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Valley Public Radio Staff

Kristina Herrick
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Tagged: gorospe

Shots - Health News
12:32 am
Mon May 13, 2013

Cases Of Mysterious Valley Fever Rise In American Southwest

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Credit Daniel Casarez/Vida en el Valle/Reporting on Health Collaborative
Emily Gorospe, 8, loves to dance and usually can't sit still, so her parents started to worry when she became very tired two years ago. Emily was eventually diagnosed with valley fever, a fungal disease that 150,000 people contract each year.
Credit Laura Dickinson / Reporting on Health Collaborative
Winemaker Todd Schaefer will take anti-fungal medication for the rest of his life. Not only does it cause nausea and vomiting, but it means he can't drink his own wine.
Credit Daniel Casarez/Vida en el Valle/Reporting on Health Collaborative
Valley fever is caused by tiny spores that live in California and Arizona soil. When the spores are disturbed, they can be inhaled into the lungs, so people who work outside are at higher risk of contracting it.
Credit Laura Dickinson / Reporting on Health Collaborative
Todd and Tammy Schaefer walk through a neighbor's vineyard with their Old English mastiff, Daisy Ray. Todd was working in a vineyard when he contracted valley fever about 10 years ago and has since struggled with his health.
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Originally published on Mon May 13, 2013 1:01 pm

When she was just 6, Emily Gorospe became very tired and sick. The spunky girl, now 8, developed a fever that wouldn't go away, and red blotches appeared across her body.

"She's got so much energy usually," says Emily's mother, Valerie Gorospe. "Just walking from one part of the house ... she was drained." The little girl was also very pale. "She just didn't look like herself," Valerie recalls.

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Just One Breath
11:56 am
Tue November 13, 2012

Valley Fever Changes Young Girl's Life

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Credit Daniel Casarez/Vida en el Valle
7-year-old Emily Gorospe loves to dance, but valley fever robbed her of her strength last year
Credit Joe Moore / Valley Public Radio
7-year-old Emily Gorospe reads from a handwritten note describing how valley fever has changed her life, at a town hall event in Bakersfield.
Credit Joe Moore / Valley Public Radio
7-year-old Emily Gorospe points at a chart tracking the increase in reported cases of valley fever in Kern County from 1930 to 2011.
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By Rebecca Plevin and REPORTING ON HEALTH COLLABORATIVE

Emily Gorospe cannot sit still. The spunky 7-year-old with long, brown braids loves to make up dances in her bedroom. When she’s not dancing, she’s jumping rope, or hula hooping.

But last spring, when she was just six, Emily became very tired and sick. She developed a fever that wouldn’t go away and red blotches appeared across her body.

“She’s got so much energy usually. Just walking from one part of the house, from her room to the living room, or to the kitchen, she was drained.”

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