Helping Hearts, Blog of Anne Sanders

  I was watching a TV show set in the future that said the common cold had died out. What a wonderful world that would be to live in. The common cold is not a big deal for adults, just annoying, but imagine if you got it before your immune system had really kicked in. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common virus that infects people of all ages and is usually harmless to people with a healthy immune system, but it is not so harmless to babies still developing in the mother’s womb. According to Stop CMV, permanent health problems or disabilities that may occur due to congenital CMV infection (which means infection with CMV while still in the womb) include hearing loss, vision loss, mental disability, feeding issues/Failure to Thrive (FTT), sleeping issues, sensory issues, behavior issues, small head/small brain (Microcephaly), intercranial calcifications, lack of coordination, cerebral palsy, seizures, and even death. About 1 in 150 children is born with congenital CMV in...

The two weeks I missed doing blogs during my mother's sickness were around the Academy Awards and I was going to do a series on what charities the stars support. In honor of my mother, the first star I’m going to feature is Meryl Streep. Streep was one of her favorite actresses. She’s an amazing actress who’s won numerous Academy Awards, Emmys, Screen Actors Guild awards and even a Cannes Film Festival award. She also acts as National Spokesperson for the National Women’s History Museum (NWHM). Last Friday was International Women’s Day . The Women’s Museum is still a dream that hasn’t come true yet with legislation in Congress to be passed before it can become a reality. But NWHM has already gotten a monument of Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony out of its 76‑year confinement in the Capitol Crypt to the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol so that DC visitors can see this testament to the contributors of the women’s suffrage movement. This year marked the...

In less than three weeks, Valentine’s Day will be here. Now that beautiful day celebrating love has a new meaning. Not only is it the day of love for couples, it is also a day to end violence against women. Not by parading or picketing, but by dancing. One Billion Rising on V-Day is the movement. It’s named for the one billion women who are raped or beaten in their lifetimes. According to the slogan: One billion women violated is an atrocity. One billion women dancing is a revolution. Other than with a few close friends, I have never shared that I was raped when I was 22. I was living in Japan and seeing a guy there. I invited him over to my house for dinner and he took that as an invitation for more than just dinner. It affected me in my relationships with men for at least five years. When I met the man I was to marry, I had to tell him that it was still affecting me sometimes. It wasn’t a constant pain or ache, but sometimes I didn’t want a man to touch me. Now there’s a ...