AIDES WON'T LET PATIENT SLIP THROUGH CRACKS.

Byline: Dennis McCarthy 

If he could talk, Jeff Rowe would have begged the attendants not to take him away from his friends in the Reseda group home.

If he could see, he would have searched the room for his best friend and case manager, Scott Stella, and pleaded with his eyes to please let him stay.

If he could still walk, he would have gotten up out of this wheelchair and run away from the attendants who had come to take him away to an old folks nursing home.

But the 39-year-old Rowe could do none of these things. So, he just shook his head, got a look on his face that would have broken your heart, Stella says, and went peacefully.

``It was heartbreaking - for him and for us,'' said Stella, who had been Rowe's case manager and best friend at Therapeutic Living Centers for the Blind in Reseda.

It was Rowe's home for many years until two months ago when life threw one more nasty curve at a man who has had nothing but nasty curves his whole life.

``Jeff was born with severe developmental disability, mentally retarded and nearly blind,'' Stella said. ``And now, he was hit with a paralyzing stroke. It really devastated him.

``Since he was no longer ambulatory, he had to be moved to a nursing home, but he doesn't fit in there. It's for elderly people, not a young man.

``He's falling through the cracks,'' Stella said.

But his friends at Therapeutic Living Centers for the Blind are not going to let that happen. They're fighting back, trying to reach down through those cracks and lift Jeff Rowe back up.

Bring him home with them where he belongs.

``We're in the process of modifying part of our group home to get licensed for non-ambulatory people,'' Stella said. ``We want him back.''

In the meantime, they've got a little surprise for Jeff, who still comes to the center for therapy during the day, but must return to a Granada Hills convalescent nursing home at night.

For a few hours soon, they'll take him back where he loves to be more than any other place on this earth.

Up in the air. Flying.

As customer service manager at King Aviation Center at Van Nuys Airport, Yoyo Gusso says he's seen it all. Old-timers, lovebirds, kids, you name it - wanting to go for an airplane ride.

``Everybody wants to go sightseeing, to enjoy the view from above,'' Gusso says. ``But Jeff can't see. I couldn't figure out why he wanted to go.''

He was about to find out, Gusso says. He would watch this man who couldn't talk, see or fully comprehend what was going on around him sit there in the cockpit with a peaceful look on his face, as if he knew he was only a few short steps from heaven.

``He was feeling the gravity and sensation throughout his body,'' Gusso said. ``I've never seen anybody love it more up there than this amazing guy.''

So when Stella called Gusso last month, and told him about Jeff's stroke, and how he was really down, Gusso said he knew exactly what would cheer him up a little.

Let's go flying again, Yoyo said - on him.

When Jeff was still living at the center, Stella says he would watch his friend some nights waiting for a car to pull into the parking lot.

Jeff would walk over to the car before the driver had a chance to turn off the headlights, and he would put his face up real close to them - staring straight into them.

``He was mesmerized and fascinated by this powerful shining light he could barely see,'' Stella says. ``It was beautiful to watch.''

He wants to see his friend and client do that again, Stella says - everybody over at the center does.

They all miss this 39-year-old man being forced to live in a senior nursing home because he can't walk anymore.

So, they reach down through the cracks, and try to bring Jeff Rowe home with them again.

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PHOTO Scott Stella, left, has developed a close relationship with Jeff Rowe, one of his patients.

Tom Mendoza/Daily News