Disease inspires dad’s run for son

Phillip and Caleb Trost participated in the Nike + Human Race in Beaverton, Ore., on Sunday.

Monday, September 01, 2008 By DAVE KERN, Columbian staff writer

It wasn’t billed as a father-son run, but Phillip Trost and son Caleb decided the Nike + Human Race on Sunday would be just that.

Phillip of Hockinson pushed 3-year-old Caleb in his jog stroller for the 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) race. They finished in 1,063rd place after running 68 minutes. An estimated 2,000 runners participated at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Ore.

Caleb was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy this spring. With each run and with a Web site, Phillip wants to raise awareness of the disease and help others. Sunday marked his second race with Caleb.

The Nike event was staged in more than 25 cities around the globe to celebrate the love of running.

“The overall experience (in Beaverton) was wonderful,” Phillip said. Earlier this summer, he carried Caleb on his back in a 5K race at Nautilus in east Vancouver, where Phillip works. “It’s easier to push than to carry,” Phillip said.

Caleb and his twin sister, Emily, were born four weeks early. Caleb already has had surgeries for a cleft soft palate and for a stomach ailment.

“We’ve spent a lot of time at Doernbecher,” Phillip said, referring to the children’s hospital in Portland. He said he hopes his runs with Caleb result in contributions that can be funneled to Doernbecher and the Shriners Hospital for Children in Portland.

“He sleeps through a lot of the runs, but he likes to pass people. He likes the competition,” Phillip said.

And on Sunday, “We passed a lot of people.”

Other members of Caleb’s family are his mom, Melissa, and sister Samantha, 8.

Melissa says the father-son runs are fantastic for the family.

“Phillip is absolutely inspirational to me, for what he’s doing for Caleb,” Melissa said.

“Maybe in 2009 or 2010 we’ll run the Portland Marathon,” Phillip said. He added: “I do know that with every race, he finishes first in my heart. I only hope he knows how hard I push.”

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Corvettes cruise in Casper for Fun and Shriners Hospital

By MEGAN LEE Star-Tribune staff writer Sunday, August 31, 2008
[oas:casperstartribune.net/news/casper:Middle1]

When he was 14, Gary Boldt decided he wanted a Corvette.

In 1963, his future brother-in-law put him in the back of one of the speedsters and drove around -- fast.

"He went around the corners with me in the back and I decided I should probably have one of those," Boldt said.

And 24 years later, he did. Now the owner of a vintage Corvette and co-owner of a 2002, Boldt is the president of the Central Wyoming Corvette Club.

He and other car fanatics came together at Fort Caspar Saturday morning for comradarie, a contest and a lot of Corvettes.

For the annual Corvette Roundup Show and Shine, the fifth club event to be held over Labor Day weekend, Boldt said a 60-car turnout was better than expected, since gas prices have left some owners unable to attend such gatherings.

About 30 of the cars also signed up for racing today at the Casper Events Center.

Carl Fair will race his polo green 1991 Corvette convertible in the race, and his wife J.D. said their car -- which can travel at speeds over 130 miles per hour -- is a winner.

"It was always my husband's dream to have a Corvette, and I told him he could have one if he could find one in racing green and tan, and he showed up with this," she said. "He wins a lot of these races in it."

When she's in the car, the speed "doesn't go into triple digits too often," so Carl Fair will race without her.

One particularly special car at the show, a "millenium red" version, was the last Corvette to run off the assembly line in Bowling Greene on Sept. 11, 2001 before the plant was shut down for the day, said Amy Olson, the car's owner.

Olson and her brother and sister were all in the military, and her boyfriend's brother is still on active duty.

A display including an American flag, news clippings and medals pays tribute to all of those people who have served or are serving in the military, Olson said.

"We just display it as a dedication to the troops, and with the red [color of the car] I think it really works," she said. "We started out without knowing what we were going to put in the trunk, and we just kind of thought this would be good."

Boldt said the public is welcome to watch today's races, which begin at 9 a.m. Hot dogs and hamburgers will be available. All proceeds from the weekend event will go to the Shriners Childrens Travel Fund.

Contact reporter Megan Lee at (307) 266-0589 or megan.lee@trib.com

Come One!!! Come All!!!

KERN COUNTY SHRINE CLUB ANNUAL DEEP PIT B.B.Q
Friday September 5, 2008 Serving 5:00 pm until 8:00 pm
Cost $10.00 each
Children under 6 years are free if with parents
FUND RAISER FOR KERN COUNTY SHRINE CLUB

Noble Park
700 South P Street, Bakersfield, Ca 93304


Further information contact Shrine Office at 805/ 831-4476

Shriners and Fighting 4 Kidz

Ruediger, Kyle, Metcalf and Galvao booked for Saturday's Shriners event
by John Morgan on Aug 29, 2008 at 1:30 pm ET
By pairing with one of the nation's largest charitable organization, MMA's struggle for mainstream acceptance takes another step forward tomorrow night in Santa Monica, Calif.

