tPA – Divabetic

04/10/202404/10/2024

Harlem Heaven’s Hats Joins our Luther Vandross Celebration in NYC

“When I listen to Luther Vandross’ music, It makes me happy. I want to sing along and move to the beat. I want to snap my fingers and stomp my feet. There is joy in his music,” says Evetta Petty, the owner and designer of Harlem Heaven’s Hats.

Evetta will be joining us at our upcoming Luther Vandross: “Never Too Much” birthday celebration featuring a Music Panel, Fashion Show, Live Performances, Style Vendors, and Live DJ on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at Thread Lounge at the Renaissance Hotel in NY, NY.

Photographer: Hank Pegeron @hpegeron | Model: Keanna Bryant | Hat Designer: @harlemheavenhats | Dress Designer: Malcolm Staples | hpegeron@me.com | 718-564-9916 | www.marckitimagery.com

Evetta and Divabetic partnered on a successful faith-based diabetes outreach program, Hat Boxing. At these events, we challenged women at risk, affected by, and living with diabetes to design hat boxes with educational, motivational, and encouraging messages about managing their diabetes health. Our main focus was raising awareness of the link between mismanaged diabetes and stroke.

In 2003, before the release of “Dance With My Father,” my boss, Luther Vandross, suffered a debilitating stroke due to mismanaged type 2 diabetes. Please learn how to keep your house a home by learning to prevent a stroke from occurring. If someone you know is experiencing a store, don’t wait to take action. Once a stroke strikes, every minute counts. BE FAST is a simple way to remember the signs of a stroke. BE FAST stands for balance, eyes, face, arm, speech, and time.

Strokes don’t automatically result in long-term impairment. A clot-busting drug, known as tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), can be given intravenously to people having a stroke. The drug can shrink the size of the clot, allowing blood to flow back to the brain. The key is calling 911 when you recognize a loved one is experiencing a stroke.

My boss, Luther Vandross, was known for wearing rhinestones, silk tuxedos, and tailcoats on stage and Versace, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, and Tom Ford off-stage! He wore bright colors, animal prints, geometric patterns, and fringes, which Evetta Petty appreciated.

“When I design hats, I want them to make the customer happy. I am dressing people for important events in their life. I want them to smile when they see the hats and look great in them. I want my hats to evoke that same joy that I feel from Luthers’ music, ” says Evetta Petty. Harlem Heaven’s Hats have been featured in VOGUE, ELLE, CNN, the NY Times, and the World-Renowned Kentucky Derby and Royal Ascot. She will participate in our Fashion Show at the Luther Vandross Never Too Much Birthday Celebration on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at Thread Lounge in New York City.

Join us when we celebrate the Glitz, Glamour, and Romantic Elegance that made Luther’s music and concerts memorable and set him apart from other entertainers.

MUSIC PANEL: Luther’s Vocalist, Cindy Mizelle, and Luther’s Choreographer, James Ervin, discuss working on his recording and stage shows. Hosted by Max “Mr. Divabetic” Szadek.

MAKEVOER: Graffiti Glamour Makeup Artistry Founder Alicia Mitchell demonstrates the power of beauty in transforming your health. Alicia’s own health journey is powerful, and she will share how small steps led her to great success in managing her weight. Hosted by Max “Mr. Divabetic” Szadek.

FASHION SHOW: Harlem Heaven’s Hats, Kynetik Soundz, Baro Sanchez, Dig Ferreira, LPF Collection, Teresa Marie Collection, JM Designs, and Modafleur showcase the hottest trends in fashion. Plus, S Designs spotlights Luther’s Wedding Song, “Here & Now,” with funky, flashy, and fabulous wedding gowns you don’t want to miss! Hosted by Catherine Schuller.

LIVE MUSIC: Keith Anthony Fluitt will perform some of Luther’s most beloved songs, plus Special Guest performer Christopher Faison. DJ DAN.C.E. will spin Luther’s hits all night long.

STYLISH VENDORS: Support a dazzling array of small businesses, including True Serenity Teas, Power Pieces, and Harlem Heaven’s Hats.

Come dressed in your Big 80s Bling! Register Now. It’s Free!

05/11/2021

We Love Catherine Schuller!

Barbra Streisand singing ‘Being Alive’ from her The Broadway Album, you’ll hear it on next week’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast, is inspiring this post. Seriously, the combination of Barbra’s voice, lyrics from a popular Broadway musical, and the sunshine streaming through my window at 7 AM are like a multi-vitamin for an older gay gent like me.

If there’s any truth to the saying or Madonna’s Vogue song lyric ‘beauty is where you find it then it’s clear I found it in Catherine Schuller. From the most moment we met, back in 2005, she has been a powerful, positive, and empowering force in my life. Always stylish, always upbeat, always sparkling! She has helped me to define and refine Divabetic’s GLAM MORE, FEAR LESS philosophy. Together found a way to stamp out the shame and blame associated with a diabetes diagnosis by making people feel better about themselves right now, not tomorrow. It’s funny how a bit of mascara, a bright-colored feather boa, and the hook to your favorite disco tune can push the clouds away.

I have plenty of reasons to love Catherine just for her work as Divabetic’s Image & Style Advisor on Divabetic’s national tour of Makeover Your Diabetes outreach programs. Her ability to comfort, care, and cheer on all types of divas (type 1, type 2, LADA, gestational, and prediabetes) was remarkable. But love beams are shooting straight out of my heart because of the passionate way Catherine lives after experiencing a stroke. I don’t think a day goes by that she doesn’t make the most of every moment.

