Changing Habits

Spend an hour in someone else's life each weekday. 'Conversations with Richard Fidler' draws you deeper into the life story of someone you may have heard about, but never met.

Last week I had the priveledge of being interviewed by Richard Fidler. To listen to the podcast click here. 

Here is a brief description of the hour.

My Grandfather was an Iowa corn farmer back in the 1930’s, he married my Grandmother, both were of German descent. Their first child was my mother Janet, then they went on to have over the next 22 years, 10 more children. 7 were boys, 6 were born with haemophilia - the bleeding disorder.

The heritage of both my grandparents was known, before my mothers generation there was no sign of haemophilia, it just appeared.

Haemophilia is a genetic disorder passed from mother to son, but where did it come from in my family. Dr Bruce Lipton’s work on epi-genetics says that the gene is the loaded gun but the environment is the trigger. Could the use of arsenic, dieldrin and DDT sprayed around Iowa during my grandparents days have been a reason for the trigger for the haemophilia to be introduced into our family?

I come from a family that has been devastated with type 1 diabetes, haemophilia, hepatitis, cancer, cleft palates and dysphagia, all so called genetic mishaps. But living in the Iowa corn belt offered many triggers for genetic deformity.

If it wasn't bad enough that all my Uncles had haemophilia in the mid 1980's they all contracted HIV as a result of bad blood. The documentary bad blood shows how the makers and authorities knew there was something in the blood but did nothing about it. One by one my Uncles died, along with two Aunts and a cousin. They all took AZT the drug of choice which back in the 1960's was a cancer drug that killed the patient before the cancer.

I question what really killed my Uncles was it AIDS or AZT. I also talk about the double edge sword of medicine. In one way it saved my Uncles and in another it killed them.