The Shriners of North America is hosting the first-ever "Fighting 4 Kidz" charity MMA event at Civic Auditorium. The event, featuring notables Gabe Ruediger, Mike Kyle, Jeremiah Metcalf, Andre Galvao and others, will raise money for the Shriners Hospitals for Children -- a network of 22 privately funded orthopedic hospitals throughout North America.

Shriners National Athletic Committee member Jason Weiner discussed how the event was created while a recent guest of TAGG Radio (www.taggradio.com), the official radio partner of MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

"I'm actually a Shriner," Weiner said. "And I'm also a huge MMA fan. I've been around the sport for years.

"I thought about this idea to put on an event (and) raise the awareness of Shriners Hospitals and what they do. And also to help get that transition of MMA over to the mainstream sports fan because there is still that perception out there that MMA is just a bunch of guys beating the crap out of each other. And really it's not. It's guys that are educated. It's a sport. These guys are athletes.

"We just put the concept together, and we thought what a great place to start it out here in Santa Monica."

Fighting 4 Kidz's main event will feature highly touted Galvao against Strikeforce, EliteXC and King of the Cage veteran Metcalf.

"Andre Galvao, who is a seven-time world Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion, is making his MMA debut," Weiner said. "He was tough to find a fight for. Everyone is talking smack that they'll fight him. When it came time to sign, no one wanted to sign to fight him."

No one except Metcalf.

"Jeremiah, he called us and said, 'I want this fight,'" Weiner said. "Jeremiah is a tough kid. He's a guy who is 9-4, but he's 8-1 at 170 pounds.

"Coming up in his career, he took a couple fights in a higher weight for a good payday on short notice. And he's a guy that is not boring. He's a tough fighter, so this has turned into almost a coin-flip fight."

The opportunity to help the Shriners Hospitals was also enough to encourage the Zuffa-owned WEC to offer up a few of their fighters for the evening.

"We were talking to the WEC, and they said, 'Have [Bryan Baker] fight (Gary) Padilla because if you don't put it on, we'll put it on later in the year,'" Weiner said. " So they threw us a bone, which is great. And they're all going to be at the show."

UFC veterans Kyle and Ruediger will also be in action against local competition.

Weiner said the event could be the first of several organized by the Shriners.

"We're going to become a little bit of a traveling show and doing different cities for the Shriners where they've got good Shrine support or a hospital," Weiner explained. "So we're looking at maybe even three or four a year in different parts of the country."

Tickets are still available for the event and run from $45 to $280. Proceeds go toward the Shriners hospitals.

"[The hospitals] don't take one penny from the government," Weiner said. "They don't take one penny from an insurance company. It's all just done by membership and donations."

The Shriners of North America have approximately 375,000 members in 191 chapters in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Panama. The first hospital was built in 1922. Since that time the group has assisted more than 865,000 children.

(Pictured: Jeremiah Metcalf)

This story, written by John Morgan, was produced by TAGG Radio (www.taggradio.com) specially for MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). The show -- which is hosted by fighter/broadcaster Frank Trigg, Gorgeous George and ace producer Goze

Utah 'angels' help burned boy

Jessica Free, who met Marius Dasianu (age 9) in a Romanian... (Paul Fraughton / Salt Lake Tribune)
BYU students head up effort to aid Romanian, 10, whose parents died
By Jennifer W. Sanchez The Salt Lake Tribune,jsanchez@sltrib.com

FARMINGTON - One night in December, 9-year-old Marius Dasianu suddenly awakened in his home in Romania. He was on fire.
He broke his bedroom window and jumped out of the burning house. That's all he remembers. He awoke 10 days later in a hospital about 150 miles from his village. About 75 percent of his body was burned. His parents were dead. He wasn't told until months later.
"I was alone," said Marius, now 10. "It was bad."
This week - after strangers with ties to Brigham Young University helped raise thousands of dollars and persisted through months of paperwork - Marius visited Utah for two fundraising events and to thank his benefactors. He is scheduled in September to start medical treatment at the Los Angeles Shriners Hospital for Children.
It all started with a call for a birthday surprise for Marius.
In January, Jessica Free and Ashley Ludlow were among eight BYU students traveling to Iasi, Romania, as part of an internship to work at an orphanage and children's hospital.
The students heard about Marius' situation and wanted to do something special for him for his Jan. 30 birthday. So they got balloons, made a banner and sang to him.
But, Marius, in deep pain, wasn't interested. His fingers were removed from both hands. His entire face was disfigured - he had no nose. He didn't smile. He didn't want the students to sing or read to him.
"It was hard for him to open up and feel comfortable around us," said Jessica, a 20-year-old BYU junior from Mesa, Ariz.
Jessica and Ashley didn't give up. They continued to visit him. They also told their moms about Marius and discussed how they could help him get better medical attention in the United States.
The women started "Team Marius" and a Web site to drum up support for Marius and his brother, 19-year-old Ionut Dasianu. Ionut was working construction in Italy when the accident happened and returned to Romania to care for his little brother. But money was tight, and the hospital is a four-hour bus ride from their village. He was only able to visit his brother a few times a month.
Ionut, who has custody of Marius and who accompanied him to Utah, said he was skeptical why strangers were so interested in helping.
"I didn't know what to believe at first," he said.
Marius slowly opened up to Jessica and Ashley, who visited him daily. He never asked them for anything.
In the United States, Kristin Free, Jessica's mom in Arizona, and Lynne Woodward, Ashley's mom in San Diego, started collecting donations and sought medical assistance for Marius. The team paid for a native Romanian to help them with Marius' medical records, Ionut's bus rides and medications.
Free, with seven kids of her own, said she got involved to be a voice for Marius' mother and demand that he get the treatment he needed.
"You would hope someone would do that for you," she said.
In March, Marius was accepted by Shriners Hospital in Los Angeles. Jessica and Ashley returned to the United States in April.
Teodora Racoveanu, a Romanian psychologist who unofficially serves as Marius' interpreter and social worker, called the team's efforts "a miracle."
"In Romania, these kinds of surgeries are not possible," she said. "It's his only chance for recovery."
After a few months of dealing with passport and visa paperwork, Marius, Ionut and Teodora traveled to Los Angeles on Aug. 4. The trip cost $6,000 and was covered by the team.
It was the first time Marius put on clothes because of the severity of his wounds.
The foursome and some team members went to Disneyland, Sea World and the beach.
Marius, wearing a Spider-Man cap and cargo shorts, said he didn't even know about Disneyland, but was excited about the trip. Then, before coming to Utah this week, they headed to Jessica's home in Mesa, where Marius and Ionut will be living in between surgeries in Los Angeles. His first operation is Sept. 17.
It could take up to nine years for doctors to finish the treatments Marius needs, Kristin said.
Ionut knows there's nothing he can ever do to show his gratitude to Team Marius.
"They are like angels saving his life," he said.

