CANCER SURVIVOR MAKES 'DISCOVERY'.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

Life has a way of slapping people around to get their attention. It slapped Garrett Hooper pretty good five years ago.

At 27, he was managing a successful travel outfitting store in Pasadena, on the fast track to the high-rise executive offices. He was young, confident and rarin' to go.

Then, the Santa Clarita resident was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease.

His father, an LAPD helicopter pilot for whom the J. Stephan Hooper Memorial Heliport at Parker Center is named, died of melanoma in 1979, when Garrett was only 9.

His aunt died of lung cancer only six months before Garrett's diagnosis. And he never knew his grandmother, who died of brain cancer before he was born.

And now, at 27, it was his turn.

``I took a year off to go through extensive chemotherapy treatments, and, when I finished, I knew I had to get back into the retail business to pay off my medical bills,'' said Hooper, who celebrated his five-year cancer survivorship last September.

``But my heart just wasn't in it anymore - not after what I had been through,'' he said. ``I had been volunteering at the Wellness Center in Pasadena, and it had touched me deeply. I wanted to contribute to helping people with cancer.''

A couple of cities away, Jill Angel was thinking the same thing. As field director for the American Cancer Society's nine retail Discovery Shops in Southern California, she needed to find an experienced manager for the society's newest store opening in Burbank.

``Garrett had heard about us, and, when I read his resume, I knew this was the perfect man for the job,'' Angel said Monday from the society's new state offices, in the same building as the new 5,000-square-foot Discovery Shop.

``He had the experience, the devotion, and was a cancer survivor himself,'' she said. ``And, after I met him in person, I knew he had the heart, too.''

And heart is what these Discovery Shops to aid cancer research are all about. Most are staffed by volunteer cancer survivors, and many of the people who shop there are cancer survivors themselves or have been touched by cancer in their own families.

``Jill told me this was going to be the perfect job for me, and she's right,'' said Hooper, who opened the new Burbank store Dec. 28, and did $3,500 in business that first opening day - ``huge for a Discovery Shop,'' he said.

``You have to be a good listener, and a counselor, because a lot of people who come in to donate items from loved ones who have passed away, or to buy something, are going through an emotionally difficult time in their lives,'' he said.

``You have to be there for them, not just as the manager of a retail store, but as a compassionate human being who understands what they're going through,'' he said.

``My family and I have been where they are.''

It's a powerful lesson for someone to learn at such a young age, Angel says - that it's important to find a career - a job - that's not just a paycheck, but really makes a difference in people's lives, and your own.

And sometimes, if you don't see that right away, don't be surprised if life doesn't step in to slap you around a little to get your attention, Hooper says.

The new upscale and modernized American Cancer Society Discovery Shop in Burbank is located at 500 N. Victory Blvd., and is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

There are plans to extend the shop's hours later into the evening, and for the opening of a cancer counseling center on the site.

If you're interested in volunteering a few hours a week at the shop to help out, give Garrett a call at [phone], or [phone].