Seizure Led to FloJo's Death

Autopsy: Olympic sprint champion suffocated in

bedding after having epileptic event in her sleep.
October 23, 1998|JEFF GOTTLIEB | TIMES STAFF WRITER

Olympic sprint champion Florence Griffith Joyner
died after suffering an epileptic seizure, according
to autopsy results released Thursday, and her
family and friends say they hope the findings will
put to rest rumors that drug use contributed to
her death. Griffith Joyner died last month in her
sleep at age 38.
Her husband, Al Joyner, bitterly criticized those
who suggested that she took performance-
enhancing drugs.
"My wife took the final, ultimate drug test," Joyner
said, choking back tears during a brief news
conference after the release of the autopsy. "And
it's what we always said: There's nothing there. So
please, please, give us time to grieve and just let
my wife rest in peace."
For the Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday October 27, 1998
Home Edition Sports Part D Page 2 Sports Desk 2
inches; 52 words Type of Material: Correction
Olympics--Florence Griffith Joyner, who died last
month, was one of two women to have won four
medals in track and field in the same Olympics.
Fanny Blankers-Koen of Holland won the 100- and
200-meter sprints, the 80-meter hurdles and
anchored the victorious 400 relay team in the
1948 Olympics in London. Griffith Joyner was
identified as the only four-medal winner Friday.

The Orange County Sheriff-Coroner's office found
that the only drugs in her system when she died
were small amounts of the over-the-counter
painkiller acetominophen and the antihistamine
Benadryl, which is sometimes used as a mild
sedative.
Griffith Joyner's epileptic seizure lasted from
minutes to less than hour, said Dr. Richard I.
Fukumoto, the county's chief forensic pathologist.
Such seizures rarely lead to death, medical experts
noted. In Griffith Joyner's case, the seizure
apparently caused her to be suffocated by her
bedding.
Griffith Joyner was one of 25% of the population
to have a congenital weakness of a blood vessel in
the brain, called cavernous angioma, said Dr.
Barbara Zaias, a forensic neuropathologist with
the coroner's office. She said 10% to 15% of those
people suffer from seizures.
In most instances, though, the condition doesn't
cause problems, and many people live their lives
unaware of it. Other times it may cause headaches,
bleeding or seizures, Zaias said.
Fukumoto said he knew of nothing in the medical
literature that showed this condition could be
brought on by using performance-enhancing
drugs, such as steroids.
Charles Yesalis, an expert on performance-
enhancing drugs at Penn State, said the autopsy
would not definitively show whether Griffith
Joyner ever used steroids or human growth
hormone. The most long-lasting steroids leave the
body within a year, he said, and Griffith Joyner
retired from competition nearly a decade ago.
Griffith Joyner had suffered a seizure previously,
during a flight from Los Angeles to St. Louis in
1996, and she was hospitalized briefly. After her
death, her brother said it was the result of stress.
On Thursday, the Joyner family and coroner's
doctors declined to take questions about the
athlete's medical history.
Zaias said a cavernous angioma might show up
during sophisticated imaging tests, such as an MRI
or a CTI, but even then it might stay hidden.
The day she died, Griffith Joyner's husband called
paramedics from their Mission Viejo home at
about 6:30 a.m. and said his wife was not
breathing. Joyner told investigators when he had
last checked on his wife at 1 a.m. she was sleeping.
Coroner's office officials said Griffith Joyner had a
healthy heart.
Griffith Joyner died almost 10 years after winning
the 100-meter gold medal, the first of three she
won in the 1988 Olympics.
She later won the 200 meters and was a member
of the teams that won the 400-meter relay and
came in second in the 1,600-meter relay. She
became the first woman to win four medals in
track at one Olympics and still holds the world
record in the 100--10.49 seconds.
Because of her muscular build and dominance of
the sport, Griffith Joyner came under suspicion for
using steroids or human growth hormones, but
she never failed a drug test. The Olympic
champion credited her success to a new diet and
extensive weightlifting.
Bill Hybl, president of the U.S. Olympic Committee,
issued a statement in support of Griffith Joyner
after release of the autopsy results. "We now hope
that this great Olympic champion, wife and
mother can rest in peace, and that her millions of
admirers around the world will celebrate her
legacy to sport and children every day," Hybl said.
"It is time for the whispers and dark allegations to
cease."
The events that caused Griffith Joyner's death
started with the cavernous angioma in the portion
of the brain called the cortex, above the left eye,
which developed while she was a fetus, Zaias said.
The cortex is the portion of the brain associated
with language, speech and cognitive processes.
The condition meant that within an oval of about
an inch there were several empty spaces that filled
with blood, Zaias said.
The angioma irritated brain cells, causing nerves
to misfire and bringing on at least one seizure.
Because she was sleeping face down, the seizure
would have caused her head to turn to the right,
which, combined with her getting caught in the
bedding, obstructed her air passageway and
caused her to suffocate.
Fukumoto said if someone is is suffering a seizure,
you should try to keep their airway open and "let
the person go through the seizure activity."
About 2.5 million people in the United States have
epilepsy, a term that covers a spectrum of
neurological disorders characterized by recurring
seizures.
The seizures range from so mild they are hardly
detectable to grand mal episodes in which muscles
forcefully contract and the body goes rigid.

http://articles.latimes.com/1998/oct/23/sports/
sp-35391/2
For Autistic Children, a Schools Coffee Shop Imparts Skills
While Raising Money
By WINNIE HU
Published: February 18, 2011
EDISON, N.J. The coffee shop at Woodrow Wilson Middle School is serious about service with a smile.
When Edward Lin, a seventh grader, stared silently at his feet the other day instead of greeting a customer,
his teacher prodded him.

