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GIVING page 46
1 "`"6" 1 "':
If you are experiencing any foot problems you know how painful it can be.
Dr Lazar specializes in heel spurs • warts • callouses and corns • sports
injuries • ingrown nails • mycotic nails • foot deformities • diabetes
and fractures. Dr. Lazar can provide free transportation as needed or he
can make house calls as needed.
Dr. Lazar Has Moved His Office To A New Location That Is Within Easy Access From 1 696
-
Daniel Lazar D.P.M. P.C.
15300 W. Nine Mile Rd.
Oak Park
(2 blocks E. of Greenfield)
S1 E,VEN ARBIT,
M.D.
.
Steven Arbit, M.D. is pleased
to announce the opening of his
practice in Physical Medicine
and Rehabilitation.
8391 Commerce Road
Suite 107
Commerce Township
Michigan 48382
(810) 360-8660
PHYSICAL MEDIcINE 4 REHABILITATION • ELECTROMYOGRAPHY
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In the last 40 years, the
death rate from heart
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the death rate from con-
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is 40 years old.
A Small Division of Amera
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IF YOUR LAST VIDEO EVENT
PUT YOUR FAMILY TO SLEEP,
CALL US FOR THE NEXT ONE!
American Heart
Association
Tony Gorkiewia
Formerly of Persona Video
of Michigan
A United Way Agency
(810) 851-2300
1
the World Village, with free, six-
day accommodations for termi-
nally ill children and their
families. Then he contacted
everyone from Budget Rent A
Car, which now provides free
ground transportation for the
families, to Disneyworld, which
donates free passes and gifts.
Everyone, he said, was more than
eager to help.
Even seniors got into the act.
With a professional staff of 50,
Give Kids the World has more
than 800 volunteers — many of
whom are senior citizens from the
Orlando Jewish Community Cen-
ter, who greet families at the air-
port as they come in from around
the world.
It's a kind of a payback. Mr.
Landwirth donated the funds for
a JCC senior citizens center. With
all the time they spend volun-
teering with Give Kids the World
families, the seniors have more
than paid for the facility, Mr.
Landwirth said.
t's a hot summer afternoon —
temperatures have topped
90 for days now — and Ra-
mona Powell sits in the living
room of her Detroit home. Pic-
tures of her two sons and one
daughter are everywhere. The
fan is whirring. Children outside
are laughing. Mrs. Powell is do-
ing her best, considering. For the
past four years, life has been
hard.
In 1990, Mrs. Powell's oldest
son, Arland, was diagnosed with
leukemia.
Arland had fractured his leg.
It wasn't healing.
'We were afraid that he hadn't
stayed off it enough; he was
always so busy," Mrs. Powell
said.
But then one June evening Ar-
land's brother told his parents,
"Arland was crying all night."
The family took him to the
hospital, where Arland was di-
agnosed with leukemia. Doctors
said he had two years to live.
"At first," Mrs. Powell said, "all
you do is cry."
Then came the treatments:
spinals and injections and non-
ending pills. Chemotherapy.
There was a bone-marrow search
(no match has been found).
Today, Arland often prefers to
take his treatments alone, Mrs.
Powell said. "He tells us, 'I'm a
man.' "
What has been especially dif-
ficult was his physician's direc-
tive that Arland should not
continue in school. His disease
has left him too vulnerable to in-
fection. Arland had hoped to
study engineering, or maybe art.
"Art is his real strength," Mrs.
Powell said.
What he was allowed was a
trip to Disneyworld.
The Powells' trip was coordi-
nated through the local Make-A-
Wish Foundation. A limousine
picked up the family at their De-
troit home, then everyone was
I
(810) 967-3668
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flown to Orlando. They had a pri-
vate villa at Give Kids the World,
where the Powell children spent
many hours playing Nintendo.
They dined out every night (the
Hard Rock Cafe was a big hit).
They went to Disneyworld. They
visited Epcot Center and the new
MGM studios, too. And natural-
ly they made a stop at Gatorland,
where some members of the
Powell family were daring
enough to taste alligator ham-
burgers. Mrs. Powell had a ham-
burger there, she said. "A beef
hamburger."
Arland is now 17. He loves
clothes and basketball and
swimming. Mrs. Powell said she
and her husband try to keep
things in perspective: 'We look at
all the people who have had it
worse."
Families with
terminally ill
children had
canceled trips to
Florida. The problem
was time.
They also spend a lot of time
praying.
n 1986, Give Kids the World
averaged 329 families a
year. Today, it's more than
4,000, and visitors come from
around the world: Israel, Holland,
Great Britain, Egypt, Russia,
China, Korea and Pakistan. Last
year, some 150 families from
Michigan went to Give Kids the
World. Each visit costs about
$3,000.
Mr. Landwirth's other chari-
table work includes helping found
the Mercury Seven Foundation,
which gives scholarships to
science students, and establish-
ing a number of scholarships
for underprivileged Israeli youth.
He has been honored as Em-
ployer of the Year by the Florida
Association of Retarded Children
and with the United Cerebral
Palsy Association Humanitarian
Award.
"I'm 67, and what I have
learned in life is that nothing is
impossible if you focus on your
mission," Mr. Landwirth said.
"I can't change the fact that
these children are dying, but we
can give them wonderful mem-
ories." 0
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