Tag: see the world

Categories
Uncategorized

See the World: Part 9

See the World (An Easy English Story): Part 9

Cancer looks like mold.  The cancer cells are a deep red, like poison berries. On the berries are gray and green moldy spots.  Fuzzy shapes climb in and around the patient’s brain.

Neil can see where all of the cancer cells are, but there is a problem: There are many cells inside the brain, and it would be dangerous to do surgery. Ibsituu Umar, a doctor from Mayo Clinic who uses the lenses, works next to Neil.  Before the surgery, she told Neil that she was nervous to use the lenses on someone with cancer. It might not be successful. But Dr. Umar wanted to try.

“Incredible,” Dr. Umar says. “I’ve never seen cancer before.”

“It looks like mold, right?”  Both Neil and Dr. Umar are wearing their lenses. Neil hopes that Dr. Umar has the same opinion as him.

“I actually think the cancer cells look like moss.”  Dr. Umar finishes typing data about the cancer cells into the computer. She pushes her glasses up her nose and sighs.  “We can try.”

We.

Finally, someone can see what Neil sees.

During the surgery, Dr. Umar works carefully. She stays focused on the size, shape, and place of the cancer cells. They finish their part of the surgery in just an hour. Neil turns on the computer, and it begins the genome editing. Neil and Dr. Umar sit and watch the cells start to change shape and color.

Neil enjoys working with Dr. Umar. She is only 38 years old, but she has three PhDs. Neil senses her love for medicine. While the computer works and the cells change color, Dr. Umar says, “The cancer cells are beautiful. I know they are bad, but I think the different patterns look like jewels. Nature is amazing.” Neil doesn’t agree, but he is happy that Dr. Umar can at least see the cells.

After seven hours, Neil and Dr. Umar finish. The genome editing was successful. Dr. Umar’s eyes are filled with tears. “We can change the world,” she says softly.

Part 10>

Categories
Uncategorized

See the World: Part 6

See the World (An Easy English Story): Part 6

After the surgery, Neil picks up his daughter Leila from school. When he opens a box of macaroni and cheese for dinner, Leila shouts, “No!”

Neil jumps. “What happened?”

“Mama said I can’t have macaroni noodles,” Leila shouts and grabs the box.

“Mom just said that you need to eat healthier food.”  Neil takes the box from Leila and dumps the noodles into the boiling water. “So I’ll cut up an apple or something, too.”

Leila stands on her toes and tries to look in the pot.  Before her nose gets too close to the stove, Neil picks her up and lifts her above his head. “Super-Leila!” he sings and flies her around the room.

When the macaroni and cheese is ready, Leila and Neil sit down at Neil’s long oak dining table.  Neil got to keep the table after the divorce, and Amanda got the TV.  The table was more expensive, so two years ago Neil thought that it was better. But for two years, no one else sat at the table except Leila and Sam. Neil wishes he had the TV. 

“Daddy.”  Leila puts her spoon on her Mickey Mouse-shaped plate. “I heard Mama talking to Grandma yesterday. Mama said that you can’t spend Christmas with us because you… because… your work.”  

Neil frowns. When Amanda was angry, she used to tell Neil, “You’re married to your work.”  That’s probably it. “Leila,” Neil says. “Daddy is helping people. Sometimes doctors need to help people on Christmas.”

“Why?” Leila asks. Her usual question.

“Well, there are a lot of little bugs called germs. These bugs can make someone sick, but usually you can’t see them.  Daddy has special contacts–like X-ray superhero glasses–to help him see the bugs.  These might help me get rid of the bugs and make the people better.”

“Oh.  Okay!”  Leila picks up an apple slice and bites off half of it. Juice spills down from her cheek.  “Daddy…”

Oh, great. Another question about Christmas. “Please don’t listen to what your mom says about my work, Leila. We can open presents the next day.”

“Daddy, in school we read a story today about a frog and a fox who were best friends, and they went to play in the park, but the fox fell in a pond, and the frog helped him, and…”

The corners of Neil’s mouth lift as Leila talks about her day at school.  Five-year-olds are like a video game character. If something bad happens, they can restart. They feel sad about Christmas? Restart. They dropped their apple slice? Cry about it a little bit, and then restart. Add five character life points. Neil wishes Leila could be happy forever.

Part 7>

Categories
Uncategorized

See the World: Part 5

See the World (An Easy English Story): Part 5

Neil looks in the mirror and takes out the lenses.  The lenses are smooth and light just like regular contact lenses, but if Neil looks closely he can see thin wires in the lenses. They look like a spider web.  With the wires, Neil’s eyes can see cells and diseases.  A year ago, a man called Alvin Muller found a special part of the brain. Scientists now call it Muller’s Area. Animals like dogs and bees use Muller’s Area to “smell” diseases. Humans have Muller’s Area in their brains too, but it is weaker than in animals’ brains.  Alvin Muller created the lenses to send messages to Muller’s Area. Animals’ noses send messages to the brain when they “smell” disease. With the lenses, humans’ eyes can send messages to the brain when they “see” disease.  

Before the lens, scientists from Hunan used genome editing. They helped many people with diseases in their DNA.  Neil believes that genome editing is like fixing a car. When a person fixes a car, he does not destroy the car. Instead, he replaces the broken parts of it. For example, if the engine does not work, he takes out the engine and puts in a new one. In the same way, with genome editing, doctors can take out the diseased DNA and put in healthy DNA.

The scientists in Hunan were 99% successful. In every patient, genome editing destroyed most of the disease. But the scientists couldn’t find all of the disease inside the patients’ bodies. About 1% of the disease stayed in the body, and after a few months, the diseases became bad again.  That’s why Dr. Alvin Muller created the lens. The lens helped doctors find 100% of every disease.  

In a year, the lens was used for fourteen surgeries in different countries. All surgeries succeeded.  Today’s surgery was the fifteenth, and it was Neil’s first surgery with the lens.

Part 6>