Why even think about diphtheria?

Why concern ourselves about diphtheria?

Myrtle and Robert Gregg 

Celebrating Fifty Years of Marriage

In every day my parents lived, they remembered what happened
in the story I plan to share with you.
Part of it was tragic, part uplifting in an amazing way.

What happens if we fail to protect ourselves and our children against childhood diseases such as diphtheria?

I’ve been talking to my friends about diphtheria. Some of them think I’m a little weird to want to write about this subject. “Diphtheria is not the concern it once was before the vaccination was developed,” one of my best friends told me.

True.

“We don’t see it in modern-day pediatric practice. It is not a part of educational preparation. Children in the United States receive immunizations for it.”

My friends are correct. Why, they tell me gently, would I want to research the subject or write about it? Here’s the problem: more and more parents are convinced that vaccines cause autism, and they’re refusing to have their children immunized.

What happens as the number of children not receiving the vaccination for this dread disease increases?

According to the CDC, “More than 15,000 Americans died from diphtheria in 1921, before there was a vaccine. Only two cases of diphtheria have been reported to CDC between 2004 and 2014.”   https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/whatifstop.htm

In the United States, diseases that can be prevented by vaccines, are rare. In some parts of the world, such diseases persist. Of all the childhood diseases, only one has become extinct—smallpox. Polio is on its way out, but people still get polio.

If we stop vaccinating our children against diphtheria and if we fail to keep up with the diphtheria vaccine for adults, which is included in the tetanus vaccine, we could have an outbreak if one occurs anywhere else on our planet. A diphtheria epidemic would be, as the CDC literature says, “just a plane ride away.” (CDC, See the above link.)

Worldwide, diphtheria is spreading, and the number of patients continues to grow.  Not all cases may be reported, but in 2014 the World Health Organization received reports of 7,321 cases. https://www.cdc.gov/diphtheria/clinicians.html

If through negligence or fear, we allow ourselves to become vulnerable, we can have a diphtheria outbreak here in the United States.

Something to Remind Me.

“Always something there to remind me.” I quote the title of a timeless popular song to tell about a passion I’m feeling. It’s a passion to tell some events that happened in my family and to share my opinions about a danger that frightens me about the future of human beings everywhere.

Let me tell you about the latest something. A few days ago, I reached into the cutlery drawer to get a spoon. In a hurry, I didn’t open the drawer all the way. As I reached over the salad forks, which have tines as sharp as knives, I landed my right pinky finger on top of a fork. It stuck so deep that when I brought my hand out of the drawer the fork came with it and dangled like a Christmas tree ornament from my pinky.  

I had to exert some force to remove the fork. Then blood gushed out and dripped onto the kitchen floor. I’ll spare you the other gory details.

The nurse practitioner and I decided I needed a tetanus shot. That inoculation includes a vaccination against diphtheria. 

Diphtheria is something I’m reminded of constantly. Why? It is a hideous disease that cost the life of one of my brothers and almost killed another. What I need to tell you is how the world would be if we had an epidemic of diphtheria again like those throughout history until almost the middle of the twentieth century when the medical community in our nation conquered the problem. 

Receiving a tetanus shot—not many of us play around with that. We’ve learned that a nail doesn’t have to be rusty or come from a barnyard to cause lockjaw. But why do doctors slip in the diphtheria shot? It’s a little like drinking milk with vitamins A and D or eating bread fortified with B vitamins. Maybe it’s like using toothpaste containing fluoride or iodized salt. All of these ideas are controversial, but I don’t plan to discuss them.

What I want to talk about is diphtheria. A sore finger that smarts while I’m typing is my reminder that I have something we need to think about.

Why should we receive a vaccination for diphtheria? According to my doctor’s Vaccination Information Statement, diphtheria can cause a thick coating to form in the back of the throat. The disease leads to breathing problems, paralysis, heart failure, and death.

“Before vaccines, as many as 200,000 cases of diphtheria...were reported in the United states each year.” Since vaccination began, the incidence of the disease has dropped 99%.

Secret Promise will be featured at Delight Book Signing, September 30, 2017.

Secret Promise has received Lighthouse recognition.

Notice the symbol on the back cover.

It is 1907 as Caroline Clemons watches her town’s newest bachelor, Jake MacGregor, tie his horses to a post outside her window. Moments later as he enters her home to meet her eligible sisters, he mistakenly believes Caroline is a servant instead of one of Senator Chad Clemons’ daughters. Immediately mesmerized by Caroline’s beauty, Jake has no idea she is committed to fulfilling a promise she made years ago, even if it means living a Cinderella existence.

Caroline, who derives her only satisfaction in life from her teaching job in Taylorsburg, Mississippi, cannot help but be attracted to Jake who just inherited a store in town. As an internal battle rages within her, Caroline busies herself with serving her family and the Lord, even as Jake haunts her dreams and she fastidiously guards her family’s secrets. But as fate intervenes, a romance develops that leads both Caroline and Jake to rely on prayer and laughter to survive. Will they ever be able to overcome their obstacles to find their happily ever after?

A young woman must rely on faith as she struggles between honoring a long-held promise to her family or following her heart.

Secret Promise, Lighthouse

Secret Promise, Amazon

Miss Loretta Larson at Delight Music Fest

The Courtship of Miss Loretta Larson is one of the novels in the Covington Chronicles. All of the books in the series will be featured at the Delight Music Fest,  Saturday, September 30, 2017, in Delight, Arkansas. The book signing will be at the park.

