Traveling with FAIR To Santa Cruz, CA The Santa Cruz organization "Help & Education for Liver Patients" (HELP!) invited the community and welcomed our CEO, Dr. Darling, to give the FAIR Foundation presentation. Seen here with HELP! founders, Ed & C.N. Gordon, Dr. Darling presented to an audience which interacted wonderfully, asking many excellent questions regarding liver disease, transplantation, and organ donor policy. We are grateful for the many attendees who agreed with our effort for new organ donor policies (with many of them joining FAIR at the speech) and for their many purchases of Dr. Darling's book, Coma Life. The FAIR Foundation has signed up thousands of new members throughout America this year alone and we have decided to now focus on issuing national press releases and communications to the principals at the NIH and in Congress to achieve our twin goals. We may go out to exhibit at conventions again next year. To see many, many pictures of the new members, click the success logo.

Exactly who is receiving HIV research dollars?
Are they all in the USA? You'll be surprised

Where is the $2.93 billion in HIV research being spent and who is receiving the exorbitant funding? Click on the hands reaching out for the cash.

 

FAIR Continues its dental plan for transplant patients

If you have passed all of your pre-transplant requirements except for dental due to financial hardship, contact us and we will attempt to find a dentist that will help you pro-bono. We have helped many patients in the past and may be able to assist you also. For a complete summary of our dental plan for transplant patients, click the tooth.

             FAIR Profiles States

What are the top ten causes of death for the citizens of North Dakota and North Carolina as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)? Is HIV/AIDS one of them? If not, how do the top ten compare with HIV? For the top ten causes of death in North Dakota and North Carolina click on their map. For HIV/AIDS deaths in those and all other states, click here.

Your Disease's research dollars--where are they going?

Have you wondered where the money being spent on your disease is actually going--to what researcher in what country? Click here, find your illness, then click on the budgeted amount to get the full list of people researching your illness.
 

FAIR's Press Release: Immediate Action Needed to Reverse America's Organ-Donor Crisis

Every hour a person on the waiting list or one who was delisted due to becoming too sick to be transplanted dies. You can help give all in need the "Gift of Life" by simply copying this opinion editorial and sending it to media and President Obama. Click on the Please Help logo!

Waiting for a Liver Transplant?

Are you waiting for a liver transplant?  Which areas/hospitals are transplanting years sooner than others. To calculate your MELD score and find the region/state that is transplanting at the lowest MELD score, click the liver.
 

The HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials Parade Continues

In May there were 1,742 HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials, in August, 1,865, in October 2,233, Now it is 3,964 for HIV and 4,202 for AIDS. Find out how many for your disease by clicking here. For example, there are a total of only 688 for Alzheimer's Disease, 835 for COPD, and 828 for hepatitis C (many involving HIV & HCV).

World news reports for HIV like no other illness

What kind of attention does HIV get in the media. Well, we know it preoccupies much of the media health focus as evidenced by these numerous articles, indeed, hundreds of HIV news from one source alone since our last newsletter.
 

FAIR Members' Soapbox Alerts continue

...this month to those suffering from our focus disease of the month, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). To easily send an alert today to President Obama, VP Biden, your Senators and Representatives in support of fairer funding for this illness, click the Soapbox logo!

Focus Disease:  COPD
    (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)

•  COPD is...a slowly progressive disease of the airways that is characterized by a gradual loss of lung function. In the U.S., the term COPD includes chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive bronchitis, or emphysema, asthma (sometimes), or combinations of these conditions.
   

• COPD symptoms: Symptoms of COPD include constant coughing, sometimes called "smoker's cough," shortness of breath while doing activities you used to be able to do, excess sputum production, feeling like you can't breathe, not being able to take a deep breath and wheezing. When COPD is severe, shortness of breath and other symptoms can get in the way of doing even the most basic tasks, such as doing light housework, taking a walk, even bathing and getting dressed. COPD develops slowly, and can worsen over time, so be sure to report any symptoms you might have to your doctor as soon as possible, no matter how mild they may seem.
   

• COPD is fatal: You may have never heard of it, yet COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the USA. Over 120,000 adults die from COPD every year--that's one every 4 minutes. Compare to estimated AIDS deaths of 14,110. COPD is projected to be the third leading cause of death for both males and females by the year 2020.

