The Leader

People make 2004 memorable

A teenager gets a new heart, another youngster fights leukemia, as does a popular state trooper, a young girl undergoes several operations and a soldier gets his medals.

By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer

___A young teen hanging on to get a new heart, another youngster fighting leukemia, a popular state trooper doing the same, a young girl recovering from a multitude of surgeries, and a veteran finally getting recognized for going above and beyond –that's what 2004 was all about.
Sure, there was war, elections, politics, money made and money lost, but it was the courage, the enthusiasm, the achievement of local people that truly define 2004. Let's look back at the year through these achievements.

---Silas LeGrow, 81, a retired chief master sergeant, received a Bronze Star Medal, a Purple Heart and a Prisoner of War medal in February for his heroic actions in World War II. He was serving with a tank brigade in the Philippines when the Japanese captured him not long after their attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. After six months in a prison in the Philippines, he and about 500 other American soldiers were sent to a prison in Manchuria, where he was put to work mining coal. More than half the prisoners died, many victims of an American bombing of the unmarked camp. Finally LeGrow was freed by Russian troops in 1944, after 42 months of captivity. "When I got to the Philippines in October 1941, I weighed about 165 or 170 pounds," said the former tank driver. "I came out at 84 pounds."

---An award that didn't take as long was a Bronze Star given in February to Technical Sgt. Angela Fitting, of the 314th Mission Support Group. Fitting, the first woman on the ground in advance of Operation Iraqi Freedom, received the medal for her actions in saving a soldier who had fallen in a tunnel. When asked about the incident, she said simply, "It's my job, it's what I do."

--- Gabriel Hill, now 3, of Cabot, suffered violent seizures as an infant, sometimes more than 100 in a single day. When her boy was 17 months old, Amanda Hill started sleeping next to his crib out of fear he would die in the night. The youngster had been on more than a dozen different types of medications and treatments. None of the treatments worked and doctors told her they didn't know what was causing the episodes. The only hope was brain surgery, but specific type of surgery, pulling out just the portion doctors that might be responsible for the seizures. Doctors were able to narrow down the area causing the seizures to a location 1-centimeter in size on the left side of Gabriel's brain. It took three surgeries to disconnect that part of the brain from the rest so the seizures would stop and Gabriel wouldn't suffer other problems. In February the last of the youngster's bandages were re-moved. "Now he's on his way to recovery and his seizures are fully controlled,'' said doctors at Arkansas Children's Hospital. Now he talks, plays and fidgets like any 3-year-old. "I feel relieved," Amanda Hill said. "It was so hard for me to learn how to sleep again without the fear of something bad happening."

--- Sydney Rasch, Cabot seventh grader, showed perseverance. In the fifth grade, she placed third in her school's geography bee. As a sixth grader, she won at the school level, but didn't place in state competition, but as a seventh grader she won it all. An April victory at the state level garnered Rasch $100, a globe and a trip to Washington D.C. to compete in the National Geographic Bee. Rasch, the daughter of Jim and Tammy Rasch, was one of 100 Arkansas public, private and home-school students in grades four through eight whom competed for the state title.

--- Dakota Hawkins, 13, who received a bone marrow transplant from his 11-year-old brother in February to help him battle leukemia, came back home to Cabot in May after a nearly four month stay in a Houston hospital, and doing well. Dakota was diagnosed with leukemia on Dec. 26, 2002. "Dakota is doing real well," said his mother Sharon in May. For the rest of the year, Dakota had followup visits, both to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where the transplant took place, and to Arkansas Children's Hos-pital in Little Rock. Dakota said God got him through his ordeal, "all the way." "Millions of people were praying for me – everyone in Cabot, friends and family, even people outside of Arkansas," he said. He said a prayer request went out for him on American Family Radio. "I feel very blessed," he said. Dakota was also thankful for his brother Riley, 11, for giving him the much-needed bone marrow. But Riley is modest about his contribution. "It was easy," Riley said. "They put me to sleep and drilled a hole right there," he said in May, pointing to his hip. "I had to lie in bed for four hours," Riley said. "When they took (the needle) out it hurt." Riley said he felt good about helping out his big brother. Dakota's leukemia returned in late November. He is currently back in Houston undergoing additional treatment and therapy.

