Cerebral Palsy

LIKE ANY 12-YEAR-OLD, Sarah Brintnall doesn't want her mother hanging around when she ventures to sixth grade this fall at Baltimore County's Pine Grove Middle School -- her first experience with the big kids in the scary land beyond elementary school.Smiling, Sarah spells out the message in 2-inch letters on her computer screen: "My mom is banned the first month."Sarah, who has cerebral palsy, cannot speak or handle a pencil or crayon. But she can read, says her mother, Ruth, and she can write by tapping her head against a red, cloth-covered switch attached to the headrest of her wheelchair that serves as a mouse.

Horace F. Burgee Jr., a popular and highly respected Hampden funeral director who served on the board of United Cerebral Palsy of Central Maryland for 40 years, died yesterday of pneumonia at University of Maryland Medical Center. He was 78.Mr. Burgee, known as Buzz, was born and raised above the two-story Burgee-Henss Funeral Home that was founded by his grandfather in a brick home at Falls Road and 36th Street in Hampden in 1899.The Towson resident continued working in the business until last year, and at the time of his death was chairman of the board of the funeral home.

Bernard Marcus, chairman of the Home Depot, announced yesterday that he will give Baltimore's Kennedy Krieger Institute $45 million, seed money that may eventually launch a national network of similar centers for the developmentally disabled.Motivated by concern for this long-neglected group, Marcus sees Kennedy Krieger as a model to replicate around the country, where help is often fragmented and inadequate. His donation is among the largest of individual gifts ever for people with such disabilities as cerebral palsy, autism and mental retardation.

When Joan Kelly began teaching ceramics and painting at Keswick Multi-Care Center in North Baltimore in September, the students were content letting her tell them what to do.But seven months after the Baltimore artist's arrival, the residents of the home for elderly and disabled people are creating personal and powerful images -- everything from portraits of the family dog to statements about their physical disabilities.Sunday, the artists will display their work in show with a Valentine's Day theme.

Christopher Henry Wiemer, a businessman who dedicated his life to helping children with cerebral palsy and other physically disabling conditions, died of cancer Thursday at his Easton home. He was 93.Mr. Wiemer, who was born in New York City, helped found the United Cerebral Palsy Association in the 1940s and was instrumental in organizing Baltimore's first cerebral palsy telethon in the late 1950s."He was very proud of the work he did with cerebral palsy," said his wife, the former Ruth Brunyate of Ruxton.

State regulators said yesterday they will investigate a Howard County program for the mentally disabled where 13 clients have been victimized by crime -- most committed by the people hired to care for them.One state official termed the problems at The Arc of Howard County a "wake-up call" and said letters will be sent to every state-funded program serving the mentally handicapped, reminding them of the importance of safeguarding clients' welfare.The Arc of Howard County -- a mostly state-funded nonprofit agency that serves 93 clients in a residential care program -- also faces scrutiny from state Arc officials.

St. Agnes HealthCare has agreed to pay $2.1 million to a Manchester couple whose daughter has cerebral palsy and cannot talk, allegedly because of negligent care when she was born at the hospital in 1977.William and Kathleen Hartig will receive a lump sum payment of $1.3 million and periodic payments to help care for their 21-year-old daughter Sarah, as the result of a settlement agreement filed yesterday in Baltimore Circuit Court.Officials at St. Agnes, in the 900 block of Caton Ave. in Southwest Baltimore, declined to comment yesterday.

One day last year, the riders at Laurel Park competed in a very special race -- the Kenny Capone Classic."I'll bet everybody was saying, 'Who the heck is Kenny Capone?' " said his mother, Nancy. "But he was tickled to death. His name was printed in the program, and he got a framed picture with a lot of the jockeys' signatures on it."Kenny Capone is not a famous owner, trainer or jockey, past or present. He is an average, small-money bettor who attends the races regularly and has the time of his life.

When Citibank transferred Bradley LaLonde to Vietnam, the general manager felt a twinge in his stomach: Where would his young son, who has cerebral palsy, get treatment? Within days of his arrival, LaLonde found himself at a rundown children's hospital in Hanoi, where braces were made of bamboo and equipment was broken.But a dynamic rehabilitation doctor with a vision to improve care for disabled children impressed LaLonde. It struck the American businessman that the hospital was a primitive version of Baltimore's Kennedy Krieger Institute, where his 6-year-old son Phillip is treated.

RUXTON'S L'Hirondelle Club was transformed into a "wonderland" for Alice and hundreds of merry madcappers living life to its fullest at the annual Madhatter's Ball. Most of this year's guests really got into the spirit of the evening and wore hats of all sizes and descriptions to this black-tie benefit for United Cerebral Palsy.Whether you were there for the tasty food, open bar, silent and live auctions, dancing or games of chance, the choice was entirely up to you.And speaking of choice activities, have you noticed that cigar smoking is back, big-time?

