IHSA 2013 State Champion Informative Speaking

there were seven finalists in the final

round of informative speaking in seventh

place from Morris Jacob

omara in sixth place from Maran Jasmine

Jackson in fifth place from Fred ranata

wetman

in fourth place from Nia Valley sarv Pat

nyak in third place from University High

School in normal Audrey

Keane your tournament runner up and

informative speaking is from Glenbrook

South Elizabeth

[Music]

woo and

please hold your applause let me

announce each person's name in school so

you could hear them clearly so they all

get the uh wonderful accolades they they

deserve so in first place your

tournament champion and informative

speaking from Homewood Flossmore da

[Applause]

Lewis and here is your state champion in

informative speaking D Lewis

[Applause]

before I start this speech I would like

to introduce myself my name is Da Lewis

I'm 16 years old currently in my junior

year in high school and I'm also blind

out of my right

eye I'm sorry let me explain that last

part I was born with a disease called

glaucoma the severity of this disease is

what caused me to lose vision in my

right eye but I don't want you guys to

think this is a pity party glaucoma

actually has his perks I don't have to

use scantrons on test I get all the

notes in my classes before anyone else

and I get to use the flash pass at Six

Flags so you know who to

call but the one thing that bugs me

about having glaucoma is I always have

that one friend that says you have

glaucoma that means you can smoke weed

in California

the reason I get mad at this statement

is because one drug the for

Thugs and the other reason is I'm

disappointed that the only thing my

friends get tie in with my disease is

getting high but it's not just my

friends in general people in America

don't understand glaucoma and its

severity according to the American

optimetric Association glaucoma is the

second leading cause of blindness in the

US what's even worse is this number is

increasing according to the American

Health assistance Foundation globally

60.5 million had glaucoma in

2010 this number may increase to almost

80 million by 2020 with such a large

number affected let's explore this

disease even further by first opening up

your eyes to what glaucoma is then

viewing who it affects and finally

looking at the new advancements and

treatments to this rare

disease so what is glaucoma well

according to the National in of health

or NIH website glaucoma refers to a

group of eye conditions that lead damage

to the optic nerve damage to the optic

nerve usually comes from increased eye

pressure also known as intraocular

pressure or for short IOP NIH goes on to

say that the front part of the eye is

filled for clear fluid called aquous

humor anything that slows or blocks the

flow of this fluid causes pressure to

build in the eye if the pressure gets

too high and damages the optic nerve

dramatically you you can lose vision in

that eye however the severity of

glaucoma depends on what type you have

the previously mentioned Source states

that there are four types chronic acute

congenital and secondary well sounds

more like geometry than a disease right

well let me explain these types briefly

chronic is the most common type of

glaucoma the problem with this type is

that the cause is unknown and there are

no symptoms therefore it's hard to

prevent and cure the next type is acute

this occurs when there is a sudden block

of fluent in the eye unlike chronic

which is painless and damages slowly

acute is quick and causes a painful rise

and pressure of the eye the next type we

will discuss is the one I am diagnosed

with congenital now this is usually seen

in babies and is often inherited the

symptoms include enlargement of the eye

red eye and sensitivity to light see

that's why I can use the Flash Pad of

Six Flag because I can't stand in the

sun long

at least that's what I tell

them and the last type is secondary this

occurs when there is any type of harm or

injury to the eye see it's good to

differentiate which glaucoma is which

because you never know when you might

have it so now that we have opened up

our eyes to what glaucoma is it's time

to view who it affects wait a second I

just remembered I forgot to mention

something in my

intro I'm black

but if for being honest I think I'm

mixed because of my silky

hair but that's another

story now I just didn't bring up my race

to spark up small talk with you guys

what people don't know about race is

that it plays a major role in glaucoma

according to a KPLC TV news report

African-Americans are five times more

likely to contract the disease in

Caucasians Dr William Hart an

opthalmologist at the heart Center goes

on to say that African-Americans are

also six times more likely to go blind

from glaucoma than Caucasians simply

because they're not getting their eye

pressure checked frequently but this

mistake it's common for all of us think

about it when is the last time you've

gone to the eye

doctor

exactly investigators at Washington

University School of Medicine in St

Louis have found that oxygen levels may

affect African-Americans acquiring

glockoma

they found that oxygen levels are

significantly higher in the eyes of

African-Americans with the disease than

Caucasians they suspect that more oxygen

may damage the drainage system in the

eye causing pressure to build this

pressure damages optic nerve causing

blindness now this study is very

interesting because it's the first

physiologic link between race and

glaucoma but African Americans let alone

people are not the only ones affected I

happen to have two little sh tisus at

home but my dogs have something very

rare glaucoma can you believe that not

only is it

my not only is it my brothers and I with

the disease but it's our dogs as well

man my mama sure know how to pick

them this is not as crazy as it seems

though glaucoma's actually found in

Man's Best Friend according to animal ey

Care's website glaucoma is usually

consider primary or secondary in animals

primary glaucoma is found in many breeds

such as cocker spaniels Chow Chows and

even little shitu it's hard to determine

if your dog has it or not so the best

way is to get their IOP check by event

so now that we have viewed who glaucoma

affects black people it's time to look

at the new advancements and treatments

to this rare

disease now from experience I'm aware to

all the first ways of treatment drops

lasers surgery having tried all three of

these treatments in no progress I'm

searching for the new advancements that

are being developed according to an

Australian financial review article

titled taking the pressure off of

glaucoma there are a new generation of

stents and pipes that are being

developed to help drain fluid into

different Pathways that direct it into

deeper tissues in the eye one of these

stents has just been passed by the

United States food in Drug

Administration it was passed after a

study showed that 68% of patients

dropped to their target pressure a year

after this stent was implanted it's

called the instant but stent and pipes

are not the only new advancements

scientist at Washington University

School of Medicine performed a study on

mice and devised the treatment that

prevents the optic nerve injury in

glaucoma this treatment deals with

something we all are familiar with

stress

Jeffrey M Gade associate professor at

Washington University and others have

shown that the right kinds of stress

such as exercise and low oxygen

environments induce a change in celles

and make them more resistant to injury

and harm when scientists exposed mice to

low oxygen environments repeatedly they

found that the stress of the environment

produced a response called tolerance

this response made nerve cells in the

eye less resistant to the optic nerve

injury now who would have thought that

simple things such as Sten pipes and

even stress could help cure a rare

disease so for all my friends out there

who still think marijuana is the way to

go when it comes to glaucoma listen to

this the glaucoma Research Foundation

reported that while smoking marijuana

does lower your eye pressure it also

lowers your blood pressure which reduces

the blood supply in the eye damaging the

optic nerve so you're actually making

the disease worse

as for me I'm dealing with the disease

pretty well and I'm learning new things

as the years go by after opening up your

eyes to what glaucoma is viewing who it

affects and finally looking at the new

advancements and treatments hopefully

you can understand why I see the world

differently toen