--- Amy Driskell's van collided with a van going the wrong way in early March on Highway 67-167 near the air base exit. The accident shattered her right kneecap into 36 pieces and shattered her right ankle. As she slowly recovered, went through physical therapy and tried to walk again, she reflected that the accident had given her a new outlook on life. "My family is much, much more important to me now," said Amy, 33. "Before, I felt I was not spending enough time with my family. "It (the accident) slowed me down. I feel God had a purpose in slowing me down. Now I'm closer to the kids and closer to my husband in a way I never had been." Part of it is an acknowledgement of how much she must rely on her husband of 16 years, Devin, and others during her recuperation. Perhaps another part is a realization of how much more tragic the accident could have been. Driskell's four children, all wearing seatbelts, just suffered minor injuries. But the driver and passenger in the wrong-way vehicle died. The family has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of help and generosity by friends and coworkers.

--- A state trooper, who is a Jacksonville resident, spent most of 2004 battling something much worse than drug dealers, gunmen or speeders–he fought leukemia and is apparently winning. Trooper Tim Ghoshon, 39, spent most of the year Seattle undergoing treatment. Initially, it looked like Ghoshon was going to have to have a bone marrow transplant from his sister Gwen. But doctors opted to inject stem cells from his sister instead. According to Ghoshon's commanding officer, the procedure was less intrusive to both Ghoshon and his sister, and the prognosis was good. But if the procedure doesn't work, then it's back to the bone marrow transplant. "So far so good," Ghoshon said in August. To get him ready for the stem cell transplant, the doctors treated Ghoshon with radiation and chemotherapy. "It kills all the bone marrow, plus a lot of blood and tissue," Ghoshon said. "You are kind of like a newborn baby and have to building up your system all over again. That's where I'm at now, rebuilding my system. The doctors have given me the best possible prognosis at this time." Ghoshon said the doctors extracted stem cells from his sister Gwen, much in the same manners as extracting plasma. The stem cells were then transfused into Ghoshon through a port in his chest. "It took about four hours to receive about two pints of her stem cells," the trooper said.

--- And then there was 7-old-year Heather Keister walking up to people at the Ward Jamboree in Sep-tember asking if they wanted her autograph. "She's been handing out her autograph all over Cabot and I guess it's now Ward's turn," her mother said. You see, Heather appeared on a real reality survivor television show on the Discovery Channel. The show was Extreme Surgery and Heather's was one of the featured operations. "She was born with just one lung and had just a 10 percent chance of living," her mother explained. "In December she went in for major surgery (the one that was shown on television) on her back and to have two ribs removed to help fill in the empty space of the missing lung." Heather will need a back operation about every two years until she's an adult to prevent severe spine disfiguration and back problems. "Right now she thinks she's a movie star," her mother said in September as Heather went off to give her autograph to another group of Jamboree visitors.

---Travis Marcus, 14, of 52 Sunset Lane in Cabot, returned home right before Christmas. He had been in Arkansas Children's Hospital since Sept. 5 because he needed a heart transplant. He got the new heart, but it nearly broke when the teen got the word the day after Christmas that the doctor who was instrumental in giving him life had committed suicide. During his stay at the hospital, Travis received a DeBakey a heart pump called a ventricular assistance device children's implant, only the second ever used, to help sustain his life until a suitable heart was available for the transplant operation. He received the pump Sept. 16 from a team of doctors at Arkansas Children's Hospital, led by Dr. Jonathan Drummond-Webb, chief of pediatric cardiovascular surgery. The device sustained him until a heart could be located. Travis had the heart transplant, a nine-hour procedure, on Nov. 11. Although Travis made it home before Christmas, it will be a while before he gets strong enough to resume his everyday life. He won't be able to return to school until next fall, so the family is working to begin home schooling for the spring. He also won't be able to do the simpler things, such as attend church or eat out at restaurants for about two months. Plus, his heart surgeon– the man who implanted the heart pump and the new heart, Drummond-Webb killed himself Dec. 26, complicating things for the teen. But he has the heart to recover. And that's the simple message to take from 2004–have heart. hings for the teen. But he has the heart to recover. And that's the simple message to take from 2004–have heart.

