BUBBA'S NOW HELPING LOTS OF OTHERS.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
This is the way it's going to be, Harlan Carroll told his 18-year-old son, Ken, as he lay paralyzed par·a·lyze tr.v. par·a·lyzed, par·a·lyz·ing, par·a·lyz·es 1. To affect with paralysis; cause to be paralytic. 2. To make unable to move or act: paralyzed by fear. in a South Carolina South Carolina, state of the SE United States. It is bordered by North Carolina (N), the Atlantic Ocean (SE), and Georgia (SW). Facts and Figures Area, 31,055 sq mi (80,432 sq km). Pop. (2000) 4,012,012, a 15. hospital bed after a diving A DIV Associate of Divinity accident in a backyard pool. As soon as you get out of rehab, you're coming home with your mom She goes to the gym. and me for a few months to get used to life in that wheelchair. Then we're driving you over to the freshman dorms at Winthrop University so you can get on with the rest of your life. And 20 years ago, that's exactly what Harlan and Shirley Carroll did. They dropped off their son and his wheelchair in front of the South Carolina university and waved goodbye. You know the number at home if you need us, son, they told him. But don't call too often. Work things out on your own. So, Ken Carroll did. He joined a fraternity to make friends and signed up for the school's sports wheelchair program, playing on the basketball team. On weekends, he entered 10K runs in his wheelchair and after classes took long rides around the campus, meeting new people. Before long, the other students at Winthrop didn't see that wheelchair anymore. They saw just Ken - their friend. ``My parents had a sink-or-swim mentality men·tal·i·ty n. The sum of a person's intellectual capabilities or endowment. . Boom, you're in college, Bubba bub·ba n. Slang 1. Chiefly Southern U.S. Brother. 2. A white working-class man of the southern United States, stereotypically regarded as uneducated and gregarious with his peers. , get on with it,'' Ken said Wednesday. ``They were really cool. ``They refused to let me look at life any differently just because I was in a wheelchair. I couldn't have accomplished any of this without them pushing me forward and never letting me feel sorry for myself.'' The ``this'' he's talking about is a multimillion-dollar company - the Burbank Healthcare and Rehabilitation rehabilitation: see physical therapy. Center - where Ken is administrator for a staff of 225 employees. It's a 188-bed, skilled-nursing facility that focuses on rehabilitation. The paralyzed college kid whose parents told him to get on with life grew up to get a job helping hundreds of other people get on with theirs. ``When I got here two years ago, I was so depressed I just wanted to die,'' says patient Larry Rutman, who has had a leg and two fingers on one hand amputated. ``Then I met Ken. He came wheeling up in his chair one day, asking what he could do for me. Here was this paralyzed guy in a wheelchair asking what he could do for me. ``What he did for me was make me want to live again,'' Rutman said. ``Honest to God, this man is an inspiration to every one of the residents here.'' Suzanne Traeger saw that inspiration in the eyes of her mother, Mildred, every time Ken came into her room. ``In that wheelchair, he's usually at eye level when he's talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to the patients, and it helps put them at ease and make them all feel special,'' Traeger said. ``I saw it so many times with my mom. When people lose their freedom and are confined con·fine v. con·fined, con·fin·ing, con·fines v.tr. 1. To keep within bounds; restrict: Please confine your remarks to the issues at hand. See Synonyms at limit. , they usually have a lot of complaints about everything - from the food to the schedules to the staff. ``Ken gets real close to them in his wheelchair, and says, `OK, what can I do to make it better? We'll change whatever you need.' I've seen him do it a hundred times. ``My mom was nobody special to him, but he treated her as someone special.'' It cuts both ways, Ken says. His rehabilitation patients make him feel like someone special, too. ``I'm going to be paralyzed the rest of my life, but it doesn't bother me because I'm having too much fun coming to work,'' he said. ``I know I'm suppose to be motivating them, but the truth is many times they're motivating me.'' Just as his parents did 20 years ago when they dropped him off in front of the freshman dorms and waved goodbye. ``They came out to visit me last month in the home I just bought in North Hollywood,'' Ken said, laughing at the irony. ``My dad spent the whole week building me ramps so I could get in and out of the house, while my mom decorated dec·o·rate tr.v. dec·o·rat·ed, dec·o·rat·ing, dec·o·rates 1. To furnish, provide, or adorn with something ornamental; embellish. 2. the place.'' Bubba had grown up and gotten on with his life. Harlan and Shirley Carroll could finally help. Dennis McCarthy, (818) 713-3749 dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Ken Carroll, administrator at the Burbank Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, has become friends with resident Larry Rutman. Evan Yee/Staff Photographer |
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