 and now his football coach Mike Ditka has the very same disease.
Every year thousands die while waiting for a cadaver liver which never comes. Emily’s dilemma was made even more acute from the fact that she has a relatively rare blood type, AB+. Elizabeth could no longer watch her sister suffer and volunteered to help try to save her sister’s life by offering the gift of her own liver or more accurately, 65% of her liver. Luckily livers are one of the most regenerative portions of the human anatomy and if the operation is successful, both women will eventually have full livers. But the operation is not without serious risks for both the donee and the donor.
Out of every 100 people who receive a liver transplant using a living donor, 78 will live for five years or more and 22 will die from the transplant. The odds for the donor are better with approximately one in five hundred dying from the operation.
Transplant
On December 8, 2015, University of Colorado Hospital (UCH) surgeons will transplant a portion of Elizabeth’s liver in Emily’s body. The sisters will spend 5-10 days at UCH and once they are stable, they will be taken to a transplant recovery area to continue recuperating. It takes about 2-4 months of rest, rejuvenation, and regeneration at home. The liver will regenerate in Biz’s body within months and there is a chance that Emily may be close to feeling 100% in six weeks, a feeling that she has not had in over 13 years.
The sisters’ mother, Kathy Barrett, stated, “This is an unbelievable gift Elizabeth is giving to her sister. Elizabeth is my hero too. This is the kind of person she is. This is what she is supposed to do. I’m not even that scared.”
PSC is a chronic disorder of the liver in which the bile ducts outside the liver (the extrahepatic bile ducts) and often the bile ducts inside the liver become inflamed, thickened (sclerotic), narrowed, and finally obstructed. This is a progressive process that can in time destroy the bile ducts.
Thirteen years ago after Emily gave birth to her son she had severe itching which created painful scabs. Her liver enzymes were evaluated and she was initially diagnosed with hepatitis. But after a visit to the Mayo Clinic, her diagnosis was changed to PSC. Her mother Kathy remembers these days vividly. “For me, this has been such a long journey. In the beginning, I was mamma bear and I wanted to fight for the whole thing,” said Kathy. “The first time she got sick, I was off the charts crazy. But then a calm came over me and I said, ‘I can’t control this.’”
The symptoms that Emily currently deals with are extreme fatigue, itching, and a reversed sleep cycle. Her two children are now 13 and 9 years of age. They struggle to understand why their mom is always tired. This transplant is necessary to give her children the childhood she feels they deserve. “I feel like I am living someone else’s life,” said Emily. “I have a lot of guilt associated with it [being tired around her children]. I have no energy to do anything. But if this operation is successful my children will see for the first time the energetic and joyful person that their mother was before PSC struck.”
Support Group
Emily relies heavily on a support group based in Colorado. She attends regular conferences and gets advice from experts. PSC Partners Seeking a Cure, headquartered in Englewood, Colo., is a volunteer organization that was formed in 2005 to provide PSC patients and their caregivers education and support and to raise funds to research the origins of and a cure for the disease.
Donor Alliance
While Emily will be receiving a live transplant from her sister most individuals with PSC must depend upon a liver from a cadaver. Sixty-seven percent of adult Coloradans have registered to be an organ and tissue donor which is a much higher percent than most states.
The registration process is through an organization called Donor Alliance, headquartered in Glendale, Colo. Donor Alliance is an organization that facilitates the donation and recovery of transplantable organs and tissues; the mission is to save lives through organ and tissue donation and transplantation. Every 10 minutes, another person is added to the waiting list.
After waiting on the list, Emily grew increasingly more frustrated. “I made myself inactive because I was scared. I had gotten sicker and sicker. I was in the hospital in early September with fluid buildup.” That fluid buildup became infected which made Emily’s disease more life threatening and Biz’s donation all the more vital.
As children growing up, Emily and Elizabeth, along with their sister Kate (who will be flying into Denver to be with her mom during the operation), were normal, everyday sisters. “Emily was the boss as the older child,” said Kathy Barrett. For example, she would have them pay her to go into her room.”
Now, Elizabeth has the ability to give her sister Emily the greatest payment anyone could ask for. “You get to give the most beautiful gift that anyone can give, which is the gift of life,” said Elizabeth.
For more information about organ and tissue donation, visit DonorAlliance.org. To register to be an organ and tissue donor, visit DonateLifeColorado.org or call 303-329-4747 for more information. For help or support, visit the PSC Partners website at www.pscpartners.org.
by Mark Smiley | Nov 2, 2015 | Editorials
Robert Speth v. Happy Haynes
On November 3 there will be an off year election here in Denver for which there is little excitement except over the endless attempts to get Denver taxpayers to pay for everything from redoing the stock show grounds to paying for the college education of the political elite’s kids and those belonging to politically favored groups.