	People make 2004 memorable A teenager gets a new heart, another youngster fights leukemia, as does a popular state trooper, a young girl undergoes several operations and a soldier gets his medals. By RICK KRON Leader staff writer ___A young teen hanging on to get a new heart, another youngster fighting leukemia, a popular state trooper doing the same, a young girl recovering from a multitude of surgeries, and a veteran finally getting recognized for going above and beyond –that's what 2004 was all about. Sure, there was war, elections, politics, money made and money lost, but it was the courage, the enthusiasm, the achievement of local people that truly define 2004. Let's look back at the year through these achievements. ---Silas LeGrow, 81, a retired chief master sergeant, received a Bronze Star Medal, a Purple Heart and a Prisoner of War medal in February for his heroic actions in World War II. He was serving with a tank brigade in the Philippines when the Japanese captured him not long after their attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. After six months in a prison in the Philippines, he and about 500 other American soldiers were sent to a prison in Manchuria, where he was put to work mining coal. More than half the prisoners died, many victims of an American bombing of the unmarked camp. Finally LeGrow was freed by Russian troops in 1944, after 42 months of captivity. "When I got to the Philippines in October 1941, I weighed about 165 or 170 pounds," said the former tank driver. "I came out at 84 pounds." ---An award that didn't take as long was a Bronze Star given in February to Technical Sgt. Angela Fitting, of the 314th Mission Support Group. Fitting, the first woman on the ground in advance of Operation Iraqi Freedom, received the medal for her actions in saving a soldier who had fallen in a tunnel. When asked about the incident, she said simply, "It's my job, it's what I do." --- Gabriel Hill, now 3, of Cabot, suffered violent seizures as an infant, sometimes more than 100 in a single day. When her boy was 17 months old, Amanda Hill started sleeping next to his crib out of fear he would die in the night. The youngster had been on more than a dozen different types of medications and treatments. None of the treatments worked and doctors told her they didn't know what was causing the episodes. The only hope was brain surgery, but specific type of surgery, pulling out just the portion doctors that might be responsible for the seizures. Doctors were able to narrow down the area causing the seizures to a location 1-centimeter in size on the left side of Gabriel's brain. It took three surgeries to disconnect that part of the brain from the rest so the seizures would stop and Gabriel wouldn't suffer other problems. In February the last of the youngster's bandages were re-moved. "Now he's on his way to recovery and his seizures are fully controlled,'' said doctors at Arkansas Children's Hospital. Now he talks, plays and fidgets like any 3-year-old. "I feel relieved," Amanda Hill said. "It was so hard for me to learn how to sleep again without the fear of something bad happening." --- Sydney Rasch, Cabot seventh grader, showed perseverance. In the fifth grade, she placed third in her school's geography bee. As a sixth grader, she won at the school level, but didn't place in state competition, but as a seventh grader she won it all. An April victory at the state level garnered Rasch $100, a globe and a trip to Washington D.C. to compete in the National Geographic Bee. Rasch, the daughter of Jim and Tammy Rasch, was one of 100 Arkansas public, private and home-school students in grades four through eight whom competed for the state title. --- Dakota Hawkins, 13, who received a bone marrow transplant from his 11-year-old brother in February to help him battle leukemia, came back home to Cabot in May after a nearly four month stay in a Houston hospital, and doing well. Dakota was diagnosed with leukemia on Dec. 26, 2002. "Dakota is doing real well," said his mother Sharon in May. For the rest of the year, Dakota had followup visits, both to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where the transplant took place, and to Arkansas Children's Hos-pital in Little Rock. Dakota said God got him through his ordeal, "all the way." "Millions of people were praying for me – everyone in Cabot, friends and family, even people outside of Arkansas," he said. He said a prayer request went out for him on American Family Radio. "I feel very blessed," he said. Dakota was also thankful for his brother Riley, 11, for giving him the much-needed bone marrow. But Riley is modest about his contribution. "It was easy," Riley said. "They put me to sleep and drilled a hole right there," he said in May, pointing to his hip. "I had to lie in bed for four hours," Riley said. "When they took (the needle) out it hurt." Riley said he felt good about helping out his big brother. Dakota's leukemia returned in late November. He is currently back in Houston undergoing additional treatment and therapy. --- Amy