Health

Ebony Holmes, 40, attributed those pains in her stomach to something she ate. After all, she was 38 and in relatively good health. But the symptoms persisted and worsened.

It’s pretty safe to assume that one’s colon is not a typical topic of conversation at the dinner table. Nor generally at any other time, for that matter. Perhaps it should be.

Medicare’s open enrollment period, which extends from October 15 to December 7, allows participants to choose plans for the following year.

Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in this country, but the most deadly. It is the leading cause of cancer deaths in both men and women. According to the National Cancer Institute, an estimated 237,740 new cases will be diagnosed in 2022 and over 130,000 deaths.

The first Monday in May is Melanoma Day. In all probability, most people of color completely ignored it. That’s understandable. Melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, is more common in Whites. But Black people do not escape the disease altogether. Actually, a rare form of melanoma is more prevalent in Blacks.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in this country exceeded only by heart disease. According to Cancer Facts & Figures 2021 published by the American Cancer Society, in 2021, there were an estimated 1.9 million new cancer cases and 608,570 deaths.

Billy Garrett, Jr. is just following in his grandfather’s footsteps. Bill Garrett was the first African American to play regularly on a Big Ten Conference varsity basketball team. Garrett, Jr., 26, shares his grandfather’s passion for basketball. He has played for the NBA G League as well as the New York Knicks. He’s now a shooting guard for the basketball league in Poland. Yet, Garrett has sickle cell disease.

It took a personal health scare to get Thaddeus Miles into running. His longtime job as director of safety for MassHousing brought plenty of stress. One day in 2010, after attending a funeral, Miles headed to the gym. While bench pressing, he suddenly felt he was about to pass out. When the EMTs arrived, his blood pressure was 220/180; at the hospital he learned he had an enlarged heart.

The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, but restrictions are relaxing in Massachusetts. That means that whether you’ve been working through the pandemic or are just heading back to work, there’s a good chance you’re going to come in contact with more people when you’re on the job.

Back in March of 2020 when the global coronavirus pandemic took hold, states and local governments in the United States instituted varying degrees of lock downs aimed at stopping the spread of the virus, which was initially thought to be spread primarily through contact with contaminated surfaces as well as through respiratory droplets.