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The Song of the River
The Song of the River
A REMEMBRANCE: William Randolph Hearst, 1863-1951The Hearst Newspapers are commemorating the anniversary of the death of William Randolph Hearst. He penned this poem, and reprinting it is our traditional way of remembering our founder, who died Aug. 14, 1951.
The snow melts on the mountain
And the water runs down to the spring,
And the spring in a turbulent fountain,
With a song of youth to sing,
Runs down to the riotous river,
And the river flows to the sea,
And the water again
Goes back in rain
To the hills where it used to be.
And I wonder if life's deep mystery
Isn't much like the rain and the snow
Returning through all eternity
To the places it used to know.
For life was born on the lofty heights
And flows in a laughing stream,
To the river below
Whose onward flow
Ends in a peaceful dream.
And so at last,
When our life has passed
And the river has run its course,
It again goes back,
O'er the selfsame track,
To the mountain which was its source.
So why prize life
Or why fear death,
Or dread what is to be?
The river ran
Its allotted span
Till it reached the silent sea.
Then the water harked back
To the mountain-top
To begin its course once more.
So we shall run
The course begun
Till we reach the silent shore.
Then revisit earth
In a pure rebirth
From the heart of the virgin snow.
So don't ask why
We live or die,
Or whither, or when we go,
Or wonder about the mysteries
That only God may know.
- W.R. Hearst
---------------------------------------
Bài hát của dòng sông
Bài hát của dòng sông
MỘT KỲ NHỚ: William Randolph Hearst, 1863-1951
Các tờ báo Hearst đang kỷ niệm ngày mất của William Randolph Hearst.
Ông đã viết bài thơ này và in lại nó là cách truyền thống để tưởng nhớ người sáng lập của chúng ta, người đã mất ngày 14 tháng 8 năm 1951.
Tuyết tan trên núi
Và nước chảy xuống suối,
Và mùa xuân trong một đài phun nước hỗn loạn,
Với một bài hát của tuổi trẻ để hát,
Chạy xuống dòng sông náo loạn,
Và dòng sông chảy ra biển,
Và nước nữa
Trở về trong mưa
Đến những ngọn đồi nơi nó từng ở.
Và tôi tự hỏi liệu cuộc sống có phải là bí ẩn sâu sắc
Không giống như mưa và tuyết
Trở về xuyên suốt cõi vĩnh hằng
Đến những nơi nó từng biết.
Vì sự sống được sinh ra trên đỉnh cao
Và chảy trong một dòng cười,
Đến dòng sông bên dưới
Dòng chảy tiếp theo của ai
Kết thúc trong giấc mơ bình yên.
Và cuối cùng,
Khi cuộc đời chúng ta đã trôi qua
Và dòng sông đã trôi đi,
Nó lại quay trở lại,
O'er ca khúc tương tự,
Đến ngọn núi là nguồn gốc của nó.
Vậy tại sao lại thưởng cuộc sống
Hay tại sao lại sợ chết,
Hay sợ hãi những gì sắp xảy ra?
Dòng sông chảy
Khoảng thời gian được phân bổ của nó
Cho đến khi nó chạm đến biển lặng.
Rồi nước lại chảy ngược
Đến đỉnh núi
Để bắt đầu quá trình của nó một lần nữa.
Vì vậy chúng ta sẽ chạy
Khóa học bắt đầu
Cho đến khi chúng ta đến được bờ biển im lặng.
Rồi thăm lại trái đất
Trong sự tái sinh thuần khiết
Từ trái tim của tuyết trinh nữ.
Vậy nên đừng hỏi tại sao
Chúng ta sống hoặc chết,
Hoặc ở đâu, hoặc khi nào chúng ta đi,
Hay thắc mắc về những điều bí
ẩn
Điều đó chỉ có Chúa mới biết được.
- WR Hearst
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South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have spoken over the phone about the upcoming peace mission by six Africa leaders to Russia and Ukraine.
"President Putin has welcomed the initiative by African heads of state and expressed his desire to receive the peace mission,” a statement from the South African presidency said.
On Tuesday, the African leaders involved had held discussions “exploring ways of bringing an end to the conflict”, it added.