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and the Towson University fall film series marks the occasion with Jim Sheridan's "My Left Foot." It tells the tumultuous story of Irish author Christy Brown, who managed to write best-selling books despite cerebral palsy that left him with control only of his left foot (he used his little toe to type). Based on Brown's autobiography of the same name (he died in 1981), it's a robust, stirring, bracingly unsentimental account of a person overcoming disability.

Next time you face a challenge in life, think about a young man named Vince Biser. Biser, 21, just won the North American One-Armed Golfer Association championship at the tough PGA National course in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Oh, Biser has two arms. But he was born with cerebral palsy and has limited vision and virtually no use of the right side of his upper body. Which means he swings a golf club with only one arm - his left. I watched him hit balls the other day on the practice range at the Country Club of Maryland, where he's a member.

Carlos Woods turns 10 today. Ordinarily, that would not be a remarkable event. But the last time I saw Carlos was in April 2001, his tiny body on an adult-sized stretcher, surrounded by paramedics pushing him through a crowd of crying neighbors on a narrow East Baltimore street, a police officer screaming for people to get out of the way "so we can get this baby out of here." Carlos had been shot in the head while retrieving his juice bottle from the doorway of his Chapel Street rowhouse, hit by a bullet fired by one man shooting at another man who tried to escape through Carlos' living room.

Dr. Janet B. Hardy, a nationally known Johns Hopkins medical researcher and pediatric epidemiologist whose Collaborative Perinatal Project heavily influenced the development of neonatology and fetal medicine, died of complications from a stroke Oct. 23 at Glen Meadows retirement community. She was 92. "Janet Hardy was the pioneer in linking maternal age, nutrition and health with fetal development and early child development," said Dr. George J. Dover, director of the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and chairman of the department of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Justin Fowler sat nearly motionless in a folding chair on the aft deck, quietly scanning the water and wringing a paper plate in his hands. A moment later, when the boat hit the wake from a passing ship and started rocking, he was on his feet. Justin, a 14-year-old who has autism, found his sea legs in the light chop of Baltimore's harbor faster than the adults, who grabbed on to the boat's chrome handholds. As he got back in his chair again, his face lit up. "Whoa!" he said. More than 100 disabled children and young adults got to experience the pleasures of boating yesterday at the Easter Seals Cruise for Kids, an annual event in which private yacht owners offer free cruises to the children and their families.

Eight-year-old Paris Clinton gripped the putter uncertainly and frowned at the small purple ball. Nearby, water splashed down a pile of rocks and white triangular flags flapped in a hot wind, but Paris was focused on one thing: getting the ball in the hole. Under a sultry summer sun, a miniature golf course can test anyone's patience, but for the children who played at ParTee Golf in Perry Hall yesterday, sinking a putt marked a particular challenge. Some of them maneuvered walkers around the bridges and fountains of the course; others rolled along the greens in motorized wheelchairs.

Mary A. Lietuvnikas, a registered nurse who held nursing and administrative positions at Bon Secours Hospital and later co-founded a school for children and adults with cerebral palsy, died of heart failure Sept. 9 at St. Agnes Hospital. The former longtime Arbutus resident was 85. Born in Lithuania, Mary Aldona Lietuvnikas immigrated to Baltimore with her family in 1923, settling near Union Square. She was a graduate of the old St. Martin's High School and Bon Secours Hospital School of Nursing.

Jacqueline A. Speciner, a staunch advocate for disabled people, died of undetermined causes Tuesday at St. Joseph Medical Center. She was 49. Friends and family described a gregarious and independent woman who didn't let her cerebral palsy get in the way of enjoying life. "She didn't like the word disabilities, said Phyllis Godwin, who co-wrote Mrs. Speciner's autobiography. "She liked the word challenge. She wanted to let people know they could live on their own." Mrs. Speciner lived in the Virginia Towers in Towson.

Adam Shulkin is an important man at the Harbour School in Owing Mills. As president of the school's bank, he oversees management of each student's "Harbour dollars," which allow them to purchase anything from a book in the school's bookstore to an overnight senior trip to the Poconos. Like many students at Harbour, which celebrated its 25th birthday yesterday, Shulkin, 20, has a learning disability. The bank is part of the school's Village program, which aims to show students how the lessons they learn in the classroom are useful in real life and prepares them for jobs after they graduate.

Comedian Josh Blue, most recent winner of NBC's Last Comic Standing, performs at 8 tomorrow night at Goucher College's Kraushaar Auditorium. Blue, who has cerebral palsy, often riffs on his situation in his act. The show benefits the nonprofit Active Survivors Network. The auditorium is at 1021 Dulaney Valley Road. Tickets are $30-$45 and available through missiontix.com.