How can I help you? the boy mumbled, still staring at his feet.
His teacher prodded him again. Edward looked up. Then he wrote out the customers order and, finally, broke
into a smile, braces and all.

Edward is in a special class for children with autism or multiple learning disabilities that is charged with
running the coffee shop every Friday morning. Setting up in the home economics room, Edward and 11
classmates have rung up more than $1,000 in sales of coffee, tea, doughnuts, cookies and cupcakes to the
schools staff since October. On request, they deliver to classrooms.

The coffee shop was the idea of their teacher, Thomas Macchiaverna, 26, who saw it as a means to instill not
only social niceties in children who often have difficulty with human interaction, but also business acumen
and life skills beyond the classroom. The overall goal here is to make these kids functional members of
society, he said. Its a different avenue than the standard educational curriculum. Its outside the box, which
you have to be with this kind of program.
The profits from the coffee sales averaging $100 a week have helped pay for things like a recent bowling
trip and a Thanksgiving feast for the class; as part of cost-cutting this year, the Edison district eliminated
money for field trips.

The Edison coffee shop illustrates how schools across New Jersey are finding ways to expand their special
education programs and services outside the traditional classroom to better serve students with autism and
severe learning disabilities, many of whom were once sent out of the district to costly, specialized programs.

At Northern Burlington Regional High School in Columbus, special education students run their own auto-
detailing shop on site, cleaning dozens of cars a year owned by parents and school staff. And along the Jersey
Shore, students with autism at Southern Regional High School in Manahawkin started their own ice cream
business and opened a gardening center where they grow plants and vegetables to sell; in the past three
years, they have earned about $10,000 to support activities.

But such efforts have fallen short in other schools, prompting Gov. Chris Christie last month to propose as an
alternative the creation across the state of more public schools devoted to students with autism, to ease the
financial pressure on districts and to ensure quality of instruction.

Statewide, as diagnoses for autism spectrum disorders have risen, the overall number of special education
students has increased 3.5 percent to 199,207 since 2008, while out-of-district placements have increased by
1.5 percent to 14,615 during that same period, according to state statistics.

In Edison, 80 of the 850 students at Woodrow Wilson Middle School receive special education services. The
school started a self-contained special education class last year that now has a dozen students, all boys
between 11 and 13 years old. Academically, their reading and math skills range from first to seventh grade,
said Mr. Macchiaverna, who is called Mr. Mac.

The new coffee shop got off to a shaky start. The first day it opened, the machine was mistakenly unplugged,
and there was almost no coffee. The next week, the school had no drinkable tap water after a flood in the area,
but teachers saved the day by bringing jugs of bottled water from home. And then came the snow days and
delayed openings.

The coffee itself was once so dark that it got complaints. And one student spilled hot water on his leg and had
a mild burn, despite supervision by Mr. Macchiaverna, two assistant teachers, a speech teacher and a life-
skills teacher.

But since then, the coffee has improved and the students have settled into a comfortable routine.
On a recent Friday, the coffee shop opened for business with folksy music (think Cat Stevens) playing over
speakers. Teachers like to pass time there during their free periods, drawn as much by the convenience as the
friendly service. Fifteen have standing orders. Others donate the doughnuts and handmade pastries for sale.

The teachers love it, said Cori Jensen, a music teacher, with a $2 cup of tea in hand. We wish we could have
it every day.

The students take turns doing the various jobs in the coffee shop. Mr. Macchiaverna pointed out the lessons
built into each one. For instance, the students at the cash register use their math skills to make change, while
those delivering coffee learn to navigate the school.

And above all, he said, they practice people skills. Even here, customers can be demanding.
I want a bacon, egg and cheese on a bagel, said Michael Franciscus, the gym teacher, who orders off the
menu every week just to joke with the students.

We dont have any; we have coffee, replied Norman Shamy, 12, looking perplexed.
Irish coffee? Cafe latte? Mr. Franciscus continued. He settled for a $1 cupcake.
Hes funny, said Norman, adding that the shop was his favorite part of school because, I like talking to the
customers.
Jenni Carlock, Nomans stepmother, said that he looked forward to the coffee shop days. It gives him
direction and teaches him leadership skills, she said.

Patricia Cotoia, the school principal, is a coffee shop regular. Its not about the coffee or the cookies, its about
the interaction and seeing how capable the kids are, said Ms. Cotoia, who will invite parents to the shop in
the spring.
We may have to switch to iced coffee in May, she said, but well get there.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/19/education/19autism.html?ref=specialeducationhandicapped&_r=0