The other leaders in the peace bid are from the Comoros, Egypt, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia - and according to a statement from the presidency on Wednesday all said they were available to travel in mid-June.
"The leaders agreed that they would engage with both President Putin and President [Volodymyr] Zelensky on the elements for a ceasefire and a lasting peace in the region."
Their foreign ministers were now in the process of finalising the elements of a road-map to peace, it added.
Separately a Russia-Africa summit is scheduled to take place at the end of July in St Petersburg, the presidency said.
You may be interested in:
How Putin has given South Africa a big diplomatic headache
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Tổng thống Nam Phi Cyril Ramaphosa và người đồng cấp Nga Vladimir Putin đã điện đàm về sứ mệnh hòa bình sắp tới của sáu nhà lãnh đạo châu Phi tới Nga và Ukraine.
“Tổng thống Putin hoan nghênh sáng kiến của các nguyên thủ quốc gia châu Phi và bày tỏ mong muốn được nhận sứ mệnh hòa bình”, một tuyên bố từ phủ tổng thống Nam Phi cho biết.
Hôm thứ Ba, các nhà lãnh đạo châu Phi có liên quan đã tổ chức các cuộc thảo luận “khám phá các cách để chấm dứt xung đột”, nó nói thêm.
Các nhà lãnh đạo khác trong nỗ lực hòa bình đến từ Comoros, Ai Cập, Senegal, Uganda và Zambia - và theo một tuyên bố từ tổng thống hôm thứ Tư, tất cả đều cho biết họ sẵn sàng đi du lịch vào giữa tháng Sáu.
"Các nhà lãnh đạo đã đồng ý rằng họ sẽ tham gia với cả Tổng thống Putin và Tổng thống [Volodymyr] Zelensky về các yếu tố cho một lệnh ngừng bắn và hòa bình lâu dài trong khu vực."
Bộ trưởng ngoại giao của họ hiện đang trong quá trình hoàn thiện các yếu tố của lộ trình hướng tới hòa bình, nó nói thêm.
Một cách riêng biệt, một hội nghị thượng đỉnh Nga-Châu Phi dự kiến sẽ diễn ra vào cuối tháng 7 tại St Petersburg, tổng thống cho biết.
Có thể bạn quan tâm:
Putin đã khiến Nam Phi đau đầu về ngoại giao như thế nào
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Putin arrest warrant issued over war crime allegations Published ...Phát lệnh truy nã Putin vì cáo buộc phạm tội ác chiến tranh ...Được phát hành
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Maria Lvova-Belova, Russian children's rights commissioner, at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, on February 16, 2023IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES
Image caption,
Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's commissioner for children's rights, during a meeting last month
By Antoinette Radford & Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent
BBC News
================
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The court alleges he is responsible for war crimes, and has focused its claims on the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.
It says the crimes were committed in Ukraine from 24 February 2022 - when Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
Moscow has denied the allegations and labelled the warrants as "outrageous".
It is highly unlikely that much will come of the move - the ICC has no powers to arrest suspects, and can only exercise jurisdiction within its member countries - and Russia is not one of them.
However it could affect the president in other ways, such as being unable to travel internationally.
In a statement, the ICC said it had reasonable grounds to believe Mr Putin committed the criminal acts directly, as well as working with others. It also accused him of failing to use his presidential powers to stop children being deported.
When asked about the ICC's move, US President Joe Biden said "well, I think it's justified". He noted that the US is not signed up to the ICC, "but I think it makes a very strong point". Mr Putin "clearly committed war crimes", he said.
Russia's commissioner for children's rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, is also wanted by the ICC for the same crimes.
In the past, she has spoken openly of efforts to indoctrinate Ukrainian children taken to Russia.
Last September, Ms Lvova-Belova complained that some children removed from the city of Mariupol "spoke badly about the [Russian President], said awful things and sang the Ukrainian anthem."
She has also claimed to have adopted a 15-year-old boy from Mariupol.
The ICC said it initially considered keeping the arrest warrants a secret, but decided to make them public in the event that it stopped further crimes from being committed.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan told the BBC: "children can't be treated as the spoils of war, they can't be deported".
"This type of crime doesn't need one to be a lawyer, one needs to be human being to know how egregious it is," he said.
Analysis: Will Putin ever face a war crimes trial?
