Healthy, Happy, and Hungry

Howdy Folks

The summer heat is on the way out, college football is back, and Walker’s health is the bomb dot com. Oh yea and Juul agrees to pay nearly $440 million to 30+ states to stop litigation against them for marketing their Very! addictive nicotine based Vaping products to under age kids, your kids. And on a down note, the FDA continues to allow the sale of every flavor imaginable of disposable vaping pens (see picture) easily purchased with a fake ID at down market gas stations everywhere. Isn’t that just BS. That stuff has never been tested and approved as safe to use yet our government seems to think it’s ok that millions of America’s youth should have the freedom to buy it and you can be sure it’s kids who are smoking (Vaping) flavors like Peachy Rings, Island Orange, & Strawberry Macaroon. Take the time call your congressman and lodge a complaint! 

Last Wednesday Fox News came to our house to interview Walker and his Dad seeking our response to the news about the Juul agreement. This is probably the 10th or 11th time Walker has been interviewed about the Vaping epidemic and he and his parents will continue to speak out doing our part to call attention to the dangers of Vaping. If a digestible food product at Publix was known to cause an illness as bad as EVALI (E-cigarette or Vaping Use-associated Lung Injury) it would be yanked from the shelves immediately and there would be hell to pay for the company. So, how is it that a digestible product like Vaping pens is allowed to continue to sell openly in public knowing the real dangers it possesses to our youth not only for addiction but often causing permanent lung damage. A recent June 13th, 2022 article in US News & World report spells out in plain language the dangers of these products that are cheap and readily available. 

“ A substantial proportion of patients continue to be wracked with breathing difficulty, brain fog and mood disorders a year after their initial diagnosis with EVALI (E-Cigarette or Vaping Use-Associated Lung Injury), according to researchers at Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City. Twelve months after their diagnosis, many EVALI patients said they still had lingering health problems that sometimes affected their quality of life: The chemicals used in e-cigarettes can cause long-term damage to the lungs when breathed in, chemicals like formaldehyde," said Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, director of the Tobacco Treatment Clinic at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, in Baltimore. "I'm not surprised that a patient who develops EVALI is going to have long-term consequences, not in the slightest."

Last week Walker went to Mayo Clinic for testing and came home with renewed confidence and a big smile. One of his doctors (whose favorite line is I’m James Bond and I have a license to heal 😊) told him that he is the most successful transplant patient they have had in a long time. His case has been smooth from the beginning free from many of the difficulties commonly associated with a major 3 organ transplant surgery. They have been very very happy with the performance of his new lungs, his breathing keeps improving getting better and better. While his physical self is doing great, the greatest challenge he faces now is his transition into a “normal” life. Totally understandable considering he spent the last 3 years fighting for his life while his friends went on with theirs.

Candy and I have had a great time setting up our wonderful daughter Laura at FSU where she feels she is in the right place at the right time. Such a blessing to have things go so well for her as she begins her new life in the Inter-disciplinary Medical Sciences program heading towards her goal of becoming a PA and possibly a doctor. To say we miss her would be a gross understatement. Life outside the panic zone is feeling pretty darn good over at the McKnight house, thanks be to God from whom all blessings flow.

Please pray for Walker to feel confident that he will grow to find his place and that he seeks the help he needs to understand the train wreck he has survived. And please pray that Candy and I move successfully into more fulfilling work lives as our life is slowly returning to “normal”.

Thank you for following Walkers journey and loving on our family. Please let us know how we can pray for you and your family. We would be honored to do so.

The McKnights

Www.givetaxfree.org/Walker