The Central Florida PKU organization hosted a meet-up event in Wesley Chapel to connect people who suffer from Phenylketonuria.
PKU is a genetic disorder that affects how the body processes a specific building block of proteins called Phenylalanine. Someone with the disease can’t break down the Phenylalanine properly, leading to a harmful buildup that can damage the brain and cause intellectual disabilities.
“Sometimes, we are struggling like all the other parents with PKU,” said Andressa Junqueira, mother of a child with PKU. “It’s hard for the kid to eat and see other kids eating differently because in my case only my middle kid has PKU.”
Junqueira’s 7-year-old son, Kalani, can only have up to eight grams of protein a day. He needs to avoid any milk, eggs, cheese, nuts, meat and fish. Despite the challenge, his mother makes sure he has some diversity in his diet.
“His favorite ones in the morning are waffle with honey, and bread and butter,” Junqueira said. “For lunch, his favorite is rice with guacamole but we also give him low protein pasta.”
Early treatment for PKU can help prevent major intellectual and health problems. For more information visit mayoclinic.org.
New Blaze location opens in Land O’ Lakes
Blaze Pizza made it’s grand opening in Land O’ Lakes Monday, Oct. 16.
The restaurant offered its first 50 guests free pizza for a year on opening day. On Tuesday, Oct. 17 the restaurant was giving out free pizza until 9 p.m. The new location is one of the first to feature a drive-thru door.
“We thankfully have this whole door that we can just walk out and serve our guests even if we’ve got a line of guests waiting for their online orders to get picked up,” said Blaze Pizza manager Danny Krutko. “We can go out and take care of multiple cars in one fast time.”
Source: Layth Mekkaoui
The installment also features a large double-flame open oven for quicker service. Customers from the area were excited about the opening.
“We have church right down the road, Vibrant church right down the road, so most likely this will probably be like a weekly event or bi-weekly event,” Javier Rios said. “After church, bring the family, bring the kids and enjoy ourselves and enjoy the promotional events.”
This is the fifth location in the Tampa Bay region and the third in Pasco County.
Credits:
Anchor: Justin Michael
Producer: Abigail Saxe
Reporters: Layth Mekkoui, João Pedro Ferreira Magalhães
Social Media: Eddie Reksiedler
Technical Director: Carsen Fraser
Teleprompter: Layth Mekkaoui
Graphics: Matt Narvaez
Editor-in-training: Aviva Kram
Camera: João Pedro Ferreira Magalhães
Web Editor: Jadon Rolle
Graduate Assistant: McKenzie Muskett
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Stephanie Anderson