Explainer: What war crimes is Russia accused of?
Explainer: What is the International Criminal Court?
Reactions to the warrants came within minutes of the announcement, with Kremlin officials instantly dismissing them.
Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said any of the court's decisions were "null and void" and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev compared the warrant to toilet paper.
"No need to explain WHERE this paper should be used," he wrote on Twitter, with a toilet paper emoji.
However Russian opposition leaders welcomed the announcement. Ivan Zhdanov, a close ally of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, tweeted that it was "a symbolic step" but an important one.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was grateful to Mr Khan and the criminal court for their decision to press charges against "state evil".
Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said the decision was "historic for Ukraine", while the country's presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, lauded the decision as "only the beginning".
Media caption,
WATCH: Can Vladimir Putin actually be arrested?
But because Russia is not a signed member of the ICC, there is very little chance that Vladimir Putin or Maria Lvova-Belova will appear in the dock at The Hague.
The ICC relies on the cooperation of governments to arrest people, and Russia is "obviously not going to cooperate in this respect", Jonathan Leader Maynard, a lecturer in international politics at King's College London, told the BBC.
However Mr Khan pointed out that no-one thought Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian leader who went on trial for war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, would end up in The Hague.
"Those that feel that you can commit a crime in the daytime, and sleep well at night, should perhaps look at history," he said.
Legally, however, this does present Mr Putin with a problem.
While he is the head of a G20 state, and about to shake hands with China's Xi Jinping in an historic meeting, Mr Putin is now also a wanted man, and this will inevitably place restrictions on which countries he can visit.
There is also a level of embarrassment for the Kremlin, which has always denied allegations of Russian war crimes, that such an influential, pan-national body as the ICC simply does not believe its denials.
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Tổng thống Nga Vladimir Putin gặp Maria Lvova-Belova, ủy viên quyền trẻ em Nga, tại dinh thự bang Novo-Ogaryovo, ngoại ô Moscow, vào ngày 16 tháng 2 năm 2023NGUỒN HÌNH ẢNH, HÌNH ẢNH GETTY
Chú thích hình ảnh,
Vladimir Putin và Maria Lvova-Belova, ủy viên quyền trẻ em của Nga, trong một cuộc họp vào tháng trước
Bởi Antoinette Radford & Frank Gardner, phóng viên an ninh của BBC
tin tức BBC
========================
Tòa án Hình sự Quốc tế (ICC) đã ban hành lệnh bắt giữ Tổng thống Nga Vladimir Putin.
Tòa án cáo buộc anh ta phải chịu trách nhiệm về các tội ác chiến tranh và tập trung vào các cáo buộc về việc trục xuất trái phép trẻ em từ Ukraine sang Nga.
Nó nói rằng các tội ác đã được thực hiện ở Ukraine từ ngày 24 tháng 2 năm 2022 - khi Nga phát động cuộc xâm lược toàn diện.
Moscow đã phủ nhận các cáo buộc và gọi các lệnh này là "thái quá".
Rất khó có khả năng xảy ra nhiều điều từ động thái này - ICC không có quyền bắt giữ các nghi phạm và chỉ có thể thực thi quyền tài phán trong phạm vi các quốc gia thành viên - và Nga không phải là một trong số đó.
Tuy nhiên, nó có thể ảnh hưởng đến tổng thống theo những cách khác, chẳng hạn như không thể đi du lịch quốc tế.
Trong một tuyên bố, ICC cho biết họ có cơ sở hợp lý để tin rằng ông Putin đã trực tiếp thực hiện các hành vi phạm tội cũng như thông đồng với những người khác. Nó cũng cáo buộc ông đã không sử dụng quyền lực tổng thống của mình để ngăn chặn việc trục xuất trẻ em.
Khi được hỏi về động thái của ICC, Tổng thống Hoa Kỳ Joe Biden nói "tốt, tôi nghĩ điều đó là chính đáng". Ông lưu ý rằng Hoa Kỳ chưa đăng ký với ICC, "nhưng tôi nghĩ điều đó tạo nên một điểm rất mạnh". Ông Putin "rõ ràng đã phạm tội ác chiến tranh", ông nói.
