[Music]
oh man I’m so happy to be here I just
want to briefly say contrary to what the
brochure says I don’t bugs for breakfast
it’s actually flesh-eating not eating
flesh but that’s all right no worries so
happy you’re all here all right so it’s
a kind of odd story but let’s begin
so parasites are hitchhikers wherever we
go
so do they hidden within our very own
cells it’s kind of hard to think of and
it’s a little scary but they can kind of
live within us and we might not even
know they’re there and increased travel
has led many of us to contract these
diseases at increasing rates and
unfortunately for me I’m a living
example of this issue after traveling to
Panama last year I and five others got a
rare flesh-eating disease
and we brought it to the States and yeah
you’re like alright I better get out of
here before I contracted to but don’t
worry it’s not contagious so stay in
your seats and so I’m just gonna tell
you a little bit today about why this
happened and why the Centers for Disease
Control actually was on my case little
grody x-rated film so once once an fly
bite cost me $85,000 and it was a
disaster a year and a half worth of
suffering and just the medical
inequality that sort of results from
this disease is kind of shocking there
are a lot in fact of indigenous peoples
who have suffered with this disease for
centuries and just I bet none of you
even knew that it existed and it’s kind
of shocking what one fly can do to a
body and this disease is called
cutaneous leishmaniasis you know I can’t
contain what does that even mean it’s a
little a little too fancy it took me a
while to figure this out
apparently cutaneous is skin and
leishmaniasis is the protozoa the
parasite which was in me
Leishmania to be exact is the name of
those little squiggly things that were
in my blood so I got to name them all it
was pretty fun
so so what exactly happened to me and
how did a sand fly by caused such a
horrible incident well this little thing
this little booger
this female sand fly bit me when I was
hallucinating in the Panamanian forests
I took malaria pills for the first time
and they kind of made me a little crazy
I’m already a little crazy so that kind
of elevated it to this point of Oldboy
so uh I was seeing like armadillos in
the air and like witches and and I
remember I was walking in the forest and
I just did not know where I was like am
I in a forest or am I at a beach
relaxing and I was just laying in the
dirt just laying there like like a
little pig like oh yes so not a good
idea in a primary forests where it’s
very diverse in their species and in
their bugs just a quick side note the
Bushmaster the top 10 deadliest snake in
the world is there so I’m glad I didn’t
run into one of those
so yes the sand fly bit me in the middle
of the night that day and it went into
my bloodstream and the protozoa actually
went into my white blood cells and you
think great my immune system is working
it’s engulfing the parasites I’m gonna
be healthy actually no it helped spread
the parasite even further throughout my
body and it’s this crazy little
mechanism that this little evil thing
does where it goes inside your white
blood cells it replicates and then it
bursts all your cells like it’s a party
confetti bursting so bursting so
bursting so I’m so happy yeah well
they’re happy I’m not happy
and unfortunately this disease can kill
you it can spread to your new coastal
membrane you might lose a nose in the
middle of that situation so I’m glad I
have this nose and it can get even worse
it can go into your stomach lining and
eat away your stomach I’m glad I had a
full meal today because that would have
turned up my stomach a little bit of ice
that’s you guys but anyway so these
incidences are unfortunately a part of
this disease and luckily for me though I
got cured beforehand and before I go
into my treatment I’d like to just
briefly say why this disease even exists
in Panama well I was in the to miss Joko
Magdalena ecological hot spot which is a
region one of the top 20 ecological
hotspots on the globe and it’s very
diverse do you think okay that’s good it
is good the issue though is the
deforestation in the area I was in and
so with deforestation comes in
proliferation of these sand flies
because they love the loose dirt the dry
soil that the graded land they live off
of that they don’t want those beautiful
trees they don’t want those nice bushes
they love the dirt that like a pig like
I was rolling in it so that’s exactly
where they go and so the issue the issue
is 900,000 to 1.3 million people get
this disease per year and I bet like
none of you probably knew about it of
course I do not know about it until I
contracted it and it’s it’s shocking the
amount of indigenous peoples who are
basically silent in Afghanistan and
Sudan and even in Costa Rica Panama of
course in Brazil and Belize it’s
everywhere and it’s when I was looking
at the map
I was just especially shocked by the
nice gray which is the US and apparently
there are fewer than 1000 cases of this
disease in the US and I’m one of those
cases and it’s kind of like I’m special
but in a bad way so I alrighty then so
what was my treatment I went through
three different treatments kind of like
Goldilocks first one no second one even
worse third one victory so I’m happy I
had that story to keep me going so first
one note ephah seen this pill is kind of
