Sam Berns died on Friday. You may remember him from the HBO documentary about his life. If you haven't seen it, you should.
At one point the documentary describes the discovery of the protein responsible for his medical condition, and Sam explains how this "takes the burden off of me because I don't have to think of progeria as ... an entity." Sam was a remarkably bright and eloquent kid and I remember watching this scene and thinking about how it crystalized what is undoubtedly a complicated and painful set of emotions into a completely relatable concept. It made me cry.
Sam was also a remarkably happy kid despite the challenges he faced and the unescapable truth that his lifespan would be much shorter than it should have been. Here's how Sam achieved such happiness, in his own words.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
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37 comments:
love this TED talk and love this kid
This makes me cry, too. The family across the street from my sister experienced a horrific murder-suicide this past weekend that left three children orphaned -- for reasons unexplained. And yet here was a kid who'd been really hung out to dry by life through zero fault of his own, and he had the Gheorghiest outlook of any of us. These kinds of cruel paradoxes make me question everything, and they certainly make me (further) question those who claim there's a reason for everything.
In a lighter tone, I hope some of you watched this Arkansas-Kentucky game. Kentucky hit a three to send it to OT, and then hit another to tie it in OT w/ ten seconds left. Arkansas won it on an offensive rebound slam put-back at the buzzer (almost like an alley oop) after a missed jumper.
Refs put 0.2 seconds on the clock and then Kentucky threw the inbounds pass into the scoreboard, where it got stuck.
Arkansas' b-ball coach is wearing a white shirt and solid white tie. Pimpariffic.
You should make the effort to see Neutral Milk Hotel. Five to seven really strange people ecstatically making music together punctuated by Mangum's gut-punch solos.
Pretty amazing kid. There are some awesome TED talks out there.
Dave, you should check out this site: http://musicdrop.leftfieldlabs.com/#/
You can create a free music box with your own tune. Maybe a quick ode to Gheorghe.
A guy I grew up with recently have a TED talk. Ill probably do a post on it. Probably.
not gonna bump sam for a post on this, but big game for the tribe tonight against delaware in newark. the hens are probably the best team in the conference right now. this is a big measuring stick for the good guys.
aren't you going to tell us who to bet on?
hens are going off +6 to +7, depending upon your bookmaker of choice. until the tribe shows us they can go on the road and handle a good team, i like delaware.
so go bet on w&m.
So, I'm notorious for foolishly writing off certain college sports star's prospects...see Hibbert, Roy. But having just seen Kiper put Manziel #1 on his big board...am I taking crazy pills, or does anyone else share my assessment that Manziel very well may suck at the next level and shouldn't even be a first round pick, let alone #1 overall?
Geoff, I'm kinda with you on that.
He could definitely be a bust. He's smallish, a big improviser and won't be able to create nearly as much in the NFL.
Also, my wife is home sick and its cold outside. But I'm bringing home Pho. Because I'm an awesome dude.
It's fun to call Geoff out on his Roy Hibbert miss but my personal favorite is when he said John Lucas III would be a better pro than Chris Paul.
Not that I'm bulletproof, I said Russell Westbrook would be the next Keyon Dooling.
I have no recollection of saying that re: Lucas 3...but I do remember thinking Chris Paul would be a bust.
before he declared for nfl, my cohorts and I speculated that at best he'd probably go between the middle and end of 1st round, AT BEST. too much risk imo...if he was still available in the 2nd round, I'd be a.o.k. if the dynasty in construction jacksonville jaguars picked him up.
Anybody watching the Wiz tonight? They are up THIRTY-TWO points in the second quarter on Miami. 62-30. What the hell happened?
tribe led delaware by 13 in the first half. they don't anymore.
tribe loses by 5. hope you got your money in on w&m +6.
Triple OT in Orlando courtesy of a 3 to tie it in the final seconds by Big Baby.
Sharapova!
Jon Stewart is interviewing Robert Gates. Why aren't they trading stories about the College Delly and Crim Dell?
Just saw Geoff's previous question. I think Manziel's bust potential is through the roof. Like Randall Cunningham's first season or two, but for his entire career.
"Australian Dream" and "Smart Mouth"....2 products Chuck Woolery schleps.
another ginormous day here at gtb. how 'bout that bridgegate scandal huh?
why don't you gin us up a blog post, buddy
yeah, pick up a rifle and stand a post, jerkface.
that would be the appropriate thing to do, for sure.
rob - just started "music memory lane" on spotify. will let you know it goes.
Rob, we live in a blog that has posts. And those posts have to be written by men with ideas. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant TJ? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Gheorghemas and you curse the absence of Day 12. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Day 12's absence, while tragic, probably saved you from boredom. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, makes you happy ... You don't want a serious post. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at papal ballot parties, you want me off the wall. You need me off the wall.
Greg Oden--if he took one of thosse "what's my real age" online tests...what's the answer? 53? 68? 72? It's defenitely not 26
Shlara, 68? 72? I see what you did there.
/shakes fist
shabazz napier has stupid game
here's mark titus talking about the florida/arkansas game on grantland:
Run that back. I need Mike Slive to order both teams to play again right now. If college basketball were liquor, then watching that Florida-Arkansas game would be like butt-bonging absinthe. That was like injecting pure heroin into my eyeball. If you could crush that game into a fine powder, I’d snort it and listen to The Dark Side of the Moon until my face melted off. Everything about that game was beautiful, even though so much of it seemed ugly. It’s like I was watching a homeless guy throw poop at a piece of cardboard, but that homeless guy turned out to be Jackson Pollock, and the cardboard was actually a canvas. It was glorious.
i guess i'm sorry i missed that one.
It was a pretty good game. I watched it from about the 15 minute mark of the 1st half until the end of OT. Huge Florida win but my reaction wasn't quite as strong as that of Titus.
hola gheorghies!
just watched the sam berns video. i won't complain about my hangover tomorrow morning.
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