President Sandy Lane brought the meeting to order at 12:15 PM at Purkey’s Pink Apple with Mike Markovitz leading the Pledge of Allegiance and George Gay giving the Invocation.

 

 

Barbara Davis – guest of Don Davis
Kike, Jana and Ale – exchange students

 

 

Ad Buck – Rotary Lounge tickets are available from Ann Way.

 

 

Please pay your club dues as soon as possible if you have not already done so. Thank you if you have already done so. Cost is $135 for period July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020. 

 

 

The next Flash Meeting will be tonight Thursday, Oct 3, 2019 at 5:30 pm at Bogey’s Restaurant.

 

 

Ale  - Jana and Ale went to the Bloomsburg Fair with Mary and saw a lot of animals.  She is  playing soccer.

 

Jana – had some nice times the last 2 weeks, including some challenging issues.  School is going well. She is playing tennis and she is very tired at the end of the day.  She really enjoyed Senior night. She went to the Bloomsburg Fair and enjoyed that.

 

Kike – still has 3 months more here.  He said thank you to everyone, since he is having a great time. He is with his second host family and playing high school soccer.

 

 

 

Rick Miller mentioned that Jodi Crimmel is in Haiti right now, but there are problems down there and she is having some issues getting to Jacmel. She is going to talk with them by phone today in trying to get assurances and signatures on the contracts for our Haiti project.  She needs prayers to make sure she gets to Florida safely at the end of her visit.

 

 

The Fall Roadside cleanup will take place Oct 19 at 9 AM at the Fireplace Restaurant parking lot.  The more volunteers we have, the shorter the time it takes for the cleanup so please volunteer to help.

 

 

The next Meeting will be Monday evening Oct 7 at 6 pm at the Tunkhannock Library.

 

Ann Way has dropped off the tickets at the local sites, so tickets are available for local purchase. So far, 989 general and lounge tickets have been sold by Ann. Sue Kelly has the tickets for Rotarians, who need tickets.

 

Posters and rack cards are now available. If you take them to sites, please let Ron know where you have taken them to avoid duplication of efforts.

 

Pres. Sandy reminded everyone that our Oct 10 Rotary meeting will be taking place at Lazybrook Park to prepare for the Festival.

 

 

The first Fireside Chat took place on Fri, Sept 20 at 6-8 PM at Shadowbrook and was a great success.  It was a lot of fun and a great learning opportunity for new members. Even some senior members learned a few new things.

 

 

Pres. Sandy is ordering the 152 dictionaries for the 3^rd graders and will need volunteers to help put in the Rotary label and help distribute the dictionaries to the school.

 

 

The arrangements for the trip to the Car Museum and train trip with dinner are coming together for the Nov trip. If you are interested, there are photos on our website in a photo album (https://tunkhannockrotary.org/PhotoAlbums/2019-3-dog-garage-railroad) that show some highlights from the Museum and train. Ann has a quote coming by tomorrow afternoon for the bus. Glenn will then send out an e-mail with the details and dinner menu, as well as, the price.

 

 

See the Sept District newsletter for information on the various events and activities happening in District 7410. Please support our fellow Rotarians at other clubs in our District for their fun upcoming activities/events.

 

 

Rotary Leadership Institute is coming up Oct 26 at Lackawanna College in Scranton from 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM.  It is a BOGO opportunity.  For every 2 members paid for by a club, 1 will be refunded after they attend the course.  According to the RLI website, the cost is $100 per person. Pres. Sandy noted that the club will pay the cost for any Tunkhannock Rotarians who wish to attend (let Sandy or Elaine know if you would like to attend).  The Graduate course offered will be on the “ABC’s of Fundraising for Your Club or District”.

 

So far, 6 Tunkhannock Rotarians have signed up with Pres. Sandy to attend. The club will be registering everyone, so please make sure Sandy knows that you would like to attend.

Prior to adjournment, Glenn Holcombe led the recitation of the 4-Way Test by the attendees.

 

 

Don suffers from a deficiency in alpha-1-antitrypsin, a protein that is needed by the lungs. This is a rare genetic disorder.

 

He played an excellent video on Len Geiger’s “Mystery Diagnosis”. The primary symptoms were shortness of breath and lots of bronchio infections. Inhalers did not work and his breathlessness issues continued to increase. He was eventually diagnosed with alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency, which results in a shortened life span due to deteriorating lung function.  Pulmonologists use double lung transplantation to save some patients severely impacted by this disorder.  Len was on weekly intravenous AAT replacement therapy but his lung function had decline to less than 15%. In 2001, he got his double lung transplant and got his life back.

 

Don was diagnosed with AAT deficiency in 1989 by Dr. Casterline, who really saved his life.  His AAT protein cannot leave the liver to get into his lungs, where it is needed to give elasticity to the lungs and protect the lungs against destruction by neutrophils.  He has participated in clinical trials to treat this disorder.

 

This is a rare genetic disorder. He is a ZZ phenotype.  His mom and dad were both carriers.  He is AAT deficient and his brother is a carrier, but his sister does not have it. His daughter is a carrier, but his son-in-law is not.

 

There are maybe 2 people in the Scranton-WB region, who have it, although there are 3 carriers in Tunkhannock.  Although it is believed to be rare, it is also a genetic disorder that is not well diagnosed. According to the Prolastin website, approximately 100,000 people in the United States have AAT deficiency, but more than 9 out of 10 don't know they have it.

 

He was referred to the NIH for a clinical study soon after his diagnosis and went through all the tests at NIH. But he was not able to get into the trial. He has asthma, so he could not get the test drug, Prolastin, and was given a 3-year prognosis.

 

1992 was the end of the trial at NIH.  In 1994, they said it was now time to go on Prolastin since his lungs had deteriorated. He now gets a weekly Prolastin infusion at Tyler Hospital to slow down the progression of the disorder. He loves the nurses treating him at Tyler.

 

At one time, he went on a double dose of Prolastin in a trial and he felt great. But insurance would not cover the cost of the double dose, so he is back on the highest dose insurance will cover.

 

If you know someone with chronic lung problems, have them get a blood test to see if they have AAT deficiency, so they can take the Prolastin to slow down the progression of the disease.

 

Don Davis