During the pandemic, when I wasn’t sure if it was Monday or Thursday, Catherine managed to give Dr. Birx a run for her money! She took up my challenge to demonstrate many ways to tie a scarf on one of Divabetic’s past Zoom programs.

Next week Catherine joins me for the two-part stroke prevention webinar, Keep Your House A Home, for the Frazier Coalition for Stroke in Philadelphia. My good friend and health champion, Senior Health Educator for Center for Urban Health at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Neva White DNP, CRNP- BC, CDCES is organizing it.

Catherine plans to share her powerful testimony about advocating for her health after experiencing a stroke. After her husband told her to go upstairs and lie down, she told him in no uncertain terms to call an ambulance so she could get to a hospital. Her wise decision to seek help right away and not wait is why her recovery has been so excellent. Fortunately, Catherine’s quick thinking is precisely why she able to receive the stroke drug tPA. This potent clot-busting medication, tPA, may save critical brain tissue if a patient arrives at the emergency room within three hours of experiencing stroke symptoms. And there’s a new study that suggests that the traditional three-hour time window is too short. Combining data from multiple clinical trials, Maarten Lansberg, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology and neurological sciences at Stanford, and colleagues from Belgium and Germany have shown that treatment can benefit patients up to 4.5 hours experience their first symptom. Their findings were published online on May 21 in the journal Stroke.

The timing of treatment is essential because giving a blood thinner like tPA during a stroke can cause bleeding inside the brain. The longer a patient waits to get treatment, the more likely the risks of treatment will outweigh the benefits.

My life and the lives of many others were devasted by Luther Vandross’s stroke, related to his mismanagement of type 2 diabetes. I can’t turn back time and change his outcome, but hopefully, you can change yours. Let Catherine Schuller inspire you to GLAM MORE, FEAR LESS, and advocate for your health today, not tomorrow!

11/01/201711/01/2017

Wendy Williams Educates Us About Stroke

TV talk show host, Wendy Williams fainted on-camera yesterday during her live broadcast. She did not have a stroke. But it looked scary. And I think Wendy’s fainting spell is a teachable moment for people to learn about stroke since what she experienced appeared to be very similar to the symptoms of a stroke.

If you missed the show, this is what happened:

Roughly 48 minutes into the show Wendy Williams was dressed in costume as the Statue of Liberty and her speech started slowing down as she spoke to the audience and she stumbled before falling to the ground.

She described being overtaken by a “hot” and “dizzy” feeling, adding, “The costume got hot. Right before passing out, I felt like I was in the middle of a campfire.”

Since a lot people thought she suffered a stroke I think it’s important to clarify a few things about stroke:

What Is a Stroke?

In a stroke, one of the many blood vessels that supply your brain with oxygen becomes damaged or blocked. If the blood flow is cut off for more than 3 to 4 minutes, that part of your brain begins to die

There are two types of strokes:

Hemorrhagic strokes account for about 13 percent of stroke cases.

It results from a weakened vessel that ruptures and bleeds into the surrounding brain. The blood accumulates and compresses the surrounding brain tissue. The two types of hemorrhagic strokes are intracerebral (within the brain) hemorrhage or subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Ischemic strokes result from a blocked artery. Ischemic stroke can be divided into two main types: thrombotic and embolic. Deprived of oxygen and other nutrients, the brain suffers damage as a result of the stroke. A thrombotic stroke occurs when diseased or damaged cerebral arteries become blocked by the formation of a blood clot within the brain.

Ischemic Stroke Treatment is tissue plasminogen activator (tPA, also known as IV rtPA, given through an IV in the arm). tPA works by dissolving the clot and improving blood flow to the part of the brain being deprived of blood flow.

How an you tell if someone is having a stroke? These signs include:

Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body.

Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding.

Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes.

Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination.

Sudden, severe headache with no known cause.

A great way to remember how to detect a stroke is to use the acronym, ‘FAST’. The acronym stands for Facial drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulties and Time to call emergency services. Facial drooping: A section of the face, usually only on one side, that is drooping and hard to move.

Risk Factors for Stroke

Because of the potential for high blood glucose levels, diabetes itself is a risk factor for stroke. Yet, many people with stroke also have other conditions that put them even more at risk.

These risk factors include: • Being over age 55 • Being African-American • Already having had a stroke or heart disease • Having a family history of heart disease • Being overweight • Smoking

People who have diabetes are two to four times more likely to have a stroke than people who do not have diabetes. They also tend to develop heart disease or have strokes at an earlier age than people without diabetes

Diabetes can also make it harder for your body to respond to a stroke. When your oxygen supply is cut off, other arteries can usually serve as a bypass. But if you have diabetes, those vessels may be hardened or clogged with plaque, a condition known as atherosclerosis. This makes it harder for blood to get to your brain.

While multiple studies say diabetes puts you at risk of conditions such as heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure, you can help keep your risk low. Talk to your healthcare professional about the connection between diabetes and stroke, recognize the risk factors and take steps to stay healthy.

For more information contact the National Stroke Association: 1 (800) 787-6537

To avoid any misunderstandings I’d like to reinstate once again that Wendy Williams did not have a stroke. And if you don’t believe me, then you should tune in to her show. She appeared on her show today and addressed online commenters who suggested she suffered a stroke or heart attack. “No, I had neither,” she said.

EMTs soon arrived backstage, where she was evaluated. “The paramedics are in my office and they hooked me up to every EKG situation,” she said. “I was low on hydrogen — you know, the water. Not just any water, electrolytes.” Her blood pressure and heart rate checked out fine, nor did she suffer any bumps, bruises or aches from her fall.