Spina

On January 17, 2005, CATHERINE (nee Manfre), beloved wife of the late Leonard Spina, loving mother of Carmela Thamer and her husband Dr. Mahmud Thamer, dear sister of Josephine Kruk, cherished grandmother of Mae, Mona, Mustafa and Lelia. Also survived by six great-grandchildren. The family will receive friends in the LEMMON FUNERAL HOME OF DULANEY VALLEY, INC., 10 W. Padonia Rd. (at York Rd), Timonium-Cockeysville, on Thursday, 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 P.M. and in the vestibule of Stella Maris Chapel on Friday, January 21, 9:30 to 10 A.M., at which time a Funeral Mass will be celebrated.

Daniel Romanchuk gives you a blank stare when you try and explain to him why he is an inspiration. He looks confused - why would anybody care to see him race, legs tucked under him, neck crammed forward, and be inspired? He's just a kid who likes to race. Daniel, 13, can tell you the name of the disease that robbed him of the use of his legs before birth - spina bifida - but he can't tell you anything about it. It's not important, and he doesn't care. If Daniel cared about the spina bifida, then maybe he wouldn't have started swimming independently at age 3. Maybe he wouldn't have started at the Bennett Blazers Physically Challenged Sports program when he was 2 years old, training in a range of sports from basketball to sled hockey.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The Michigan basketball team is ranked No. 18 in the country, features a freshman class for the ages and is coached by a man who took the Wolverines to a national championship during his first six games.And its captain? Well, its captain is a non-scholarship senior who walked on the team last season and now wears a brace much of the time to relieve back pain caused by spina bifida.Freddie Hunter -- he of the shaved head and electric smile -- says the job is simply a result of his "being in the right place at the right time."

On April 27, 2007, JONATHAN DIXON; beloved husband of Virginia Dixon; devoted step-father of Frances Nussbaum, Elizabeth Morrill and David L. Gannon and the late James Gannon, III and Phillip Gannon. Also survived by eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Mr. Dixon was a proud member of The Free Masons. A Memorial Service will be held at 11 A.M., Wednesday, May 2 at Our Lady of The Angels Chapel, Charlestown Retirement Community. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Spina Bifida Association 4590 MacArthur Blvd, N.W., #250, Washington, DC 20007-4226

WESTMINSTER -- Mandy made it to the fair.Amanda Gail "Mandy" Kent smiled as she moved among the exhibits at Carroll County 4-H/FFA Fair, in her motorized wheelchair, on Thursday. Many people stopped to see how she was doing."No more speeding," said a state police trooper, with a smile.4-H friends, who have worked with Mandy for seven years, couldn't resist giving her a gentle hug."Easy on the hugs," said the Hampstead teen. "I'm a little sore. I just got more than 50 stitches out yesterday."

After seven hours of grueling surgery on her spine, the patient awoke and felt the good news -- right down to her toes."Right after the surgery, I could wiggle my toes," said Amanda Gail "Mandy" Kent. "I am really excited because I haven't been able to move my feet or legs for about a year and a half."The 16-year-old Hampstead resident is no stranger to hospitals and operations. She has undergone 22 operations since she was born with spina bifida, a congenital defect that can result in partial paralysis.

DROGHEDA, Ireland - Patricia Byrne was born in 1960 with two open lesions at the base of her spine, exposing raw nerve bundles. Doctors told Byrne's panicked mother she would be better off not knowing what was wrong and waited three days to unite mother and child. They waited another five years to make the diagnosis official, such was the shame surrounding what became known as the "Irish disease" because of its high rates here. Byrne had spina bifida, the most common and one of the most debilitating of "neural tube" birth defects caused by the failure of the spine to fuse during the first month of pregnancy.

On July 5, 2003, CAROL MCMILLION, of Reno, NV; beloved mother of Jennifer and Tracey McMillion. Also survived by her father Henry Berniker and step-mother Doris Jeanne Berniker. An Interment Service will be held on Friday, July 25, 2003, at 10 A.M. in Meadowridge Memorial Park, privately with the family. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Spina Bifida Association of MD, 600 W. Baker Avenue, Abingdon, MD 21009.

I GOT A call recently from Dave Andrusko, editor of National Right to Life News and, at times, an intellectual sparring partner of mine on bioethical issues. He told me about a newspaper story about a little girl who once was at the heart of a landmark bioethics controversy -- Baby Jane Doe.Andrusko believed time had proven him right and me wrong about Baby Doe. I ArthurCaplandon't agree, but maybe you do.The news story describes a visit with Baby Jane Doe, whose real name is Keri Lynn. Despite serious mental and physical impairments, she is doing well.

