| Giving Thanks; Heart Healthy Holiday Recipes What are you thankful for this holiday season? Your friends and family? Your health? Thanks to the thousands of people who have participated in NHLBI-sponsored clinical studies; a few of their stories follow. A Participant in the Women's Health Initiative
The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) is a 20-year national research program to address the most common causes of death, disability, and poor quality of life in postmenopausal women—cardiovascular disease, cancer, and osteoporosis. More than 161,000 women aged 50–79 years participated in the program. Although the clinical studies have ended, research continues using the collected data. Currently more than 600 scientific papers have been published or are in progress. Women at several study centers made quilt squares for the WHI, and many contributed a personal statement about their participation in the study. The quilts and statements give this history-making study a powerful, personal dimension. “My contribution to the WHI Quilt Project is a picture of myself as a 4-year-old with my mother, my grandmother, and my great grandmother [shown]. This was transferred onto a table napkin belonging to my grandmother. I believe this epitomized the feelings I have about the research work that WHI is doing for the benefits of all women in generations to follow! “I joined WHI as a participant about 8 years ago. I was put in the usual diet control study and became very impressed with the program and the dedicated professional staff. I felt I was contributing very little and asked if WHI ever needed a volunteer assistant, since I was retired from my profession and wanted to ‘give back.' “For the past few years I have been doing just that whenever needed. I am blessed to work with these wonderful professionals and to know that my daughter, five granddaughters, and 10 nieces will benefit from the results of WHI research.” —MA, Chicago, IL - View the WHI quilts.
- Explore a list of WHI publications.
- Learn about heart disease in women (en Español).
Nicholas and His Mother, Bridget, on Life With Sickle Cell Disease
Nicholas was diagnosed with sickle cell disease soon after he was born, and at age 5 had his gallbladder and spleen removed. He and his family manage his illness with treatments that include penicillin and hydroxyurea. These drugs have been shown to be effective therapies in part due to several NHLBI-sponsored clinical trials. Now Nicholas, a teenager, is participating in a clinical trial. “Hydroxyurea changed my life. I can stay home for months at a time now. I'd be in the hospital all the time when I was a kid. So now I'm able to stay at home and have a regular schedule with sports and school and friends.” —Nicholas - Watch Nicholas and his mother, Bridget, share their story in this compelling short video.
- Learn about clinical trial participation.
- Explore the Children and Clinical Studies Web site.
- Browse the new NIH Clinical Research Trials and You Web site.
Thanksgiving Is Family Health History Day Over the holiday or at other times when you gather with your family, talk about, and write down, the health problems that seem to run in your family. The Surgeon General's “My Family Health Portrait” is an Internet-based tool that makes it easy for you to record your family health history. You can organize your family history and then print it out to share with your doctor. In addition, the tool helps you save your family history to your own computer and even share family health information with other family members. Explore the My Family Health Portrait Web tool.
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