Ủy viên phụ trách quyền trẻ em của Nga, Maria Lvova-Belova, cũng bị ICC truy nã vì tội danh tương tự.
Trong quá khứ, cô ấy đã công khai nói về những nỗ lực truyền giáo cho trẻ em Ukraine được đưa đến Nga.
Tháng 9 năm ngoái, bà Lvova-Belova phàn nàn rằng một số trẻ em bị đuổi khỏi thành phố Mariupol "đã nói xấu [Tổng thống Nga], nói những điều tồi tệ và hát quốc ca Ukraine."
Cô cũng tuyên bố đã nhận nuôi một cậu bé 15 tuổi từ Mariupol.
ICC cho biết ban đầu họ cân nhắc việc giữ bí mật lệnh bắt giữ, nhưng quyết định công khai chúng trong trường hợp cơ quan này ngăn chặn các hành vi phạm tội tiếp theo.
Công tố viên ICC Karim Khan nói với BBC: "Không thể coi trẻ em là chiến lợi phẩm, chúng không thể bị trục xuất".
“Loại tội phạm này không cần phải là luật sư, chỉ cần là con người để biết nó nghiêm trọng như thế nào,” ông nói.
Phân tích: Liệu Putin có bao giờ phải đối mặt với một phiên tòa xét xử tội ác chiến tranh?
Người giải thích: Nga bị cáo buộc tội ác chiến tranh nào?
Người giải thích: Tòa án Hình sự Quốc tế là gì?
Các phản ứng đối với các trát được đưa ra trong vòng vài phút sau khi thông báo, với việc các quan chức Kremlin ngay lập tức bác bỏ chúng.
Người phát ngôn Dmitry Peskov cho biết bất kỳ quyết định nào của tòa án đều "vô hiệu" và cựu Tổng thống Nga Dmitry Medvedev đã so sánh lệnh này với giấy vệ sinh.
"Không cần phải giải thích NƠI giấy này nên được sử dụng," anh viết trên Twitter, kèm theo biểu tượng cảm xúc giấy vệ sinh.
Tuy nhiên, các nhà lãnh đạo phe đối lập Nga hoan nghênh thông báo này. Ivan Zhdanov, một đồng minh thân cận của thủ lĩnh phe đối lập đang bị bỏ tù Alexei Navalny, đã viết trên Twitter rằng đó là "một bước tượng trưng" nhưng là một bước quan trọng.
Tổng thống Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky cho biết ông rất biết ơn ông Khan và tòa án hình sự vì quyết định truy tố "tội ác nhà nước".
Tổng công tố Ukraine Andriy Kostin cho biết quyết định này là "lịch sử đối với Ukraine", trong khi chánh văn phòng của tổng thống nước này, Andriy Yermak, ca ngợi quyết định này là "mới chỉ là khởi đầu".
Chú thích truyền thông,
XEM: Vladimir Putin có thực sự bị bắt không?
Nhưng vì Nga không phải là thành viên đã ký kết của ICC nên có rất ít cơ hội để Vladimir Putin hoặc Maria Lvova-Belova xuất hiện tại bến tàu ở The Hague.
ICC dựa vào sự hợp tác của các chính phủ để bắt người và Nga "rõ ràng sẽ không hợp tác về mặt này", Jonathan Leader Maynard, giảng viên chính trị quốc tế tại King's College London, nói với BBC.
Tuy nhiên, ông Khan chỉ ra rằng không ai nghĩ rằng Slobodan Milosevic, nhà lãnh đạo Serbia đã bị xét xử vì tội ác chiến tranh ở Croatia, Bosnia và Kosovo, sẽ kết thúc ở The Hague.
"Những người cảm thấy rằng bạn có thể phạm tội vào ban ngày và ngủ ngon vào ban đêm, có lẽ nên nhìn vào lịch sử," ông nói.
Tuy nhiên, về mặt pháp lý, điều này đặt ra cho ông Putin một vấn đề.
Trong khi là người đứng đầu một quốc gia G20 và sắp bắt tay với Chủ tịch Trung Quốc Tập Cận Bình trong một cuộc gặp lịch sử, ông Putin hiện cũng là một kẻ bị truy nã, và điều này chắc chắn sẽ đặt ra những hạn chế đối với những quốc gia mà ông có thể đến thăm.
