Hannele Cox

We never can tell from where our biggest challenges might evolve.

Hannele Cox may lose her hand to a rare flesh-eating bacteria that stems from a fish tank cut. Photo: everythingtoshare.com

(CLEVELAND) - It began as a tiny scratch from her the family’s fish tank five years ago. In spite of the best medical care, than seemingly innocent injury now threatens this California gymnist with the amputation of her hand.

13-year old Hannele Cox of Oak Hills, Calif., says she is in pain constantly. The germ has moved into the skeletal structure of her right hand.

Now this otherwise young and vivacious athlete has had to quit sports she loved like volleyball and gymnastics. The infection has become so severe that this eighth grade student is now unable to write or perform other simple tasks due to the constant pain that she lives with.

The condition; Mycobacterium marinum, is sometimes called fish tank granuloma.

Hannele has been under the care of doctors at the Loma Linda Medical Center and UCLA Medical Center. Medical teams have tried using combined forms of antibiotics and dual surgeries to mislay putrescent tissue, but this germ apparently became drug-resistant.

Now her family is seeking trying new ideas. ABC News reported on 15 June 2011 that doctors at the Loma Linda Medical Center and UCLA Medical Center fear she may be infected with a "superbug" strain of the bacteria. Hannele's family is seeking further treatment for her with infectious disease experts at Denver's National Jewish Health medical center.

Hannele told ABC, "I'm afraid they won't be able to fix it," Hannele says of her upcoming trip to Denver. "I'm afraid they'll mess up again and I'll go through something I didn't have to, like with the past treatments."

Luke Easter is a poet who writes about things that are very close to the heart of Salem-News.com. Another former U.S. Marine, Luke heals the world with an approach that reaches people on a different level, one known for centuries, yet too often forgotten in the one we live in.

We live in a world of social & economic injustice. The main reason for founding America in the first place was to relieve the oppression of the King of England. Patrick Henry said it best, “give me liberty or give me death.” And yet, all too often death seems to be the only way out. Why is there such a high suicide rate especially among teens, in the land of the free & the home of the brave? What makes headlines? Good news? Ha! More depressing stories than anything else. I feel poetry takes an edge off the hurt of bad news while still delivering it but in a, “glitzy” sort of way. Giving a different perspective. Kind of like slap in the face as opposed to a knife in the back. At least with the slap you’ll live to see another day and you will know whom it’s from. I wasn’t here for the beginning of the world but at 59, I just might be here for the end.

Even though it’s still a knife, rhyme poetry helps to dull the blade. And that’s my job. You can write to Luke Easter at: lyricsfromlucas@aol.com