gnarly
each box cost around $22,000 so I
basically spent approximately 85 K just
on that one thing the other tumor-free
yeah I guess haha so so this first one
will 10:15 it causes extreme nausea
because you’re basically taking pills
three times a day every day and your
body’s just not used to all those
chemicals in it it’s just not a good
situation I ate a lot of lentils don’t
get me lentils ever again so sick of
lentils next off I took thermo therapy
and thermo therapy is an odd little
thing what it does is it actually burns
your skin cells off some kind of
microwaves you a little bit to a toasty
170 degrees and it just a little bit
they do numb it but it does still burn
and you know the doctors they say oh how
do you feel you know you’re not gonna
say this is the worst day my life you’re
gonna say great because you know they’re
trying to help you and they’re doing the
best they can and so the third one penta
stam the evil Penta Stan but it worked
it’s a chemotherapy actually and the way
this drug works is it basically you know
kills all the cells in sight even the
healthy ones and I got it inserted
injected in me for like about a month
and a half I missed all of winter break
maybe all were relaxing on the beach I
missed out on that but it’s okay I’m I’m
so happy now I’m so healthy and it was
worth it and yes daily I was in the
oncology clinic and I met a lot of
people who had cancers and I actually
got to know a few sort of in passing and
you know it helped fortify this new kind
of methodology of life which I’d like to
get into just a little later so now you
may be wondering this 85k number is
still confusing you it’s actually a
basic economic principle which requires
this sort of cost differential and so
the US has to pay for those and poor
nations that can’t afford it
they are covering the costs because it’s
just the
is the US has more money we’re the
wealthier nation of course we’re gonna
cover those poor people who can’t afford
it and they’re not covered by insurance
most in these indigenous tribes like the
Kuna people in Panama they don’t have
insurance so we have to help them and
this is evidence in the negotiated price
by the World Health Organization versus
the private price that we all pay so for
multi facing it’s approximately seventy
dollars and that’s good for the World
Health Organization that’s like a pretty
efficient number and then for the
private pie sits around 115 dollars and
so that’s you know not bad and pendous
Tam there’s a pretty big difference it’s
a nice price ceiling which pentas Tam
has a lower price there of around seven
dollars versus 80 bucks though as some
of you may know and as we all took econ
one probably price ceilings cost a big
cause a big shortage in the jug and
additionally there’s only one
distributor for each of these drugs so
they can kind of control the whole
market they can do what they want and
not many people purchase these drugs so
that’s the big issue here with pricing
and also you may be wondering okay so me
versus 1200 Panamanian people why did I
put that up there
well eighty-five thousand dollars versus
approximately seventy dollars if you
kind of do the math that’s 1200 times so
you could either pay for me or pay for
1200 people in Panama or somewhere else
and it’s to me it’s pretty shocking what
you know this US system will do for one
little girl who’s happens to be in
California and so now you might be
wondering was this trip even worth it
like it shouldn’t even gone and I think
it was a hundred percent worth it he
might think she’s still crazy on those
pills she probably doesn’t really mean
this right but no I mean this it was it
was such a good experience I met you
list the ELISA over there we’re still
friends on Facebook we chat all the time
she says Oh como estas like how are the
cheetahs they’re little bugs in the sand
flies because I told her the story and
she said yeah
whole family got that but we’re all fine
cuz we’re so used to it like it’s just a
part of our lives and it was such a big
deal to me I thought oh boy well I’m
glad someone’s you know so positive
about it and it it really impacted my
sort of world mindset and the whole idea
of travel and cultural exchange and you
know I still think there’s really high
value in cultural exchange I think we
all grow as individuals the more we
travel the more we see and I think
suffering is innate in that experience
there’s got to be a little bit I’m not
saying to the point where you’re in the
hospital for a month and a half but I
think it’s very key to really valuing a
culture and experience you it can’t all
be roses and you know kandi and I also
learned something pretty I don’t know it
kind of stuck with me about health and
wellness and I kind of learned that it’s
important to value health like I know
we’re all stressed week eight like I’m I
got a homework and tests and midterm
midterms or some people but like final
exams and we’re all so worried and so
individual and stuck in our little ruts
but you know like you you you were here
you got up here you’re able to walk into
this room and sit down and listen to me
you ate something today probably that
wasn’t lentils and you all are healthy
human bodies and you’re all here with me
and that is just a great thing just
cherish that you’re here right now thank
you for listening and sorry for the
clicker
[Applause]