But there is one hotly contested elective office fight and that concerns three positions on the seven person Denver Public School Board. The most interesting is the at large contest between current DPS Board President Allegra “Happy” Haynes and Robert Speth, a senior strategic account manager for Sprint.
The race boils down to corporate oriented reformers versus teacher union supporters as it does in almost all DPS elections. Corporate oriented reformers presently control six of the seven positions with the sole teacher union supporter Arturo Jimenez not running for re-election.
Challenger Robert Speth appears to be a highly intelligent individual with a wife and two children in the Denver Public system at Valdez Elementary School in northwest Denver. His campaign slogan is “A Parent. Not a Politician.”
For those not in the know, his opponent, 62-year-old Happy Haynes, is a lifelong politician who has never had children, much less one in the Denver Public Schools. Some of her opponents have long claimed that she does not even really live in Denver. She is, in fact, is perhaps one of the strangest and least qualified presidents of a school board in the country.
Haynes was recently handed the high paying city job of executive director of the Denver Parks Department by longtime political ally Mayor Michael Hancock without interviewing a single other candidate and halting the national search to help locate qualified individuals for the position. Her appointment was widely condemned across almost all political spectrums with park advocates pointing out she had absolutely no background or qualifications for the post. But being unqualified for a job under the Hancock Administration is not deemed an impediment as long as you are politically connected to the mayor.
She has also refused to resign as school board president to take the Parks Department position saying that during the day she would be head of Parks and a DPS president at night. Good government types have pointed that she has endless conflicts of interest between her two jobs. As president of the DPS she previously spearheaded the partial destruction of Hentzell Park to benefit the building of a new school. Okay for DPS, but a disaster for the park. The utterly spineless Denver Ethics Board, however, blessed her having the two jobs at once. What is all the more amazing about Haynes holding two jobs at once is that Haynes is not known for being a particularly hard worker. In all her time on Denver City Council she did not have a single accomplishment. She is best remembered by her fellow councilmembers as a person who failed to return almost every telephone call from her constituents. Incumbency in Denver is such a powerful force that once you are elected it is almost impossible to be voted out even if you, like Ms. Haynes, stiff-arm the people who put you in office.
Perhaps because she never had any children herself she has shown almost no actual interest in Denver’s school kids. She has been little more than a rubber stamp for literally every proposal of controversial DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg and the corporate backers of Mayor Hancock.
Ms. Haynes’ primary attribute for her entire adult life appears to be having a politically connected mother, Jo Anne Haynes, and fortuitously being nicknamed by her mother at an early age “Happy.” Who wouldn’t want to vote for someone named Happy.
Ms. Haynes appears to recognize that her primary qualification to any job is her nickname as all of her yard signs simply say “Happy!” not dissimilar to Republican presidential candidate John Ellis Bush’s campaign signs simply saying “Jeb!”
Our primary concern with Robert Speth is that we do not agree with his strategy for improving Denver schools, including severely limiting charter schools and choice in the Denver school system. He wants teachers limited to those who are “certified” and wants teachers promoted based on seniority. By straitjacketing the choice that a parent has in Denver to a “neighborhood school” you make the Denver Public Schools even less attractive than they are now and cause more parents to abandon the public school system.
However, we are also cognizant that the majority of the school board will be pro-reform no matter the results of this election. Having no dissenting voices on the DPS School Board is not a good idea. Superintendent Boasberg has grown ever more arrogant and self important over the years and there needs to be at least one voice that will act as query to the actions of the school administrators.
We may not agree with some of the positions of Robert Speth but he is at least a very concerned and intelligent DPS parent whose decisions on the Board will directly affect his own children. Happy Haynes is a lifetime politician who has repeatedly shown her only interest is what is good for Happy Haynes. Moreover voting for Speth is also at least one clear symbolic vote against the corruption that has overtaken Denver City Hall.
— Editorial Board
by Mark Smiley | Sep 25, 2015 | General Featured
by Casey Bloyer
For a craft beer fan like myself autumn is a wonderful time of year to celebrate with delicious fall beer and what else, Oktoberfest! The average American has attended or knows about the fall festival that has become a pilgrimage for most beer lovers, but do they know what it is really about? Oktoberfest is about a marriage that happened in 1810 in, yes you guessed, Germany!
On October 12, 1810, Crown Prince Ludwig was married to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. The wedding took place in Munich, and all the citizens were invited to come celebrate the nuptials on the fields at the city gates. The fields are now named Theresinwiese in honor of the Princess, and today Oktoberfest is still held there.
