For our final issue of 2005, we checked back with some of the people and issues featured in these pages during the course of the year.

A year after she came to Pittsburgh for a small bowel transplant, Carissa Haston is still waiting.

	Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette Wayne Haston combs his daughter Carissa's hair at UPMC Montefiore Hospital on Friday. Ms. Haston has been waiting in Pittsburgh for a small bowel transplant since last March. Click photo for larger image.

She has endured a roller coaster of health problems and dashed hopes since the Post-Gazette featured her in a story last spring on intestinal transplants.

"It's been very frustrating," said the 28-year-old resident of Lewisberry, south of Harrisburg. Without a transplant that could restore her ability to eat normally, she continues to rely on liquid nutrition infused into the veins around her neck.

Ms. Haston and her mother, Sharon, have been staying near the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center since December 2004, when she came for evaluation for a transplant. She has been on the transplant list since March.

Because of the distance to her home and her poor health, doctors want her to keep waiting in Pittsburgh, she said.

Ms. Haston has struggled for years with conditions that inhibit the movement of food through her digestive system. When the newspaper spoke to her earlier this year, she weighed less than 70 pounds and had been plagued by one infection after another.

The infections have continued, resulting in a hospitalization late last month. But she has been more active and maintained her weight.

"I have a little bit more energy," said Ms. Haston, noting that she has been able to work on her computer, shop and visit friends. "I wasn't even out of bed a few months ago."

For several months, she had a fungal infection that made her unable to receive a transplant, noted Dr. Kareem Abu-Elmagd, director of UPMC's intestinal rehabilitation and transplantation center.

Ms. Haston said that doctors removed her gall bladder and small and large intestines in June in an effort to cut down on her infections.

Some patients who were placed on the waiting list later already have had transplants, she said, noting that she has come close to having the operation on two occasions. "It's been longer for me because I've been sick so much."

The long wait away from home has resulted in mounting expenses that are not covered by insurance. To help, Ms. Haston is accepting contributions made on her behalf to the National Transplant Assistance Fund.

For information, call (800) 642-8399 or visit the group's Web site, www.transplantfund.org.

About seven months ago, 13-year-old Aven Shields rode his family's ATV -- without parental permission or a helmet -- and got "clotheslined" by a long wire dog run in the yard of the family's Mount Pleasant home.

Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette Aven Shields, 13, is fully recovered from injuries sustained in a "clotheslining" accident, has moved on to martial arts. Click photo for larger image.

The injury damaged the ligaments in Aven's neck, so he couldn't stop his head from flopping back. Doctors told him to wear a neck brace and his mother, Neva Shields, kept her fingers crossed.

When the collar came off six weeks later, Aven was weak but able to keep his head up.

Now, it's back to kid-as-usual for the eighth grader at Mount Pleasant Area School District. He takes tae kwon do classes twice a week and is very active. At first he constantly asked to ride the ATV again, but the only time he has been back on it was when he helped with yard work under the watchful eyes of his parents.

"He did have some weakness in the beginning and he took it easy for a while," said Mrs. Shields. "He has scarring, but he's fine. He doesn't seem to have any problems with any of it."

She and her husband thought Aven would turn 18 before they'd let him on an ATV, but then they realized 16-year-olds are legally allowed to get behind the wheel of a car. So, they may relent.

Meanwhile, Aven has a few other ideas to stay entertained.

"He requested all kinds of snowboard stuff for Christmas," Mrs. Shields said. "Snowboarding scares me."

As the world ushered in 2005, news came out of Romania that a 66-year-old woman had borne a child conceived through artificial insemination.

	Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette Bonnie Rossi with daughter Adrianna, now eight months old. Click photo for larger image.

Women in developed nations around the world have increasingly been able to delay pregnancy and childbirth as what are known as for assisted reproductive technologies have become more sophisticated and available.

Yet childbirth at such late ages raises a variety of questions. Will an older mom be able to keep up with a baby? What about the risks of pre-term multiple births? Who pays for the insemination?

Health & Fitness examined the issue in March this year and spoke with Bonnie Rossi, 42, of Verona, who was then expecting her first child, conceived through IVF. After struggles with her insurer and other setbacks, Mrs. Rossi became pregnant on what would have been her final IVF attempt. She and her husband, Rudy, are now parents of a daughter, Adrianna, born in April.

Mrs. Rossi believes older moms have at least one advantage over younger ones.