oh man I’m so happy to be here I just
want to briefly say contrary to what the
brochure says I don’t bugs for breakfast
it’s actually flesh-eating not eating
flesh but that’s all right no worries so
happy you’re all here all right so it’s
a kind of odd story but let’s begin
so parasites are hitchhikers wherever we
go
so do they hidden within our very own
cells it’s kind of hard to think of and
it’s a little scary but they can kind of
live within us and we might not even
know they’re there and increased travel
has led many of us to contract these
diseases at increasing rates and
unfortunately for me I’m a living
example of this issue after traveling to
Panama last year I and five others got a
rare flesh-eating disease
and we brought it to the States and yeah
you’re like alright I better get out of
here before I contracted to but don’t
worry it’s not contagious so stay in
your seats and so I’m just gonna tell
you a little bit today about why this
happened and why the Centers for Disease
Control actually was on my case little
grody x-rated film so once once an fly
bite cost me $85,000 and it was a
disaster a year and a half worth of
suffering and just the medical
inequality that sort of results from
this disease is kind of shocking there
are a lot in fact of indigenous peoples
who have suffered with this disease for
centuries and just I bet none of you
even knew that it existed and it’s kind
of shocking what one fly can do to a
body and this disease is called
cutaneous leishmaniasis you know I can’t
contain what does that even mean it’s a
little a little too fancy it took me a
while to figure this out
apparently cutaneous is skin and
leishmaniasis is the protozoa the
parasite which was in me
Leishmania to be exact is the name of
those little squiggly things that were
in my blood so I got to name them all it
was pretty fun
so so what exactly happened to me and
how did a sand fly by caused such a
horrible incident well this little thing
this little booger
this female sand fly bit me when I was
hallucinating in the Panamanian forests
I took malaria pills for the first time
and they kind of made me a little crazy
I’m already a little crazy so that kind
of elevated it to this point of Oldboy
so uh I was seeing like armadillos in
the air and like witches and and I
remember I was walking in the forest and
I just did not know where I was like am
I in a forest or am I at a beach
relaxing and I was just laying in the
dirt just laying there like like a
little pig like oh yes so not a good
idea in a primary forests where it’s
very diverse in their species and in
their bugs just a quick side note the
Bushmaster the top 10 deadliest snake in
the world is there so I’m glad I didn’t
run into one of those
so yes the sand fly bit me in the middle
of the night that day and it went into
my bloodstream and the protozoa actually
went into my white blood cells and you
think great my immune system is working
it’s engulfing the parasites I’m gonna
be healthy actually no it helped spread
the parasite even further throughout my
body and it’s this crazy little
mechanism that this little evil thing
does where it goes inside your white
blood cells it replicates and then it
bursts all your cells like it’s a party
confetti bursting so bursting so
bursting so I’m so happy yeah well
they’re happy I’m not happy
and unfortunately this disease can kill
you it can spread to your new coastal
membrane you might lose a nose in the
middle of that situation so I’m glad I
have this nose and it can get even worse
it can go into your stomach lining and
eat away your stomach I’m glad I had a
full meal today because that would have
turned up my stomach a little bit of ice
that’s you guys but anyway so these
incidences are unfortunately a part of
this disease and luckily for me though I
got cured beforehand and before I go
into my treatment I’d like to just
briefly say why this disease even exists
in Panama well I was in the to miss Joko
Magdalena ecological hot spot which is a
region one of the top 20 ecological
hotspots on the globe and it’s very
diverse do you think okay that’s good it
is good the issue though is the
deforestation in the area I was in and
so with deforestation comes in
proliferation of these sand flies
because they love the loose dirt the dry
soil that the graded land they live off
of that they don’t want those beautiful
trees they don’t want those nice bushes
they love the dirt that like a pig like
I was rolling in it so that’s exactly
where they go and so the issue the issue
is 900,000 to 1.3 million people get
this disease per year and I bet like
none of you probably knew about it of
course I do not know about it until I
contracted it and it’s it’s shocking the
amount of indigenous peoples who are
basically silent in Afghanistan and
Sudan and even in Costa Rica Panama of
course in Brazil and Belize it’s
everywhere and it’s when I was looking
at the map
I was just especially shocked by the
nice gray which is the US and apparently
there are fewer than 1000 cases of this
disease in the US and I’m one of those
cases and it’s kind of like I’m special
but in a bad way so I alrighty then so
what was my treatment I went through
three different treatments kind of like
Goldilocks first one no second one even
worse third one victory so I’m happy I
had that story to keep me going so first
one note ephah seen this pill is kind of
gnarly