The locals refer to the event just as “Wies’n” and more than six million people now attend “Wies’n” every year! The celebration in Germany has evolved into one big carnival party with something that everyone can enjoy and, of course, beer takes center stage.
You can find many more Oktoberfests across the world. Locall
y you can find several different festivals in each city in Colorado spanning from early September to the beginning of October. Also, there is that little festival at the end of September in Denver called The Great American Beer Festival.
Summer beer festivals focus on the beer but Oktoberfest is more of a celebration that usually is more family friendly than regular beer festivals. This is just one reason that as a beer lover, Fall is my favorite beer season. The air grows crisp and the colors start to change and the beer grows more hearty and rich with deep flavors!
Since we are in Colorado, one of the big four craft beer states (California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington) we are very lucky to have so many choices for outstanding beer. I can’t wait for this time of year and for seasonal beers to be released with one exception…PUMPKIN BEER!
Never has a beer been more argued than this type of beer. If you have listened to Brewski-Reviewski.podbean.com you know that I absolutely hate these beers! I have yet to try one that I like, or that I think is good. So just know you won’t get any recommendations from this writer on pumpkin beer. I will, however, let you know about my five favorite fall beers.
These are the type of beers I like to have on a cool afternoon in th
e Rockies or by a fireside at night. Here they are from 5-1:
5: Left Hand Brewing — “Oktoberfest Marzen Lager” — The maltiness of this beer is off the charts and is one beer that you can have a couple of and not feel like you just ate a full meal! This is a crisp fun lager!
4: Prost — “Marzen Oktoberfest” — If you are looking for German beer and a great fall beer for that special festival this is the beer for you! This is a more traditional Marzen with a nice orange color to it. I don’t mind having 1… or 6 of these if I’m not driving anywhere.
3: Oskar Blues Brewery — “Ten Fidy” — Get ready for a beer that will knock your socks off! This 10.5% ABV is packed with a punch of chocolate, caramel and coffee! Make sure you don’t have these on an empty stomach!
2: Black Shirt Brewing — Any beer they do! They call their beers “The Red Ale Pro
ject” and all the beers they do tie into music! I have ye
t to have a beer at BSB that is anything less than great! I recommend the Red Porter for this time of year.
1: Avery Brewing Company — The Kaiser Imperial Oktoberfest — This is the beer to end all fall beers! I am not surprised this is what Avery does with all their beers. The malt combined with the spiced hoppiness is fantastic. If an Oktoberfest is not serving this in Colorado then it is not the right festival.
Honorable Mention:
Bull & Bush Brewery — Hail Brau Hefeweizen — This unfiltered wheat beer is a classic Hefeweizen and great beer for any Oktoberfest festival. But make sure you swing by their brewery for any of their beers and the food as well!
Comrade Brewing — Bierstadt Lagerhaus Hefeweizen — Great beer for this time of year and a lot lighter than any other beers coming up on this list. I love the banana notes that come from this beer. Make sure you try the superpower IPA as it well may well be the best IPA in Colorado.
Fall is a wonderful time in Colorado to be able to enjoy the outdoors, and a great beer is a plus. We are just lucky to have the best of both worlds here, so get out there and try a new beer. I hope to see you at one of the many festivals this fall and please tell me if I am wrong about any of these beers. I love hearing about new beers to try, but do not bring up those evil forsaken pumpkin beers! Enjoy the outdoors, have a beer and until the next time . . . raise your glass!
Casey Bloyer is the Executive Producer of The Peter Boyles Show and The Dan Caplis Show. He is the co-host of Brewski-Reviewski with Connor Shreve who is the Sports Director at 710KNUS. Brewski-Reviewski is a bi-monthly podcast talking about all things craft beer in Colorado. Twitter @Breviewski; Facebook www. facebook.com/craftbeerradio; email brcraftbeer @gmail.com.
by Mark Smiley | Sep 25, 2015 | Travel
by Megan Carthel
The walls of Koko FitClub, located at 6231 E. 14th Ave. in Mayfair, aren’t lined with mirrors and weight racks. Instead, a simple layout with a handful of elliptical, treadmill and weight machines fill out the small space. In fact, no mirrors will be found in this gym, and that’s just the point. “It’s not about being skinny or weighing 120 pounds,” franchise owner Jennifer Mercado said. “It’s about being strong.”
It’s no secret that Americans aren’t the trimmest. The National Institute of Health estimates nearly 70 percent of Americans ages 20 and up are overweight or obese. Mercado and her husband, Kevin, along with Koko Fitness, are trying to make that statistic smaller. After he suffered a heart attack at age 39, the Mercados knew they needed to change their lifestyle.