If you want to help. Donations for Marius Dasianu can be made at any Wells Fargo Bank under the Marius Burn Fund, or go to www.teammarius.org. You also can go to that site to stay updated on his progress.

Spina bifida doesn’t crimp teen’s lifestlyle

As Posted at: http://westcountyjournal.stltoday.com

By Mary Shapiro August, 2008

David Grassi isn’t fazed by some national recognition he’s getting.

A senior at Marquette High School, David, 17, made a surprise appearance last month at the Shriners’ annual international convention at America’s Center in downtown St. Louis.

David, born with spina bifida, is among local young people featured in the Shriners Hospitals for Children patient success video, called “Defying the Odds,” to be shown across the country.”It felt pretty cool,” said David, who lives in Ballwin. “They were treating me like a celebrity at the convention. It was cool seeing on video what I’ve accomplished in my life.”

That video program was an opportunity for David and others to thank the Shriners for the expert care they receive at Shriners hospitals.

“I’m thankful to Shriners for helping me better my life,” he said. “Without them, I couldn’t do what I’m doing now. Throughout my life, they’ve been there for me.”

Spina bifida is a birth defect affecting the development of the spinal cord. Throughout his lifetime, David has received extensive physical therapy and occupational therapy at the St. Louis Shriners Hospital in Frontenac.

“David went through first or second grade getting that therapy at Shriners, and he’s also had two surgeries there - for club foot at the age of 3, and for preventive hip operation, to keep his hips from turning in, when he was 11 - during which time he received therapy in the hospital for days at a time,” his mother, Sandy, said.

Other than that, David has gone to the clinic at Shriners Hospital every six months to have X-rays taken for signs of scoliosis, which often happens to young people with spina bifida.

Because the hip surgery was successful, David still is able to walk with crutches and braces today. And not just walk, either. He has made a name for himself as a competitive athlete.

David participates in the local Disabled Athlete Sports Association for sled hockey and wheelchair track, and in the St. Louis Wheelchair Athletic Association for competitive wheelchair basketball. He travels across the United States and the world to compete.

In June, David won a bronze medal in the 1,500-meter wheelchair exhibition at the 2008 U.S. Olympics Team Trials in Eugene, Ore.

“They invited the eight fastest wheelchair junior athletes to compete and do an exhibition in front of 24,000 people,” Sandy said. “And David got paid $250 cash in addition to the medal. And they paid for his hotel and airfare.”

He enjoyed being there “because the competition was pretty steep, and I was able to stretch myself.”

David’s family is just as active as he is.

Sandy spends the last Friday of each month at St. Louis Shriners Hospital’s spina bifida clinic, greeting spina bifida patients and their families. And she’s on the local Spina Bifida Association Board of Directors. Sandy provides brochures about the association and answers questions.

“Because I’m a parent of a child with spina bifida, they know they’re talking to someone going through what they are,” she said.

She also works part time for Floral Products and is a vendor who goes to stores throughout the St. Louis area to straighten and order flowers. David’s father, Matt, works as a manager for Hertz Corp. David’s sister, Mandy, 21, is a senior at St. Louis University.

David also has served as a counselor for St. Louis Variety, an organization that buys medical equipment for children with disabilities.

In the past, he volunteered as a junior counselor at St. Louis Variety’s summer camp. Last year, he turned 16 and was paid for being a senior counselor.

After graduation from Marquette, David hopes to attend the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, a school that has wheelchair track and basketball teams.

“I’m thinking I’d like to go into the field of psychology,” he said. “For now, I just try to be involved in as much as I can.”