each box cost around $22,000 so I
basically spent approximately 85 K just
on that one thing the other tumor-free
yeah I guess haha so so this first one
will 10:15 it causes extreme nausea
because you’re basically taking pills
three times a day every day and your
body’s just not used to all those
chemicals in it it’s just not a good
situation I ate a lot of lentils don’t
get me lentils ever again so sick of
lentils next off I took thermo therapy
and thermo therapy is an odd little
thing what it does is it actually burns
your skin cells off some kind of
microwaves you a little bit to a toasty
170 degrees and it just a little bit
they do numb it but it does still burn
and you know the doctors they say oh how
do you feel you know you’re not gonna
say this is the worst day my life you’re
gonna say great because you know they’re
trying to help you and they’re doing the
best they can and so the third one penta
stam the evil Penta Stan but it worked
it’s a chemotherapy actually and the way
this drug works is it basically you know
kills all the cells in sight even the
healthy ones and I got it inserted
injected in me for like about a month
and a half I missed all of winter break
maybe all were relaxing on the beach I
missed out on that but it’s okay I’m I’m
so happy now I’m so healthy and it was
worth it and yes daily I was in the
oncology clinic and I met a lot of
people who had cancers and I actually
got to know a few sort of in passing and
you know it helped fortify this new kind
of methodology of life which I’d like to
get into just a little later so now you
may be wondering this 85k number is
still confusing you it’s actually a
basic economic principle which requires
this sort of cost differential and so
the US has to pay for those and poor
nations that can’t afford it
they are covering the costs because it’s
just the
is the US has more money we’re the
wealthier nation of course we’re gonna
cover those poor people who can’t afford
it and they’re not covered by insurance
most in these indigenous tribes like the
Kuna people in Panama they don’t have
insurance so we have to help them and
this is evidence in the negotiated price
by the World Health Organization versus
the private price that we all pay so for
multi facing it’s approximately seventy
dollars and that’s good for the World
Health Organization that’s like a pretty
efficient number and then for the
private pie sits around 115 dollars and
so that’s you know not bad and pendous
Tam there’s a pretty big difference it’s
a nice price ceiling which pentas Tam
has a lower price there of around seven
dollars versus 80 bucks though as some
of you may know and as we all took econ
one probably price ceilings cost a big
cause a big shortage in the jug and
additionally there’s only one
distributor for each of these drugs so
they can kind of control the whole
market they can do what they want and
not many people purchase these drugs so
that’s the big issue here with pricing
and also you may be wondering okay so me
versus 1200 Panamanian people why did I
put that up there
well eighty-five thousand dollars versus
approximately seventy dollars if you
kind of do the math that’s 1200 times so
you could either pay for me or pay for
1200 people in Panama or somewhere else
and it’s to me it’s pretty shocking what
you know this US system will do for one
little girl who’s happens to be in
California and so now you might be
wondering was this trip even worth it
like it shouldn’t even gone and I think
it was a hundred percent worth it he
might think she’s still crazy on those
pills she probably doesn’t really mean
this right but no I mean this it was it
was such a good experience I met you
list the ELISA over there we’re still
friends on Facebook we chat all the time
she says Oh como estas like how are the
cheetahs they’re little bugs in the sand
flies because I told her the story and
she said yeah
whole family got that but we’re all fine
cuz we’re so used to it like it’s just a
part of our lives and it was such a big
deal to me I thought oh boy well I’m
glad someone’s you know so positive
about it and it it really impacted my
sort of world mindset and the whole idea
of travel and cultural exchange and you
know I still think there’s really high
value in cultural exchange I think we
all grow as individuals the more we
travel the more we see and I think
suffering is innate in that experience
there’s got to be a little bit I’m not
saying to the point where you’re in the
hospital for a month and a half but I
think it’s very key to really valuing a
culture and experience you it can’t all
be roses and you know kandi and I also
learned something pretty I don’t know it
kind of stuck with me about health and
wellness and I kind of learned that it’s
important to value health like I know
we’re all stressed week eight like I’m I
got a homework and tests and midterm
midterms or some people but like final
exams and we’re all so worried and so
individual and stuck in our little ruts
but you know like you you you were here
you got up here you’re able to walk into
this room and sit down and listen to me
you ate something today probably that
wasn’t lentils and you all are healthy
human bodies and you’re all here with me
and that is just a great thing just
cherish that you’re here right now thank
you for listening and sorry for the
clicker
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: