Another reason why I am not a fan of Birth control:I am currently in Roseburg, Oregon, where I hosted my
> sister-in-law's baby shower yesterday. One guest was
> missing - Christina Heyniger Howington. While I have known
> Christina since we went to elementary school it had been
> quite awhile since I had seen her. However, my brother and
> his wife were especially close with her and her husband. She
> and her husband, Heath and daughter, Alyssa (13) spent
> Thanksgiving with my family in Sunriver last week. She had a
> wonderful time and was thrilled that Christmas was near. All
> seemed perfect in her world. She was full of life, happy,
> energetic, and loved her husband of 17 years and their
> daughter.
>
> She began using NuvaRing 2 1/2 months ago and started
> having headaches. They were not severe so she didn't pay
> too much attention. On Thursday morning, she woke up with a
> severe headache and began vomiting. She also became
> lethargic and wanted to go back to sleep. Her husband rushed
> her to the ER where she had a CT Scan. The first diagnosis
> was an aneurysm. She was helicoptered to OHSU in Portland
> and the diagnosis was changed to a blood clot. Once in
> surgery, surgeons were alarmed to find multiple blood clots
> throughout her brain. They tried to get to all of them and
> planned to do another CT Scan the following day to be sure
> all clots had been addressed. Christina's brain began
> swelling and her condition became grave. She was pl aced
> into a medically induced coma to address the brain swelling
> and was put on life support. By Friday, her condition
> worsened and her brain began shutting down. She was taken
> off life support in a last attempt to address her brain
> swelling, but efforts were halted as it was determined that
> her brain had no further activity. Christina lost her life
> but became a hero as she was an organ donor. Her lungs are
> already in transport to California where they will save
> someone's life. Blood clots, however, have been found in
> other organs such as her liver.
>
> Doctors are VERY suspicious that this tragedy was the
> result of NuvaRing birth control. They said they have had
> "hundreds" of cases where women are showing up
> with blood clots after using this contraceptive. It is my
> goal to honor her life by using her story to save even one
> other person from this terrible fate. Please pass this
> information along. It's the last effort we can do to
> honor a truly amazing woman.
>
> Thank you for reading this.
>
> Jill Chartier Guevara
Augustine Colebrook, CPM, LM
Development Coordinator, Thrive: The Rogue Initiative for a Vital Economy
Community Midwife, Wise Women Care Associates
Co-Leader and Mentor, Holistic Moms Network
541-488-7272 office
541-550-9692 cell
Artofbirthing1@yahoo.com