Sunday, November 11, 2012

In Memoriam

http://life-intact.tumblr.com/post/35149456377/in-memoriam



I have been debating publishing this post for a while, unsure of what I feel about this situation.  I feel like he would have wanted the truth to be known.  I feel like his sadness, his life, and his dark truth deserve a legacy of their own.
The young man in the photos above is Brian Mathew Brandt.
He was born on October 7th, 1983. 
Brian grew up in Santa Cruz where he attended Westlake Elementary School, Mission Hill Junior High School, and was a graduate of Santa Cruz High School.
After graduating from SCHS, Brian went on to take on a few jobs after high school, finally ending up working at a local gym for about two and a half years.
Brian enjoyed traveling and playing the guitar.  Brian also loved skateboarding.
Brian would have been 29 this year.
Behind his smile and his brown eyes, Brian was harboring a deep and and haunting pain.
He hated both himself and his mother over a botched circumcision that had been performed on him shortly after birth. 
He felt that he was mutilated and could never have sexual relations.
He used to speak frequently about intactivism at his workplace when he was still alive.
He sought out closure on the botched circumcision that had haunted him his entire life—he tried to go through court, judges, and doctors only to have door after door shut on him.  None of them took his feelings or concerns seriously.
On November 2, 2011, Brian passed away in his home.  He took his own life.
He left behind his parents, a sister, a step sister, maternal grandparents, and many nieces, uncles, cousins, and aunts.
His obituary was published a little over a year ago.
His Facebook account is still around.
His Twitter account tells of the torment that he felt.
He is more than just another name.
He joins the ranks of people like Jamaal Coleson,  Ryleigh McWillis, and David Reimer.
He is more than a statistic.
He was a human being with life, hope, emotions, and dreams.
He is a casualty of male genital mutilation.
May he rest in peace, and may his memory and his message live on.
(Source: nocirc.org)

Midwifery practice in Arizona

LifeSpring Midwifery


"One of my babies in my practice had a severe complication 

from his circumcision. Suffice it to say, the  damage was 

BAD. Severe bleeding, infection....bad stuff. had a hard  

time with that because I'd just  spent most of a pregnancy 

doing what I could to keep this little guy healthy, only to

turn around and have this happen. " 














Wednesday, November 7, 2012

A call for your stories!

Please consider submitting your personal story about circumcision. The more that people speak out and tell their stories, the closer we will get to ending this madness. You can submit your testimony to: circumcisioninsanity@yahoo.com, if you would like for us to publish it.

This letter was submitted by a Mother from Mississippi. Thank you for sharing it with us.  

My first son was circumcised a week after he was born.  It was not performed in the hospital, because the nurses let me breastfeed and my ob denied giving him the circ.  So the day of his circumcision I was instructed to not feed my little man four hours before and he was so upset and crying because he was so hungry.  Then we wait at the ob's office and are told that we are not to go back while the procedure is being done.  I had never known there was a choice for circumcision or truly what the procedure was, I was not even given the option of being present and didn't know that I could ask.  I could hear my baby cry so loud from the other room.  I was determined not to let that happen again if I had another boy.  Then my ob tells me that the gauze he had applied could be removed in a couple of hours by my pediatrician, since I had my son's one week check up the same day.  

Later at the pediatrician's office I told the doctor what my ob had instructed and my pediatrician had no idea of what to do!  We stumbled together trying to remove the gauze that was stuck to my son's penis.  It was horrible.  I changed pediatricians after this experience.  

So, years later my son is 4 years old and potty trained and makes a huge mess all over the bathroom while urinating.  He would pee the bed every night.  I was dumbfounded when his urine stream would shoot out like a rocket in more than one direction.  I called the new pediatrician and was referred to an urologist.  My son had complications due to an aggressive circumcision and needed surgery to correct the problem.  The urologist and all of the staff acted as if this is a simple and common procedure that they do all of the time.  What!?  All I could think is do people realize that circumcisions are commonly performed improperly and not only does the little baby boy have to go through the horror of a circumcision in the first place, but then must endure surgery and have their glans cut open and stitched back together and suffer another round of agonizing weeks of urinating on a wound? 