•  COPD is serious: More than 726,000 COPD patients are hospitalized each year due to exacerbations, a severe attack of COPD when patients struggle to breathe.
   

• Testing for COPD: Everyone at risk for COPD who has cough, sputum production, or shortness of breath, should be tested for the disease. The test for COPD is called spirometry.
   

•  COPD is Expensive: The total estimated cost of COPD in 2002 was 32.1 billion dollars. $18 billion of that was direct costs and 14.1 included morbidity and premature mortality. Medicare expenses for COPD beneficiaries were nearly 2.5 times that of the expenditures for all other patients.
   

• COPD is common: The National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute estimates that there are 24 million COPD sufferers in the USA. Compare: estimated HIV/AIDS cases: 1 million.
   

• Contributor to COPD: A separate condition, Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, is a significant contributor to COPD and Alpha-1 alone is one of the most common and serious hereditary disorders in the world. It affects individuals in all racial groups worldwide, not just in Europe as previously thought. (Frederick J. de Serres, PhD, "Worldwide racial and Ethnic Distribution of Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency," Chest/122/5/November, 2002) and de Serres "Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Is Not a Rare Disease but a Disease That Is Rarely Diagnosed," Volume 111/Number 16/Dec. 2003, Environmental Health Perspectives. More on Dr. de Serres here and note this update: To view Dr. de Serres most recent impressive work on Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency (ATD) in 69 counties worldwide that demonstrates the very large numbers at risk of ATD worldwide in those countries where he has found genetic epidemiological data in the peer-reviewed medical literature, click here.)
   

• COPD, gender and race: The prevalence of self-reported COPD is higher in females than males and in whites than blacks. The COPD death rate for females more than doubled between 1980 and 2000, and the number of deaths for females surpassed the number for males in 2000,
   

• Online Support for COPDers: Gain support and companionship online with the COPD Alert Forum at Yahoo groups. To join, send an email to COPD-ALERT-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. To ask the moderator a question, send an email to vlady.rita@verizon.net.
   

• Take Action against COPD! Quit smoking , avoid Exposure to Pollutants, visit Your doctor on a Regular Basis and take Precautions Against the Flu.
   

• Fairness? The NIH's is spending only $7 per COPD patient in research versus $2,774 on each patient death from HIV/AIDS in 2009. While in Washington, DC, FAIR's Founder met with Congressional Health Aides of members of the COPD Caucus and encouraged reversal of these disproportionate funding statistics.
   

• COPD and all other diseases except HIV/AIDS would receive larger research allocations under the FAIR Foundation's policies.

Facts and statistics from the NIH's National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute, the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, and the COPD-Alert Support & Advocacy Group.

The FAIR Foundation is growing fast, but we need more members to change Congress and the NIH. Please help us by forwarding this Newsletter on to your associates and friends. With strength in numbers, we WILL achieve fair and equitable NIH distributions for COPD and ALL non-AIDS diseases. Member sign-up information is confidential.  

 donate...

As you consider your year-end tax-deductible donations, we would be most grateful for your financial support. Please help us benefit all who need fair and equitable research allocations for their disease of interest and to achieve new organ-donor policies to reverse the organ-donor crisis in America. Indeed, we are the only nonprofit organization solely dedicated to fairness in research funding and we respectfully ask for your help in funding our effort. Remember, we have no paid employees. Indeed; we are all volunteers so every dollar of your donation will go to continuing our educating Congress and the NIH on the need for change to insure fair funding for your disease of interest. Thank you in advance for your generosity!  

Please make your donation on our secure website or mail a check made out to the FAIR Foundation at 78-629 Bougainvillea Drive, Palm Desert, CA 92211.

The FAIR Foundation; E-mail us at fair@dc.rr.com

FAIR Mission Statement: The FAIR Foundation is dedicated to fair and equitable distribution of research funds by the government for all diseases, including the 16 that kill a million more Americans than AIDS. A disease’s mortality rate shall be given emphasis in determining allocations and other secondary factors shall be utilized to insure diseases that cause great suffering but have low mortality rates will also receive significantly increased funding.