THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 13, 1995 TAG: 9510110291
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Health
LENGTH: Long : 115 lines
An intricate and unique piece of artwork in the lobby of the mayor's office draws admiring glances and comments from anyone who enters.
The four-picture collage of African life was made by a young Zambian man using only dry banana leaves, African elephant grass, dry corn husks and burned castor oil seeds. The separate scenes of an elephant, African workers outside a thatched hut, workers tending to a fire and giraffes grazing on a plain are vivid and meticulous displays of a rare form of African art called Banana-Leaf Art.
As proud as Meyera Oberndorf is of that museum-quality collage, however, she's even more excited by the circumstances involved in receiving it. Oberndorf had admired the artist's work at a local exhibit two years earlier and told the man in charge, Western Mwamlima, that she would love to meet the artist if he ever came to the United States.
Her wish was granted last month. Nineteen-year-old Boniface Chileshe presented the artwork to the mayor personally while in town on a sponsorship from the Museum of African American History in Detroit.
But when Chileshe stood to greet the mayor, he could only rise halfway. And when he followed Oberndorf into her office, Chileshe walked bent forward, dragging behind him an atrophied leg that infant polio had destroyed. He had never received childhood vaccinations and could never afford treatment.
``I realized something was wrong with his leg but didn't want to embarrass him,'' recalled Oberndorf. ``I called his sponsor (Mwamlima) and asked if Boniface would be offended if I called a medical staff. I didn't want his dignity to be injured.''
Oberndorf called the president of Tidewater Health Care, Doug Johnson, and asked if anything could be done to help Chileshe. ``This man deserves to walk upright,'' she told him. Johnson agreed and asked orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Paul N. Krop to see the artist. Krop could hardly believe his eyes when Chileshe limped into his office the first time.
``This was a terrible case - he never had simple medical care that would've allowed him to walk straight,'' said Krop of Vann-Atlantic Orthopaedic Specialists. ``It was just a shame he was not able to have this help before.''
After examining Chileshe, Krop called Ron Hopkins at Advanced Orthopaedic Technology and explained the artist's plight. Hopkins didn't hesitate to help. He measured Chileshe for a long leg brace, had his staff made the brace in one week and then fitted Chileshe with the $1,600 piece of equipment for free. For the first time in his life, Chileshe was walking erect.
``He was very happy with it,'' said Hopkins. ``When you run across someone in need who has no funds you can turn them away or do something personally rewarding. Payment comes in many forms.
``I don't think the public realizes that medicine is not always taking from the public. It's giving back, too,'' he added. ``What I did is nothing more than what other medical professionals would do.''
A very grateful Chileshe gave both Hopkins and Krop framed pictures of his Banana-Leaf Art. Krop said that when he and his staff saw Chileshe walk out of the door in his new brace, his head held high, everyone was ``sniffling.''
``He was so thankful I was practically in tears,'' said Krop.
Western Mwamlima, Chileshe's sponsor and director of the Norfolk-based African Connection, an organization that promotes African art, said that Chileshe couldn't wait to see his parents. When Chileshe, who teaches his art style to children in his homeland, flew back to Zambia, his parents were waiting for him at the airport. Chileshe wrote a letter to his sponsor shortly afterward, describing the scene.
``It was just overwhelming for him but even more overwhelming for his parents,'' Mwamlima said.
OCTOBER IS BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH. The Virginia Department of Health has joined forces with other health agencies in 50 states, three U.S. territories and nine American Indian reservations to combat breast cancer through early detection and education.
The nationwide Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program was given $1 million for 1995's fiscal year through the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant. This money is used to fund local projects for breast cancer education and awareness.
Women in Virginia should take special note because Virginia ranks 48th among all states in the percentage of women age 50 and over who received a mammogram or clinical breast exam within two years. The program's goal in Virginia is to make it easier for poor, elderly and minority women to receive breast cancer screening.
Still not convinced that early detection is important? The Virginia Department of Health reports that more than 10,000 women in Virginia will die from breast cancer in the 1990s and more than 40,000 cases will be diagnosed. Breast cancer is also the leading cause of cancer deaths in Virginia among women under age 65.
Other facts:
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women (lung cancer is first).
In 1993, 1,020 women in Virginia died of breast cancer.
Breast cancer costs this country more than $6 billion a year in medical costs and lost productivity.
The primary risk factors for breast cancer are being female and increasing age. Others include family history, having no children, first child after age 30, early menstruation (before 12), late menopause (after 55) and high fat diet.
Seventy-three percent of diagnosed breast cancer cases in Virginia were in women 50 and older.
The five-year survival rate for breast cancer is 92 percent if cancer has not spread beyond the breast, 71 percent if it has spread to nearby organs, 18 percent if it has spread throughout the body.
Mortality due to breast cancer can be reduced 30 to 40 percent among women age 50 and over by the use of mammography and clinical examination.
A mammogram can detect cancer an average of two years before a woman can feel the lump herself. MEMO: MORE HEALTH NEWS/ 18
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
The four-picture collage of African life - called Banana-Leaf Art -
was made by a young Zambian man using only dry banana leaves,
African elephant grass, dry corn husks and burned castor oil seeds.
by CNB