On April 23, 2006, EDWARD F. ALLEN; "ED", loving father of Jean Marie and her husband Steve Andrulonis, Mark and his wife Michele Allen, Angie and her husband Scott Ryan, Cate Allen and Beth Allen; devoted granddad of ten grandchildren. Also survived by his sister Jean Spina and brother Walter Allen. A Memorial Service will be held at the family owned AMBROSE FUNERAL HOME, INC., 1328 Sulphur Spring Road, Arbutus, on Friday at 4 P.M. www.ambrosefuneralhomes.com

To hear them tell the story, it was a classic case of love at first fight. In the early 1970s, Ralph Friedgen and Gloria Spina were graduate students at the University of Maryland, both pursuing master's degrees in education. They had mutual friends, and a mutual interest in each other. They had flirted a bit, shared a cup of coffee in the student union, and eyed each other during a badminton match in one of their physical education classes. She had grown up around sports, considered herself a jock, and though she lacked confidence, this guy made her laugh.

On April 23, 2006, EDWARD F. ALLEN; "ED", loving father of Jean Marie and her husband Steve Andrulonis, Mark and his wife Michele Allen, Angie and her husband Scott Ryan, Cate Allen and Beth Allen; devoted granddad of ten grandchildren. Also survived by his sister Jean Spina and brother Walter Allen. A Memorial Service will be held at the family owned AMBROSE FUNERAL HOME, INC., 1328 Sulphur Spring Road, Arbutus, on Friday at 4 P.M. www.ambrosefuneralhomes.com

Nearly 8 million children each year are born with birth defects that are genetic in origin, and fully 70 percent of them could be prevented or mitigated, according to the first worldwide study commissioned by the March of Dimes. In the absence of treatment, at least 3.3 million of the children die before the age of 5, while 3.2 million are disabled for life, according to the study released yesterday. "Our report identifies for the first time the severe and previously hidden global toll of birth defects," said Dr. Jennifer L. Howse, president of the March of Dimes.

Patricia Ann LaSpina, a homemaker and former bookkeeper, died Tuesday of complications from diabetes at Loch Raven Center, a nursing home. She was 67 and lived in Essex. She was born Patricia Ann Granstrand in Jersey City, N.J., and was raised there and in Westwood, N.J. She was married in 1958 to Joseph S. LaSpina, her high school sweetheart. The couple lived for many years in Pikesville before moving to Essex in 2000. During the 1980s until retiring in 1993, Mrs. LaSpina was a bookkeeper at the Franciscan Center on West 23rd Street.

On March 14, 2005, JANIE PALICH; beloved mother of Andrew and his wife Jennifer, Steven and Nicholas Palich; loving grandmother of Allyson Palich; daughter of Nancy Calvin and the late Donald Sooy; stepdaughter of David Calvin and sister of Donna Jones and Jean Putnam. A Memorial Service will be held Sunday, 2 P.M. at HARRY H. WITZKE'S FAMILY FUNERAL HOME, INC., 4112 Old Columbia Pike, Ellicott City. Donations in her memory may be made to the Spina Bifida Association of Maryland, 2416 Lampost Lane, Baltimore, MD 21234.

On January 17, 2005, CATHERINE (nee Manfre), beloved wife of the late Leonard Spina, loving mother of Carmela Thamer and her husband Dr. Mahmud Thamer, dear sister of Josephine Kruk, cherished grandmother of Mae, Mona, Mustafa and Lelia. Also survived by six great-grandchildren. The family will receive friends in the LEMMON FUNERAL HOME OF DULANEY VALLEY, INC., 10 W. Padonia Rd. (at York Rd), Timonium-Cockeysville, on Thursday, 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 P.M. and in the vestibule of Stella Maris Chapel on Friday, January 21, 9:30 to 10 A.M., at which time a Funeral Mass will be celebrated.

The U.S. Public Health Service recommended yesterday that all women of childbearing age take extra folic acid, a B vitamin, to prevent neural tube defects that affect 1 to 2 of every 1,000 babies born each year. The effects of these birth defects include paralysis and death.Researchers on birth defects and nutrition said that if the advice was followed the incidence of neural tube defects like spina bifida and anencephaly should fall to between one-quarter and one-half the current figure of 2,300 cases a year.

On March 14, 2005, JANIE PALICH; beloved mother of Andrew and his wife Jennifer, Steven and Nicholas Palich; loving grandmother of Allyson Palich; daughter of Nancy Calvin and the late Donald Sooy; stepdaughter of David Calvin and sister of Donna Jones and Jean Putnam. A Memorial Service will be held Sunday, 2 P.M. at HARRY H. WITZKE'S FAMILY FUNERAL HOME, INC., 4112 Old Columbia Pike, Ellicott City. Donations in her memory may be made to the Spina Bifida Association of Maryland, 2416 Lampost Lane, Baltimore, MD 21234.

They fought for months. Passionately, always. Heatedly, sometimes. Susan Katz was just 11 years old, but she was determined to win this argument with her parents because she understood so clearly, so absolutely, what was at stake. Born with spina bifida, she'd undergone surgery a few months earlier to relieve her stretched spinal cord. But the operation didn't go as expected, leaving Katz with two options: walk with the aid of crutches and braces, or use a wheelchair. "We battled it out on that one," Katz recalls.