Thankfully I held true to my belief that it was uncalled for and did not put my second son through this procedure, but I will never be able to take away what my first son had to live through. 

On top of my guilt for allowing this to happen to my son and not questioning its validity I had another problem to go through, which was the ridicule from family members that take a religious view on this procedure and ostracized me for not going through with this with my second son.  It is shameful.  

I try to inform everyone that I can about the complications of circumcisions, because the doctors in my experience are not. 

Peace and Love
Anonymous Mommy in Mississippi

11-7-2012 update:
my son who had the surgery is now going to have a second surgery because of scar tissue that is forming and closing up the original surgical site.  He is now in kindergarten and I hope that others with knowledge will not have to go through this with their little man.  





Thursday, June 28, 2012

Circumcising a healthy infant goes against the Hippocratic Oath






FORESKIN FOR SALE!

http://www.atcc.org/ATCCAdvancedCatalogSearch/ProductDetails/tabid/452/Default.aspx?ATCCNum=PCS-110-010&Template=primaryCells








ATCC® Primary Cell Solutions™
ATCC® Number:PCS-110-010    Price:$559.00 (for-profit list price)
$559.00 (non-profit list price)
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See New Benefits of ATCC Culture
Name:Primary Dermal Microvascular Endothelial Cells; Normal, Human, Neonatal
Biosafety Level:1
Shipped:frozen
Organism:Homo sapiens (human)
Source:Neonatal foreskin
Growth Properties:Adherent
Age:Neonatal
Morphology:Cobblestone appearance with large dark nuclei; during proliferation, cells are small and evenly sized, display a high mitotic index and show no presence of smooth muscle cells.
Volume per Vial:1 ml
Permits/Forms:In addition to the MTA mentioned above, other ATCC and/or regulatory permits may be required for the transfer of this ATCC material. Anyone purchasing ATCC material is ultimately responsible for obtaining the permits. Please click here for information regarding the specific requirements for shipment to your location.
Related Products:Vascular Cell Basal Medium (ATCC PCS-100-030)
Microvascular Endothelial Cell Growth Kit-BBE (ATCC PCS-110-040)
Microvascular Endothelial Cell Growth Kit-VEGF (ATCC PCS-110-041)
Dulbecco's Phosphate Buffered Saline (D-PBS) (ATCC 30-2200)
Trypsin-EDTA for Primary Cells (ATCC PCS-999-003)
Trypsin Neutralizing Solution (ATCC PCS-999-004)
Gentamicin-Amphotericin B Solution (ATCC PCS-999-025)
Penicillin-Streptomycin-Amphotericin B Solution (ATCC PCS-999-002)
Phenol Red (ATCC PCS-999-001)
Recomended Culture Conditions:See Product Information Sheet
Comments:The cells are cryopreserved in the third passage to ensure the greatest purity of the cell population, coupled with high viability and plating efficiency. 
A complete solution to propagate dermal microvascular cells in low serum (5% FBS) conditions with or without the addition of human recombinant VEGF. Use of the Endothelial Cell Growth Kit-VEGF will support a faster rate of proliferation because of the presence of several purified human recombinant (rh) growth factors (rh VEGF, rh EGF, rh FGF basic and rh IGF-1) combined with heparin and hydrocortisone. Use of the Microvascular Endothelial Cell Growth Kit-BBE, which contains Bovine Brain Extract (BBE), is recommended if a more "authentic," less defined culture medium is desired.
Applications:Drug screening, angiogenesis, oncology, inflammation, intercellular communication
Viability:≥ 50%
Population Doubling Capacity:≥ 15 in complete growth medium
Sterility Tests:Bacteria and Yeast: Negative
Mycoplasma: Negative
Testing:Cells are von Willebrand factor positive and smooth muscle α-actin negative.


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