At Koko FitClub, technology is the personal trainer. It’s a marriage of both computers and fitness — a metaphorical match to the Mercados. Kevin, a software engineer, and Jennifer, a runner and formerly from a corporate environment, blend with the gym. “For me,” Mercado said, “it seems like one of the smartest ways technology can be there to help people get better and improve their life.”
So how is technology helping people lose weight? The answer is much like a game. Each member has their own website and USB drive that retains all of their information, such as height, weight, BMI, workouts and nutrition. Each workout is pre-planned and tailored to each member. Every part of the experience is tracked and designed to motivate. Club members carry their USB flash drives on colored lanyards correlated to the amount of time they’ve been training at the gym. Mercado said it’s a way for members to show pride in their progress.
A screen in the middle of the gym proudly flaunts member names on a “leader board” for perfect workouts. While burning calories, club members can have their pick of scenic routes and keep up with a pacemaker. At the end of each workout, members are rewarded with points. A perfect workout gets a member a free
T-shirt and their name on the leader board. Think of a gold star sticker, but for adults.
“It makes it a little fun, but it’s a great workout,” said club member Daniel Kraus, 29. Kraus said he’s never been a fanatic of gyms, but the streamlined ease of Koko is a perfect fit for him.
Kathy Adams, a 70-year-old member, said she checks the leader board every time she works out. This was a surprise to Adams who said she has always been a “do-it-yourselfer.” This simple work-for-reward technique seems to be one of the key motivational points for Koko FitClub. “It is that feeling, I think,” Mercado said, “that people just want to be recognized for working hard and feeling good about it.”
And, in a world of instant gratification, instant results can undoubtedly be motivational — and that’s what the technology at Koko FitClub can provide people. It’s real time data showing real time results. “The numbers don’t lie,” Adams said. “That in itself is very motivating. You can start seeing improvement. You don’t think you’re getting better, you know on paper you’re getting better and stronger.”
Mercado said many people quit trying to get healthy and lose weight because they don’t see results. The “smart trainer,” as it’s called, keeps track of the improvement each member makes during their workouts and shares the data instantly as well as on a personalized website. Koko FitClub seems to have found a way to simplify a very complicated thing. When club members come into the gym, everything is mapped out for them, from weight to reps.
Nutrition isn’t spared, either. Recipes and meal guidelines are part of each member’s website — something that Nel Lenhart, 50, a club member, said has made a positive impact on her family. The gym itself gives off a family feeling. Lenhart describes the atmosphere as “encouraging” and “comfortable.” Mercado said when people go into a large gym environment, they can sometimes be intimidated and uncomfortable asking for help, the exact opposite of what Mercado and the Koko FitClub conveys. “You get the sense that people are glad I’m here, and they’re proud of me for showing up,” Lenhart said.
Because the workouts are easy to follow, the fear of being “that person” at the gym is basically eliminated. “You don’t have to worry about the whole gym thing, going in with all these people, not knowing what you’re doing or waiting for this machine or that machine,” Kraus said. Koko FitClub supports a friendly environment and pushes the goal of health, not just quick weight loss. “We are the life prescription keeping people healthy,” Mercado said.
For more information call 303-872-8380 or visit kokodenver.com.
by Mark Smiley | Sep 25, 2015 | Glendale City News
by Marco Cummings
Writer for and on behalf of the City of Glendale
Eagles Practice at Infinity Park Photo by Seth McConnell
Two Glendale Raptors are representing club and country this month during the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England.
Glendale Raptors Zach Fenoglio and Niku Kruger were among the names selected to the 31-man USA World Cup roster. The USA Eagles are competing alongside 20 other nations during the six-week tournament.
“Making the World Cup squad truly is a dream come true. It was something I set my sights on five years ago and it is surreal to see those goals met now,” Fenoglio said of his selection. “When you first start playing rugby you always imagine what it would be like to play on the World Cup stage and now to have this opportunity is something I’ll cherish forever.”
“Zach has been a hard worker since his initial selection onto our A side (lower-level Eagle) three years ago. Despite some disappointing squad omissions, Zach continued to remain positive in his approach, and eventually he became a regular squad member for us,” said USA Eagles head coach Mike Tolkin. “His leadership role with the Raptors has helped him become a confident player with the Eagles.
International play will give Fenoglio, a Denver native and longtime Raptor, time to mesh with Kruger, who will be a new addition to Glendale’s roster.
“I chose Glendale because of the professionalism and culture the club has. I have followed Glendale for a couple of years and really enjoyed the way they played and presented themselves,” Kruger explained. “Then when I spoke to coach Andre [Snyman] and learned of his love and enthusiasm for the game I knew it was the place I wanted to further my rugby career.”