Driskell's van collided with a van going the wrong way in early March on Highway 67-167 near the air base exit. The accident shattered her right kneecap into 36 pieces and shattered her right ankle. As she slowly recovered, went through physical therapy and tried to walk again, she reflected that the accident had given her a new outlook on life. "My family is much, much more important to me now," said Amy, 33. "Before, I felt I was not spending enough time with my family. "It (the accident) slowed me down. I feel God had a purpose in slowing me down. Now I'm closer to the kids and closer to my husband in a way I never had been." Part of it is an acknowledgement of how much she must rely on her husband of 16 years, Devin, and others during her recuperation. Perhaps another part is a realization of how much more tragic the accident could have been. Driskell's four children, all wearing seatbelts, just suffered minor injuries. But the driver and passenger in the wrong-way vehicle died. The family has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of help and generosity by friends and coworkers. --- A state trooper, who is a Jacksonville resident, spent most of 2004 battling something much worse than drug dealers, gunmen or speeders–he fought leukemia and is apparently winning. Trooper Tim Ghoshon, 39, spent most of the year Seattle undergoing treatment. Initially, it looked like Ghoshon was going to have to have a bone marrow transplant from his sister Gwen. But doctors opted to inject stem cells from his sister instead. According to Ghoshon's commanding officer, the procedure was less intrusive to both Ghoshon and his sister, and the prognosis was good. But if the procedure doesn't work, then it's back to the bone marrow transplant. "So far so good," Ghoshon said in August. To get him ready for the stem cell transplant, the doctors treated Ghoshon with radiation and chemotherapy. "It kills all the bone marrow, plus a lot of blood and tissue," Ghoshon said. "You are kind of like a newborn baby and have to building up your system all over again. That's where I'm at now, rebuilding my system. The doctors have given me the best possible prognosis at this time." Ghoshon said the doctors extracted stem cells from his sister Gwen, much in the same manners as extracting plasma. The stem cells were then transfused into Ghoshon through a port in his chest. "It took about four hours to receive about two pints of her stem cells," the trooper said. --- And then there was 7-old-year Heather Keister walking up to people at the Ward Jamboree in Sep-tember asking if they wanted her autograph. "She's been handing out her autograph all over Cabot and I guess it's now Ward's turn," her mother said. You see, Heather appeared on a real reality survivor television show on the Discovery Channel. The show was Extreme Surgery and Heather's was one of the featured operations. "She was born with just one lung and had just a 10 percent chance of living," her mother explained. "In December she went in for major surgery (the one that was shown on television) on her back and to have two ribs removed to help fill in the empty space of the missing lung." Heather will need a back operation about every two years until she's an adult to prevent severe spine disfiguration and back problems. "Right now she thinks she's a movie star," her mother said in September as Heather went off to give her autograph to another group of Jamboree visitors. ---Travis Marcus, 14, of 52 Sunset Lane in Cabot, returned home right before Christmas. He had been in Arkansas Children's Hospital since Sept. 5 because he needed a heart transplant. He got the new heart, but it nearly broke when the teen got the word the day after Christmas that the doctor who was instrumental in giving him life had committed suicide. During his stay at the hospital, Travis received a DeBakey a heart pump called a ventricular assistance device children's implant, only the second ever used, to help sustain his life until a suitable heart was available for the transplant operation. He received the pump Sept. 16 from a team of doctors at Arkansas Children's Hospital, led by Dr. Jonathan Drummond-Webb, chief of pediatric cardiovascular surgery. The device sustained him until a heart could be located. Travis had the heart transplant, a nine-hour procedure, on Nov. 11. Although Travis made it home before Christmas, it will be a while before he gets strong enough to resume his everyday life. He won't be able to return to school until next fall, so the family is working to begin home schooling for the spring. He also won't be able to do the simpler things, such as attend church or eat out at restaurants for about two months. Plus, his heart surgeon– the man who implanted the heart pump and the new heart, Drummond-Webb killed himself Dec. 26, complicating things for the teen. But he has the heart to recover. And that's the simple message to take from 2004–have heart. hings for the teen. But he has the heart to recover. And that's the simple message to take from 2004–have heart.