Ngoài ra còn có một mức độ bối rối đối với Điện Kremlin, vốn luôn bác bỏ các cáo buộc về tội ác chiến tranh của Nga, rằng một cơ quan có ảnh hưởng lớn, liên quốc gia như ICC đơn giản là không tin vào những lời phủ nhận của họ.
Sunday, March 5, 2023
he flatlined three times, lost both legs and had a failing heart. Yet she told doctors she’s ‘the luckiest person on this planet’
She flatlined three times, lost both legs and had a failing heart. Yet she told doctors she’s ‘the luckiest person on this planet’
By Sandee LaMotte, CNN
Published 9:08 AM EST, Sun March 5, 2023
CNN
—
Her smile is bright, cheery, sometimes goofy and always contagious. But pictures can’t completely capture her upbeat, positive vibe. At 21, Claire Bridges has a mature spirit that amazes those who love her as well as the doctors who had to operate on her heart and remove both legs to save her life.
Claire Bridges with her father, Wayne Bridges. She had both legs amputated after complications with Covid-19.
Claire Bridges with her father, Wayne Bridges. She had both legs amputated after complications with Covid-19.
Claire Bridges with her father, Wayne Bridges. She had both legs amputated after complications with Covid-19.
Claire Bridges with her father, Wayne Bridges. She had both legs amputated after complications with Covid-19.
Courtesy Claire Bridges
“She had a will to live, perseverance and a sort of twinkle in her eye — I tell all my patients that’s half the battle,” said Dr. Dean Arnaoutakis, a vascular surgeon at the University of South Florida Health in Tampa who amputated Bridges’ legs after complications from Covid-19.
“Most people would be despondent and feel like life had cheated them,” said Dr. Ismail El-Hamamsy, a professor of cardiovascular surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, who operated on Bridges’ heart.
“But she told me, ‘I feel like I’m the luckiest person on this planet. I have my whole life ahead of me. I can have kids, a future, so many things to look forward to.’
“There was not once that I looked into her eyes that I didn’t feel her positiveness was true and genuine,” he said. “Claire’s story is one of just incredible resilience and positivity.”
Bridges left the hospital on her 21st birthday, more than two months after being admitted. Here she is with her brother Will.
Bridges left the hospital on her 21st birthday, more than two months after being admitted. Here she is with her brother Will.
Courtesy Claire Bridges
‘My body just literally wouldn’t give up’
In January 2022, Bridges was a 20-year-old model with her own apartment, a gaggle of friends and a part-time job as a bartender in St. Petersburg, Florida. She was a vegan and “exceptionally healthy,” according to her mother, Kimberly Smith.
When she caught Covid-19 that month, no one expected her be hospitalized. She was fully vaccinated and boosted.
But Bridges had been born with a common genetic heart defect: aortic valve stenosis, a mutation of the valve in the heart’s main artery, the aorta. Instead of having three cusps, or flaps, that let oxygen-rich blood flow from the heart into the aorta and to the rest of the body, people with aortic valve stenosis are often born with just two. The condition makes the heart work extremely hard to do its job, often causing breathlessness, dizziness and fatigue.
“I could work out and stuff, but I could never play sports,” she told CNN. “I couldn’t run. I couldn’t overexert myself.”
Her mom added, “We could really tell she began to learn her limits as she got older — she would get out of breath, stop and take a break.”
Before her surgeries, Bridges enjoyed roller-skating.
Before her surgeries, Bridges enjoyed roller-skating.
Courtesy Claire Bridges
Whether due to her heart or another unknown reason, Covid-19 hit Bridges hard. Her health quickly spiraled out of control.
“Extreme fatigue, cold sweats — progressively every single day it would get harder to try to eat or drink anything,” she recalled. “Then one day my mom found me unresponsive and rushed me to the hospital. I flatlined three times that night.”
Bridges was put on dialysis, a ventilator and an exterior pump for her failing heart. She slipped into psychosis.
“I was thinking that everyone was trying to kill me, but I was holding on,” she said, adding that she then saw a bright light and her late grandfather.
“He was sitting on a bench, fishing, and he was wearing a baseball cap,” she said. “Then I saw my parents through a window. I don’t know if I actually did or if it was in my delusion, but I thought, ‘I can’t leave them like this.’ And my body just literally wouldn’t give up.”