“It has been great getting to work with Niku, he’s a very talented and knowledgeable player of the game,” Fenoglio added. “It’s been great seeing him develop with the Eagles and I know he’ll bring great value and leadership to Glendale next season. Bringing someone with that talent and rugby background will only help grow and better our team.”
Fenoglio and Kruger will look to defend the Raptors’ Pacific Rugby Premiership (PRP) title in 2016, but are playing alongside several other PRP players as teammates for the Eagles.
“It is great to have these players return to their clubs and bring back the international experience they have gained,” said Tolkin. “Their teammates look up to them and they help raise the bar on the field.”
The pair are part of a USA team which features 20 World Cup debutants, but played several international matches in preparation for the Rugby World Cup.
“In terms of Rugby World Cup experience, yes, this is a relatively inexperienced group,” USA Men’s Eagles head coach Tolkin said. “However, while the Rugby World Cup is a whole different kettle of fish, many of these players do have a fair bit of international play under their belts since 2011.”
He added, “[Kruger] was a late selection and has displayed talent as a young scrum-half. While he has not had much playing time this summer, his skill and work ethic promise well for him in the future.”
Drawn in Pool B alongside opposing teams Samoa, Scotland, South Africa and Japan, the Eagles look to qualify for the Knockout Stage, a goal which has been out of reach in several prior World Cups.
“As a team we have really begun to come together and execute our systems effectively,” said Fenoglio. “Our goal for the World Cup is to continue to develop our continuity on both sides of the ball and to make it into the round of 8, getting out of pool play. We have a very talented and committed group of guys and I know we can do it.”
“As a player, I want to ensure that every time I step into that field I represent my country to the best of my ability and hard top quality rugby,” added Kruger. “We want to to make it to the knockout stages of the tournament.”
by Mark Smiley | Sep 25, 2015 | Editorials
Michael Hancock’s appointment of CRL Associates lobbyist and former politician Allegra “Happy” Haynes as the head of Denver Parks and Recreation was the final straw for many Denver citizens regarding whether the municipal government of Denver can be reformed as it is presently constituted to respond to the wishes of its citizens. With the ethically challenged Brad Buchanan in charge of Denver Community Planning and Development and the citizen boards of both Planning and Parks stuffed with lobbyists and political shills, there is almost no effective citizen input anywhere in the process. At one time local neighborhood associations thought they had the ear of their duly elected city councilperson, but in many cases that is no longer true.
Citizens have fought back bringing lawsuits in the case of numerous ill-conceived projects, but lower Denver courts to date appear to believe their job is to prevent any of the cases from ever being heard by a jury of Denver citizens. Many residents increasingly believe the system most definitely does not work and the deck is stacked against the average citizen in favor of real estate developers and other politically connected groups.
Historian Phil Goodstein has queried why we even pretend that people like Happy Haynes and Brad Buchanan are anything but bought and paid for hacks of CRL Associates and Brownstein Hyatt. He has suggested, somewhat facetiously, that we monetize the process similar to Hancock’s efforts to monetize Denver parks. Under the Goodstein plan the positions of executive directors of parks and planning would be put out to bid to the likes of CRL Associates and Brownstein Hyatt “who would pay to name their puppets to office.” Would his suggestion actually be any worse than the present system?
At the spring municipal election three candidates — Wayne New, Rafael Espinoza and Paul Kashmann — upset candidates strongly supported and funded by Mayor Michael Hancock and his coterie of lobbyists and real estate developers. But as Rafael Espinoza has articulated the Denver City Charter invests enormous power in the Denver mayor. Maybe it’s finally time to take some of that power away and in turn empower average citizens of the City and County of Denver.
Concerned citizen Dave Felice has suggested that we alter the City Charter with a citizen initiative to provide for a separately elected independent parks commission that would appoint its own executive director. While we are at it, a separately elected Community Planning and Development commission would also be appropriate.
Of course Denver is not the only municipality in Colorado that has seen its planning process hijacked by real estate developers. In Aspen and Steamboat Springs the citizens got so tired of an endlessly corrupted process that they changed their city charters to require a public vote to approve certain real estate projects. You have the feeling that some truly destructive neighborhood projects now under construction in Denver would have never seen the light of day under such a system.
The City Council could hardly object to such charter changes. In 2010 they merrily gave away to the mayor any and all control of the parks in Denver. The suggested charter changes would simply in turn take it away from the mayor and give it back to the people not only for parks but also development and planning. As a practical matter what in the world do the citizens of Denver have to lose from such changes to the City Charter?
— Editorial Board
