120 PPCM mothers in Haiti...

[JAMESFETT]

I'm working with 150 Haitian PPCM mothers, 120 of whom are receiving only half the treatment they need. There are currently no beta-blockers available, although metoprolol succinate 50 mg tablets are available in Port-au-Prince, the capital city, at 7 Haitian Goudes (20 cents US) per day. The Hôpital Albert Schweitzer administrators tell me there is no money available to buy this medication, and I tell them the impact will be fewer survivors and fewer full recoveries among these 120 mothers with collectively 400 children under the age of 12. Somehow, I am going to make sure these mothers get the metoprolol.

JD

[Stephanie'sbigheart]

These women are so lucky to have your Dr. Fett!

[reezlemom]

It's really sad when people can't get vital treatment they need to survive and/or fully recover from an illness. Is there something I/we can do to help? I can't stand the thought of PPCM moms dying needlessly.

[julianameng]

Can i dontate money directly to you or jus tthrough the hospital.
How much is needed?

[Stephanie'sbigheart]

http://www.hashaiti.org/ make your donations here...every bit helps (make sure you indicate that you want it to go to PPCM)

[JAMESFETT]

If you go through that website, click on "You Can Help" tab, and follow the directions. Be sure to specify the "Pierre Paulette PPCM Fund" so that it reaches where it is intended. Paulette Pierre is a PPCM mother from Haiti who lost her battle with PPCM, but is the first mother in Haiti who revealed that a lymphocytic myocarditis and an inflammatory cardiomyopathy is associated with PPCM in Haiti.

JD

[MissaBaby]

Dr Fett

What about all the Coreg and other meds that we have left over from discontinuing meds or from dosage changes. IS there no way to be able to gather and donate all these pills destine for the garbage?

[JAMESFETT]

Thanks, but we cannot get meds through customs that have been previously prescribed or passed expiration date. But it seems sad not to be able to use those with valid expiration date; nevertheless the reality.

JD

[julianameng]

Good idea i have a ton of amples of coreg 3.125 and i can get as much toporol samples as needed
let me know

[JAMESFETT]

I can use both Coreg and Toprol samples, still seal-packed or individual card sealed in any quantity you can send me, so long as the expiration date is in 2008 (when I will be able to get them out to Schweitzer Hospital [HAS] in Haiti). Send them to:

James D. Fett, MD
611 Sumner Ave.
Aberdeen, WA 98520, and after 1 October 2007:

James D. Fett, MD
2331 Mt. Hood Court SE
Lacey, WA 98503.

Many thanks. Bless you.

JD

[michelemc]

Dr. Fett,

I know that when I ask people to donate, they will want to know why the rate of PPCM is so much higher in Haiti, just out of curiosity. Do we know?

Michele

[JAMESFETT]

Good question, and I have spent 23 years trying to figure out why poor Haitian women have a ten-fold incidence of PPCM compared to USA women. Right now the theory is that 1)African heritage gives a more genetically-susceptible population, 2)there is an abundant common viral pool of cardiotropic viruses in Haiti that can cause inflammatory cardiomyopathy or myocarditis, 3)there is some unknown and as yet unidentified trace element nutritional deficiency or abnormality in poor Hatian women, and 4)common to all PPCM patients world-wide, the altered immune system due to pregnancy makes the heart more vulnerable to become dysfunctional and trip off an autoimmune myocarditis. I think we are getting closer to a firm answer, but we aren't there yet. By chance I landed in the very center of that high incidence of PPCM, and from my mid to advancing age it is and has been my privilege to continue to work on solving the riddle of PPCM.

JD

[JAMESFETT]

Yes, the Pierre Paulette PPCM Fund with Hopital Albert Schweitzer, Deschapelles, Haiti, is paying for Beta-Blocker (either metoprolol long-acting or carvedilol generic from India) therapy for all PPCM patients in the Artibonite River Valley of Haiti, and $50 will fund the cost for 10 to 15 PPCM patients for one month.

JD