While Bridges’ spirit battled on, doctors struggled to save her life. Her organs began to shut down, further weakening her frail heart. Blood wasn’t reaching her extremities, and tissues in both legs began to die.
Surgeons tried to save as much of her legs as possible. First, they opened tissue in both legs to reduce swelling, then amputated one ankle. Finally, there was no choice: Both legs had to be removed.
Doctors gathered around her bed to break the news.
“I remember looking up at them and saying, ‘Well, thank you for saving my life. And oh, can I have bionic legs?’ ” Bridges said.
“Everyone was totally shocked that she was taking it so well,” Smith recalled about her daughter. “But my entire family knew that if this tragedy had to happen to any of us, it would be Claire who would handle it the best. Upbeat and positive, that’s Claire.”
Bridges had a successful modeling career before she contracted Covid-19.
Bridges had a successful modeling career before she contracted Covid-19.
Morgan Ryan
Checking off her bucket list
Losing her legs was only part of Bridges’ struggle back to health. “There were so many things that she could have died from while she was in the hospital,” Smith said.
Malnourished, Bridges was put on a feeding tube. She vomited, rupturing part of her small intestine, and “nearly bled out,” Smith said. To save her, doctors had to do an emergency transfusion — a dangerous procedure due to her weak heart.
“She almost died while getting the emergency transfusion because they had to pump the blood in so fast,” Smith said. “Then the next day she bled again, but they caught it in time.”
Bridges developed refeeding syndrome, a condition in which electrolytes, minerals and other vital fluids in a malnourished body are thrown out of balance when food is reintroduced, causing seizures, muscle and heart weakness, and a coma in some cases. Without quick treatment, it can lead to organ failure and death.
In another blow, her hair began to fall out, likely due to the loss of proper nutrition. Her family and friends came to her rescue.
“I knew that the only way to stop me from sobbing every time I pulled chunks of hair out of my head was to just get rid of it all,” Bridges said. “I told my brother Drew I was thinking about shaving my head, and without missing a beat, he immediately looked at me and said, ‘I’ll shave mine with you.’
“Then it snowballed into everyone telling me they would shave their heads, too,” Bri
First row (from left): Luba Omelchenko, a friend, and Claire Bridges.
Second row (from left): Andy Beaty, a friend; Jaye Scoggins, Beaty's mother; Anna Bridges-Brown, Claire's sister; and Kimberly Smith, Claire's mother.
Third row: Kristen Graham, a friend who shaved everyone's heads.
First row (from left): Luba Omelchenko, a friend, and Claire Bridges. Second row (from left): Andy Beaty, a friend; Jaye Scoggins, Beaty's mother; Anna Bridges-Brown, Claire's sister; and Kimberly Smith, Claire's mother. Third row: Kristen Graham, a friend who shaved everyone's heads.
Courtesy Claire Bridges
Bridges credits her friends and family — along with members of the community who organized fundraisers or reached out on social media — for her upbeat attitude throughout the ordeal.
“I am very blessed to have such an amazing family and also friends and people in my community that are like family,” she said. “People I didn’t know, people that I haven’t spoken to since elementary school or high school were reaching out to me.
“Yes, I allowed myself to grieve, and there were dark days. But honestly, my friends and my family surrounded me with so much love that I never had a second to really think negatively about my legs or how I look now.”
An unusual heart operation
Bridges’ heart presented another hurdle: Already frail before her prolonged illness, it was now severely damaged. She needed a new valve in her aorta, and soon.
“We always knew Claire would need an open-heart surgery at some point,” her mother said. “Doctors wanted her as old as possible before they replaced the valve because the older you are, the bigger you are, and there’s less chance of needing another operation soon after.”
Bridges with her modeling agent, Kira Alexander. Bridges lost nearly 70 pounds during her hospitalization.
Bridges with her modeling agent, Kira Alexander. Bridges lost nearly 70 pounds during her hospitalization.
Claire Bridges
Her doctors reached out to Mount Sinai’s El-Hamamsy, an expert in a more complicated form of aortic valve replacement called the Ross procedure.
