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Special gifts for a special boy all in a day's work
By CHRIS TISCH LARGO -- The deputies knew he was a special boy when they met him. When they were in their squad cars, 8-year-old Corey Beam asked them to flick on their lights and rev up their sirens. He giggled and clapped as neighbors dashed to their windows to see what the heck all the noise was about. When sandy-haired Corey saw the deputies on their bicycles one day, he asked them why they traded cars for bikes. "Chicks dig it," Deputy Rich Bahret kidded Corey. And so whenever Corey saw them on bikes in his High Point neighborhood, it became a greeting: "Chicks dig it!" he yells. "He's just a great kid," says Bahret's partner, Deputy Mike Leiner. What the deputies didn't know then was that Corey is indeed a special boy. He was born with hydrocephalus, a condition that causes head pains so bad that they often keep him out of school and in bed. He requires regular hospitalization, and his mother misses lots of work to care for him. When the two deputies learned about their young friend's condition, they knew they had to help. And the holidays seemed the perfect time to do it. Corey's mother, Anne Roix, explains her son's condition: "His body produces too much spinal fluid that surrounds the brain. He had it at birth, but it wasn't discovered until five months later. A cyst had formed at the base of the brain. They did a CAT scan and the cyst was pushing the brain to the side." To save Corey's life, doctors had to place tubes in his head and run them down his neck to drain the fluid. The tubes were snaked down to his stomach, where the fluid from his brain could be deposited. But the tubes stiffen over time, and Corey, a third-grader at High Point Elementary School, has to go to the hospital every year or so to have the tubes replaced. It will be that way all his life. He went in to All Children's Hospital the week before Christmas to have both tubes swapped out. It was the seventh operation of his young life. Some complications (he developed an apparent allergy to latex gloves and also got ill when he ate) kept him in the hospital for four days. Bahret and Leiner only recently learned about Corey's illness. The two deputies are community policing deputies, which means they spend as much time giving handshakes and back-slaps as they do clicking handcuffs. Corey had always seemed energetic, fun-loving and, well, normal. They were distressed to learn he had a medical condition. They wanted to help him during the holidays. His mother works part time when she can, but often has to stay home with her sick son. The deputies decided they would play Santa Claus and deliver gifts to Corey and his family. Fortunately, the Sheriff's Office has a charity program that generates money for such a cause. Called Ride with the Stars, the fundraiser took place earlier this month for the ninth straight year. The event features bike rides, running races and a kayak race where attendees get to race alongside Sheriff's Office deputies. It costs $17 for people to race, and this year the event at Fort De Soto Park raised about $30,000. A few days after the fundraiser, deputies spent $22,000 on toys and gifts in less than two hours at the Countryside Toys R Us. Deputies bought toys for more than 800 Pinellas County children in unfortunate situations. Bahret and Leiner bought Corey and Roix's 9-year-old grandson, who lives with the family, about a dozen gifts. They brought the gifts to his High Point home Friday afternoon -- the day after he got out of the hospital. With bandages still covering the scars on his neck and stomach, Corey sat inside watching television. When he heard the deputies pull up, he perched on the couch and looked out the front window. Bahret and Leiner took the gifts from the trunk of a squad car and brought them inside, where Corey was allowed to unwrap one before Christmas. Corey's gift: A set of Matchbox cars. But the real treat was still to come. Bahret and Leiner took Corey outside and let him inside their squad car, where he rolled the lights and blared the siren, again sending neighbors scrambling to their windows. Corey has been fascinated by police, paramedics and firefighters for several years. It probably began when Roix was across the street shopping at a yard sale. She was looking at sneakers for Corey when she suddenly blacked out. She had a seizure. Corey saw the paramedics and deputies who helped his mother that day, a powerful image that he remembers well. Then in June 1999, Roix was in a Publix, heading to the coffee aisle, when she had another seizure and fell to the floor, splitting her head. Corey again noticed how police and paramedics helped her. He developed a powerful respect for people in uniform. In fact, Corey said Friday that he would rather receive gifts from deputies than from Santa. "Because chicks dig you guys," he told Bahret and Leiner. When asked if he would like to be a police officer when he grows up, Corey says he would, but knows it couldn't happen. He has to avoid physical contact and couldn't handle the potential rough-and-tumble of a police beat. But he thinks he could partner with Bahret on the street with certain restrictions. "I'm not going to carry a gun," he insists. "I'll just carry handcuffs and be the driver." Either way, his mother is happy he knows the deputies so well. And the family appreciates that the deputies brought the boys gifts for Christmas. After giving the boys their presents and letting Corey play in the squad car, Leiner and Bahret decided it was time to go. They climbed into their vehicles. Corey stood in the doorway watching them go. Of course, there had to be one more time, so Leiner and Bahret flickered their lights and blasted their sirens for Corey. As loud as it was, the boy's laugh could be heard all the way to the neighbors.
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From the Times North Pinellas desks |