"I'm in a place in my life that I've done all the things that I want to do, and for that reason I can more thoroughly appreciate my daughter than if I was younger," she said.

The Rossis had preparations in place to adopt a child if the last IVF attempt failed, preparations she believes any trying-to-become-pregnant couple should make.

"Never give up hope," she said. "But say you get to the end of the road and there is nothing left you can do, there's babies out there waiting to be adopted."

For Mrs. Rossi and her husband, the long hard road was worth it, because it resulted in what she calls a gift from God, their daughter.

"I've never had a job that I have worked so hard at and loved so much and got such a reward from," she said. "My daughter is absolutely my favorite boss. She's just completely awesome."

Organizers of a one-day alcohol screening program last April had no trouble getting people to participate at the Elder-Ado Senior Center in Knoxville.

About 38 people completed a survey to assess drinking habits, and two had findings that suggested they might have a drinking problem, said Janet Kirik, an information and referral specialist at the center.

Participation in National Alcohol Screening Day was not as great, however, at other local senior community centers.

Many people were reluctant to come forward and complete a survey, said Marge Lubawy, a spokeswoman for the Allegheny County Department of Human Services.

Ms. Kirik said she encouraged participation by offering door prizes and handing out surveys to everyone, so no one felt singled out.

"It's a tough issue to get people to think about," she said of alcohol abuse. "A lot of people don't want to talk about it."

Relatively few older Americans abuse alcohol, but the problem can be hard to detect in the elderly population.

Some symptoms of excessive alcohol use, such as falls and impaired memory or speech, may be confused with signs of aging.

People may have trouble recognizing a drinking problem in a friend or relative who is retired or living alone. And doctors may not closely question older patients about their drinking.

National Alcohol Screening Day, an annual event that provides free, anonymous screening for alcohol-related disorders, is not limited to elderly people. But because of Allegheny County's high concentration of older residents, officials made special efforts last year to offer the screenings in locations convenient to seniors.

Ms. Lubawy said the screenings may be offered again at senior centers in 2006, but no decisions have been made. Participation could be encouraged by offering door prizes or combining the alcohol screening with other health screenings, she said.

Another possibility, she said, is offering the alcohol screenings at family support centers -- neighborhood centers that offer parenting classes and other services for families in Allegheny County.

His first organized race of any kind was a big one, 26.2 miles.

Kevin Ifft, 46, an account administrator at Highmark, went to Dublin, Ireland over Halloween to run in the Adidas Dublin Marathon.

John Beale, Post-Gazette Kevin Ifft didn't run all the way in his first marathon, but he did go the distance and got a "Finisher's" T-shirt. Click photo for larger image.

He and five other area runners were competing less for themselves than for people afflicted with two deadly cancers, leukemia and lymphoma.

They are members of the local chapter of Team in Training, which provides personalized coaching to people who raise money for blood cancer research.

Mr. Ifft raised $5,997, making him the leading fund raiser for the Western Pennsylvania/West Virginia chapter this year.

He was turned on to Team in Training by his friend and neighbor in Ben Avon, Steve Guest, 41, a district manager for EMC Corp.

"My time was pathetic, but I had a great time," Mr. Ifft said.

It was chilly and rainy at the start of the race, but the day turned beautiful about halfway through.

And, "it was a lot hillier than they originally alluded, but I liked the hills," Mr. Ifft said.

He finished in five hours, 18 minutes. He got off to a fast start, running roughly eight-minute miles. But he overextended his knee hopping over a mud puddle, and had to walk the last seven miles.

It was hard on his ego to watch women and senior citizens zip past him, Mr. Ifft said.

"I knew I was in trouble when I got passed by a guy dressed as a chicken," he said.

But the camaraderie among the 10,300 runners and the thousands of spectators more than made up for the blow to his knee and the blow to his ego, Mr. Ifft said.

The American spectators would jump and shout encouragement; the Irish were more restrained.

"They'd say 'Well done, lad' in a conversational tone, sometimes so soft it was hard to hear them."

"We got a kick out of that," Mr. Ifft said. "For days afterward, whenever anyone would order a beer at a pub, someone in our group would say: 'Well done, lad.'"

"What a great experience. Steve and I are talking about doing it again," he said.

"I wouldn't mind going back to Dublin to try to beat the chicken. He finished the race in four hours and 50 minutes. I checked." Mr. Ifft said.