“Anybody who has an anticipated life expectancy of 20 years or more is definitely a potential candidate for the Ross,” El-Hamamsy said, “and it’s a perfect solution for many young people like Claire.”
Unlike more traditional surgeries that replace the malfunctioning aortic valve with a mechanical or cadaver version, the Ross procedure uses the patient’s own pulmonary valve, which is “a mirror image of a normal aortic valve with three cusps,” El-Hamamsy said.
“It’s a living valve, and like any living thing, it’s adaptable,” the surgeon said. “It becomes like a new aortic valve and performs all the very sophisticated functions that a normal aortic valve would do.”
The pulmonary valve is then replaced with a donor from a cadaver, “where it matters a little less because the pressures and the stresses on the pulmonary side are much lower,” he said.
https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230301135429-03-covid-amputee-resilience-heart-surgery-doctor-wellness.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_720,w_1280,c_fill
Bridges with Dr. Ismail El-Hamamsy, the surgeon who replaced the failed valve in her heart.
Bridges with Dr. Ismail El-Hamamsy, the surgeon who replaced the failed valve in her heart.
Courtesy Mount Sinai Hospital
The use of a replacement part from the patient’s own body for the aortic valve also eliminates the need for lifelong use of blood thinners and the ongoing risk of major hemorrhaging or clotting and stroke, El-Hamamsy said. And because the new valve is stronger than the malfunctioning valve it replaces, patients aren’t as likely to need future surgeries.
“Ross is the only replacement operation for the aortic valve that allows patients to have a normal life expectancy,” he said, “and a completely normal quality of life with no restrictions, no modifications to their lifestyle and a very good durability of the operation.”
The Ross procedure is more technically challenging than inserting a tissue valve or a mechanical valve, “some of the simplest operations that we as cardiac surgeons would ever do,” El-Hamamsy said.
Because the operation takes a high level of technical skill, it’s only available in a few surgical facilities at this time.
“It requires dedicated surgeons who want to commit their practice to the Ross procedure and who have the technical skills and expertise to do that,” he added. “Patients need to know they should be undergoing the surgery in a Ross-certified facility.”
‘Claire made that choice’
When El-Hamamsy first met Bridges in a video call last spring, he wasn’t sure he would be able to do the surgery. Only 127 pounds before she got sick, Bridges had lost nearly 70 pounds during her hospitalization.
“She was so emaciated. There was no way I could take her into the operating room the way she was,” El-Hamamsy said. “I never expected that she would recover so quickly and keep her amazingly positive mentality.”
Slowly, over many months, Bridges fought her way back to health. In rehab, she began to learn to walk with prosthetic lower limbs. As she got stronger, she has continued one of her favorite activities — rock climbing.
Bridges climbs a rock wall using prosthetic limbs.
Bridges climbs a rock wall using prosthetic limbs.
Courtesy Claire Bridges
“At six months, I could hardly recognize her — she had gained weight back, her skin had fully healed over at the amputation sites, and she was a completely different-appearing person to the malnourished and debilitated girl I had met in the hospital,” said Arnaoutakis, the vascular surgeon.
The heart operation was successfully done in December. Today, Bridges is in the middle of cardiac rehabilitation and looking forward to being fitted for prosthetic blades — J-shaped, carbon-fiber lower limbs that will allow her to run on a track for the first time in her life.
She’s also returned to modeling, proud to show the world how well she has survived.
https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230302104006-07-covid-amputee-resilience-heart-surgery-modeling-wellness.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_720,w_1280,c_fill
Bridges has returned to modeling after her surgeries.
Bridges has returned to modeling after her surgeries.
Brian James
El-Hamamsy isn’t surprised. “I told her from the day I met her on that Zoom, ‘It will be such a privilege to look after you because you’ve inspired me. I’ve never met a young person with this level of maturity and outlook on life.’
“I still think of Claire every once in a while when I bump into difficulty with life or whatever. It’s a reminder that happiness and positivity is a choice. Claire made that choice.”
Người may mắn nhất hành tinh này.The luckiest person on this planet’
She flatlined three times, lost both legs and had a failing heart. Yet she told doctors she’s ‘the luckiest person on this planet’
Saturday, February 25, 2023
Top 25 Richest Heirs & Heiresses in America
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