The festival is an annual event. You don't want to miss it this year because the festival will honor Glen Campbell, who was born at Billstown, an unincorporated community just outside Delight.  There will be bands all afternoon, with the Campbells last.

The book signing, which will offer you eleven authors to visit, will be set up in the park near the library. The Glen Campbell 5K Ramble starts at 8:00A.M. and goes through the main street, right past the library. A vintage car show starts at 11:00 A.M. There are food and craft vendors and great crowds, as well as four bands to entertain you. 

The Dream Bucket at the Delight Music Fest Super Signing, 2017

Two Families, Many Dreams

Ten-year-old Trudy loves Papa more than anybody else until she hears him slap Zoe, her mother. She is so angry at him she wishes he’d die. When he accidentally sets fire to the family mansion and dies in the fire, she is not prepared for the shock.

William has cautioned Zoe not to pry into his financial arrangements. She wants to know where he keeps his money in case his life should end. How will she survive as a widow? The family has nowhere to call home except a sharecropper’s shack.
~~~

Best Seller:

The Dream Bucket has frequently achieved best-seller status in its category on Amazon.

Award:

The Dream Bucket received an award at the Texas Writers Conference of International Writers Alive.

Mary Lou Cheatham plans to sign The Dream Bucket at the Delight Music Fest Super Signing on September 30, 2017.

Delight Music Fest Super Signing will include Manuela Blayne, considered Mary Lou Cheatham's Most Powerful Book

The third annual Super Signing, sponsored by the Delight Branch Library, will be held during the Delight Music Fest on September 30 at the Delight, AR city park. Writers from Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas will bring their books. 

The Delight Public library is

hosting the book signing,

, which will be in the park nearby.

The Super Signing will follow the Glen Campbell 5K Ramble in honor of Delight's very own, recently deceased Glen Campbell, with portions of the proceeds going to the Alzheimer's' Foundation. Music will start at noon, including Glen's family, Billstown Boys, and several bands will be participating into the evening. There will be food, jewelry, crafts and games for kids.

One of the novels Mary Lou Cheatham plans to sign at the Delight Music Fest Super Signing is Manuela Blayne.

Manuela Blayne is the story of one suffering for another.

A new day dawns for Trudy Cameron. She develops a heightened sensitivity to others around her who endure the hurts brought on by circumstances she tries to influence. Trudy starts to realize she cannot change everything, she cannot fix all the bad in her world. At the same time she develops a streak of mischief. Sometimes she is shocked by her own behavior. As she grows up fast, she finds emotions within herself she didn't expect.

In the summer of 1910, Trudy Cameron witnesses the aftershock of an event that will disturb her the rest of her life.

It is more than the consequences of the crime that concern her. Cruelty dominates the evolving social system of the South, the only home she knows.

Never will she comprehend all the hurt suffered by her friend Manuela Blayne, but Trudy wants to understand.

She witnesses firsthand what forgiveness can be. She observes hardships she has never imagined.

In a world that denies mercy to her friend, will Trudy’s faith shrink or blossom? She is always honest with herself about her emotions.

Trudy tells her story in first person.

Come spend some time with the Bentons and Camerons. Delight in the parenting skills of Samuel Benton, as he tries to distract Trudy from her anguish over Manuela Blayne.

Have a dish of ice cream in the Covington and float on a watermelon in the swim hole at Hot Coffee. Witness the mischief Trudy dares not confess to her parents.

Travelers at Delight Music Fest Super Signing.

Travelers in Painted Wagons on Cohay Creek is a novel about Jeremy, a young boy in Mississippi a little more than a hundred years ago. His mother was dying of cancer, and his father was harsh. Jeremy survived by clinging to his friends, but he didn't get to see them often. At a low point in his existence, a Romani (Gypsy) showed up and offered to help the boy's father in the blacksmith shop in payment for moving his clan onto Cohay Creek for a season.

The young boy learned from his friend Walthere, the Traveler, how to assist in the blacksmith shop, how to laugh, and most importantly how to forgive. A lover of books from the school library and a  naturally curious student, the boy learned about the history of the Gypsies.

Meanwhile the adults all around him lived, loved, and fought without restraint.

Mary Lou Cheatham and Sarah Walker Gorrell collaborated to write this unique novel. Mary will be signing it at the Delight Music Fest Super Signing, September 30, 2017, in Delight, Arkansas.

House of Seven Going to Delight

Festival in Delight, Arkansas

The town of Delight, Arkansas, will celebrate its annual festival on September 30, 2017.  They'll

Delight Public Library

begin the day with a run. There will be food, crafts, and bands.

Something I'm really excited about is the super book signing outdoors under a canopy in the park. The book signing is sponsored by the library.

The weather at the end of September in Arkansas is usually perfect. It will probably be a light jacket or long-sleeve day. Even if it rains, this festival will be great fun because shelter will be provided.

At the end of the day Glen Campbell's family band will entertain the crowd. Some of the money raised at the festival will be used for  Alzheimer's research.

Along with ten other authors from  Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana, I've been invited to sign

House of Seven

A Humorous Novel

books. Most of my books so far have been inspirational historical novels with a thread of romance woven into the plots. I have a six-book series called The Covington Chronicles. I plan to bring some of each book.

House of Seven  is the most recent book in the series. It's the story of seven unlikely characters in the year 1913. The setting is in my home state of Mississippi. The town, Taylorsburg, is an imaginary variation of my hometown, Taylorsville.

In this fast-paced short novel told through the viewpoints of multiple characters, the reader will find true love, comedy, and mystery.

I'm looking forward to the Delight Music Fest, and I hope to see many old friends there as I make some new ones.

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