Blog

Community gathers in remembrance celebration

Annual GenCure Remembrance Celebration honors families of tissue donors

November 5, 2018

The themes at the annual GenCure Remembrance Celebration were simple: Darkness and light.

Around 125 tissue donor families, staff, and community at large attended the event led by Susan Smith, Grief Support and Life Legacies Manager at GenCure.

The celebration also included a guest speaker, Darwin Huartson, community coordinator from Porter Loring Mortuaries and a longtime grief and bereavement counselor.

Early on in the event, it became clear that the group was special.

“Tonight is a celebration of our loved ones, of us here, of families,” Susan said. “If you’re at a table with someone you don’t know, it’s no longer that. We’re now extended family.”

Wounds heal themselves with reprogrammed skin cells

October 29, 2018

The most common surgical procedures used in wound healing are skin grafts and local flap surgery, where the surrounding skin repairs the epidermis of the open wound.

However, the interventions come with their risks and aren’t always successful, highlighting the need for a more effective, non-surgical intervention using stem cells.

Researchers at the Salk Institute discovered a potential pathway to reprogram mesenchymal cells already in the open wound into new skin cells.

The new technique involved treating skin ulcers on mice. Four reprogramming factors (proteins from adult stem cells) were determined to have excellent wound-healing capacity because they were most likely to develop into basal keratinocytes (skin cells in the innermost layer of the epidermis). Healthy skin covered the ulcers within 18 days. The regrown cells behaved like healthy skin cells up to six months later.

A breast cancer survivor making a difference in the Latino community

October 22, 2018

Brenda Garza, who has fought breast cancer twice and won, still keeps up the fight.

A community engagement representative with GenCure, Garza was first diagnosed and treated at the age of 28. The cancer returned three years later, but with strong support from her family and coworkers, she survived.

The struggle showed her something else: There were few resources available for Spanish-speaking people with cancer in the Detroit area, where she lived at the time.

“I saw the need to have resources and education in Spanish,” she said. “I thought, ‘What happens to people like me who are bilingual but don’t have the knowledge or vocabulary in English to understand a diagnosis like cancer?’”

Five foods to boost your platelet count naturally

October 15, 2018

Vitamins and minerals are important in the formation of platelets, the component of your bloodstream that helps stop bleeding.

If you have low platelet levels, or thrombocytopenia, your body’s ability to clot is negatively affected. You can overcome a low platelet level by eating foods or taking supplements high in folate, iron, vitamin B-12, vitamin C and vitamin D:

A safe space for tears: The narrative of a grief journey session

October 9, 2018

Like life, death is a journey. Grief and loss are the topics of the monthly Living with Grief program conducted by Susan Smith, grief support and life legacies manager at GenCure.

Susan has been doing grief and bereavement work for more than 20 years at hospices, childrens hospitals and medical centers. Her work at GenCure includes supporting tissue donor families and others dealing with the loss of a loved one.

At the Living with Grief sessions, narratives are shared in a supportive environment. The group encourages people to redefine themselves by telling stories of their loved ones and sharing different parts of their grief journey.Participants can share as much or as little as they choose.

Here is an outline of a recent session:

Search form