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Actor Danny Glover, pictured here last week at a rally in Miami Beach, Fla., will be in Hawaii to take part in the National Medical Association's annual convention today through Thursday at the Hawai'i Convention Center. Glover is spokesman for the Anemia LifeLine Program.
A star of the "Lethal Weapon" movie series and other films is in Hawaii as part of a national battle against a life-threatening condition. Actor speaks out
in fight against anemiaThe National Medical Association's
Gov. Cayetano to speak tonight at convention
annual meeting begins todayBy Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.comDanny Glover, spokesman for the Anemia LifeLine program, will be among participants at the National Medical Association's Annual Convention today through Thursday at the Hawai'i Convention Center.
"The main message is that anemia is treatable," the award-winning actor, producer and director said in a telephone interview.
Diagnosed through a simple blood test, anemia occurs when the body does not produce enough red blood cells, which contain hemoglobin necessary to carry oxygen to the organs and muscles.
Anemia is not a disease in itself, Glover noted, but is associated with chronic kidney and heart disease, diabetes, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and human immunodeficiency virus.
It is a serious problem in Hawaii because of a higher rate of kidney disease and more patients on dialysis per capita than the national average, said Dr. Jared Sugihara, medical director of the St. Francis Medical Center's Renal Institute.
He said 1,600 to 1,700 islanders are on dialysis -- a high number out of a population of 1.2 million.
"You figure, if that many are on dialysis, how many are waiting to start dialysis with renal deficiency?" he said.
An estimated 3.4 million Americans have been diagnosed with anemia, and millions more have the condition and do not realize it, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Symptoms are subtle and often attributed to other causes. They include fatigue, pale skin, rapid heartbeat and feeling weak, unusually cold and depressed.
Glover's father, James, who died in 1983, suffered from anemia associated with chronic kidney disease.
"The anemia itself is so debilitating, often it has some impact on the other disease and progression of the disease," Glover said.
Sugihara said 50 percent to 55 percent of patients with diabetes are on dialysis, and more than 60 percent are native Hawaiians. "We're trying to do something to decrease that rate."
Anemia LifeLine was developed with the National Kidney Foundation and other groups in an educational effort to improve lives of people with anemia linked to diseases. The Kidney Foundation and its Hawaii affiliate want to identify people with anemia so it can be treated and delay progress of related diseases, Sugihara said.
"Part of LifeLine is to get people to think about things they take for granted or accept and realize these may be symptoms of anemia," he said. "When you treat anemia, a lot of these things (diseases) do improve."
Not much could be done about anemia in the past, other than blood transfusions or anabolic steroids, but technology has brought new medications, he said. "It's possible to correct, at least in part, anemia these people have."
The Food and Drug Administration recently approved Aranesp for chemotherapy-associated anemia. It was approved earlier for anemia associated with chronic kidney disease.
For more information, call 888-722-4407, toll-free, or visit www.anemia.com.
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Gov. Ben Cayetano will deliver welcoming remarks at 7:30 tonight at the opening ceremony for the National Medical Association 2002 Annual Convention. Gov. Cayetano to speak
Star-Bulletin staff
tonight at opening
of conventionThe ceremony will take place at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel Monarch Room.
The Annual Convention and Scientific Assembly of the National Medical Association will be held through Thursday at the Hawai'i Convention Center.
