Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Let there be music

A foundation that grants w ishes f or c ritically ill children teams up with local businesses to provide a gift for many.

By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Published December 24, 2006

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Jim Damaske] Sabal Palms recreation manager Linda Magee and Lauren, 13, a resident there, enjoy the new stereo, which many say will benefit the children.

LARGO

Their wheelchairs filled the room, much like the music soaring from their brand-new surround sound system. For the children in the pediatric unit at Sabal Palms Health Care Center, many of them blind, sounds are important. With that in mind, the Marty Lyons Foundation decided to grant a wish to an entire group of children, instead of its usual focus on a single child at a time. The wish, as expressed through teachers and the pediatric unit's staff, was music. So, this month, a new music system was unveiled in the large pediatric activity room at Sabal Palms. Employees at the health care center say the gift will enhance the children's lives. "Many of our children are visually impaired but benefit greatly from auditory stimulation and love music!" Renee Garg, director of social services at Sabal Palms, wrote in an e-mail.

Denise Nagel, a social worker, said the new system is a vast improvement over what was used before.

"Most of our kids, they can't sit in front of the television. To have auditory stimulation is very important," Nagel said.

The idea began to develop this year, said Donna Hulbert, supervisor of Pinellas County schools' hospital homebound program. The program serves as many as 300 children from prekindergarten to age 22 during the school year and has a classroom and two teachers at Sabal Palms.

The Florida chapter of the Marty Lyons Foundation learned about the Sabal Palms children from the homebound program and began to work with the facility's staff and the Pinellas County schools' program to grant a wish.

"We had talked about maybe doing something at a zoo. We talked about a lot of things," said Florida chapter board member and wish coordinator Michael J. Fleischhauer Jr. After much discussion, it was decided music was something all the children could share, he said.

Most of the children at the Largo facility are there long term, said Nagel, the social worker. "Most of them are born with multiple birth defects that require a skilled nurse 24-7," she said.

Recreation manager Linda Magee, who works with the children, is delighted with the new, powerful sound system.

"It's great. I've had so many little music boxes since I started here," she said. "The biggest part of my program is music ... It's almost angelic the way they enjoy music, the way they look up. I always had it on my wish list to get a very good stereo system for them. Now I'm able to position them and take advantage of the big room and they can enjoy the music."

Fleischhauer agrees.

"I think if it even gives them a few minutes' enjoyment or something they can relate to, it's worth it," he said. "It's sometimes just those little things. If it just soothes them for a little bit."

About 16 of the unit's 29 children were there for the unveiling. Marty Lyons Foundation volunteers, Sabal Palms' staff, homebound representatives and members of Largo High School's band program also gathered for the program. Students Kate Melde, 17, Kendall Rybolt, 16, and Sonia Wilk, 16, played Christmas carols to the apparent enjoyment of two little girls, one of whom smiled and clapped.

Based in New York, the Marty Lyons Foundation was created in 1982 to fulfill special wishes of critically ill children. The organization was established by Marty Lyons, a professional football player who attended St. Petersburg Catholic High School and was a defensive lineman for the New York Jets.

Lyons became a surrogate father to a critically ill 3-year-old boy early in his career, according to the organization's Web site, www.martylyonsfoundation.org/index.htm.

The child's death coincided with that of the football player's own father and the birth of his first child, a healthy son. With only two paid employees, the foundation he subsequently established depends on volunteers like Fleischhauer and Florida chapter president Jim Vigue.

Most recently, the chapter granted the wish of a St. Petersburg boy, 6-year-old Avant Brown. The charity took Avant to Chuck E. Cheese's in a limousine one week before he died.

The foundation paid about $500 for the CD player, audio receiver and CDs for the Sabal Palms children. Two local businesses also made contributions to the wish. Speaker World in Pinellas Park provided the four Bose speakers, and Currie Electric took care of the wiring. The Pasco firm also put the system together, said Fleischhauer, who works in the wealth management department at BB&T in downtown St. Petersburg.

"I don't think there is anything more precious in the world than children," said Fleischhauer, who lives in Palm Harbor. "I think it is always a good reality check. Everybody thinks they have problems. Dealing with an organization like this keeps life in perspective."

[Last modified December 23, 2006, 23:14:19]