MISSION IN MEMORY; MAN'S SON LIVES ON IN GIFT TO VIETNAMESE CHILD.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
He loved being outside, feeling the sun and wind on his face during those long walks with his parents - just the three of them back then. Adam in his wheelchair wheel·chair or wheel chair n. A chair mounted on large wheels for the use of a sick or disabled person. wheelchair, n , being pushed by his dad, Eric, and bundled up by his mom (1) (Messaging-Oriented Middleware) See messaging middleware. (2) (Microsoft Operations Manager) Software that monitors and captures system and application events throughout the network. , Laura. It was his freedom, this wheelchair. It made him like every other child, even if he wasn't. How could he be when he couldn't see, talk or walk? But he could hear. And he could smile and laugh. God, how his son could smile and laugh, Eric Braverman said. Especially when he was outside, being pushed in his wheelchair, feeling the sun and wind on his face. Where he's at now, Adam doesn't need this wheelchair anymore. Where he's at now, he's walking and running on strong legs, his father said. He's talking and seeing and making all the other kids now living with him in heaven smile and laugh as they play together, Braverman said. Where he's at now, Adam is free from the crippling crip·ple n. 1. A person or animal that is partially disabled or unable to use a limb or limbs: cannot race a horse that is a cripple. 2. A damaged or defective object or device. tr.v. cerebral palsy cerebral palsy (sərē`brəl pôl`zē), disability caused by brain damage before or during birth or in the first years, resulting in a loss of voluntary muscular control and coordination. that denied him the life of a healthy child from birth to death last January at age 12. No, his son doesn't need his wheelchair anymore, Braverman said, but some other child does. Some child whose parents don't have the means to take their disabled son or daughter on long walks in a wheelchair to feel the sun and wind on their face - to see them smile, hear them laugh. So this Northridge father leaves this week for Vietnam with the San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. Valley-based group Wheels For Humanity, which donates refurbished wheelchairs to Third World countries. They will spend 13 days giving more than 1,000 wheelchairs to the disabled and maimed maim tr.v. maimed, maim·ing, maims 1. To disable or disfigure, usually by depriving of the use of a limb or other part of the body. See Synonyms at batter1. 2. in Vietnam who could never afford the kind of freedom that comes with the mobility these chairs offer. One of the chairs once was Adam's. Braverman wants to be there to see the child who receives it. Wants to look in his or her face. ``I know it will be emotional, and I will probably cry,'' he said. ``But I want to look in that child's face and see my Adam one last time. ``For 12 years, he was my life, my heart, my best friend. Hopefully, this will finally be closure.'' Madison, 2, crawls up in her daddy's lap Friday morning, while the baby twins, Jonathan and Morgan, play nearby, laughing as they bang into each other in their walkers. Eric Braverman smiles at his robust, healthy children, enjoying every precious moment of being home with them most of the day. ``I never got to be home with Adam like this because I was always too busy working,'' he said, tickling his daughter. ``Not anymore.'' After Adam died, Braverman took a year's sabbatical sab·bat·i·cal also sab·bat·ic adj. 1. Relating to a sabbatical year. 2. Sabbatical also Sabbatic Relating or appropriate to the Sabbath as the day of rest. n. A sabbatical year. from the technology firm where he works to stay at home with his babies. Laura Braverman quit her job in the corporate world and is now a teacher at a special education school where Adam was a student. The son who couldn't see, walk or talk left a heavy, loving imprint im·print tr.v. im·print·ed, im·print·ing, im·prints 1. To produce (a mark or pattern) on a surface by pressure. 2. To produce a mark on (a surface) by pressure. 3. behind on his parents. Changed them. Made them better people. While Laura Braverman now spends her days working with severely disabled kids instead of managing a sales force selling the latest in cellular phones, Eric Braverman drives throughout the Valley picking up wheelchairs from families who don't need them anymore. Families, like his, who want some child or adult living in a Third World country to finally be able to feel the freedom that comes with mobility. ``I was out in Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. Thursday picking up a wheelchair from a boy who had outgrown it,'' Braverman said. ``He wanted to shake my hand because he felt so good that it was going to be used by some child who could never afford what his parents could afford for him. ``It's like that with all the few hundred wheelchairs I've collected this past year,'' he said. ``People know they are doing something good, something worthwhile.'' Eric Braverman paused and looked up at the wall over the fireplace fireplace Opening made in the base of a chimney to hold an open fire. The opening is framed, usually ornamentally, by a mantel (or mantelpiece). A medieval development that replaced the open central hearth for heating and cooking, the fireplace was sometimes large enough to in his Northridge home, a wall covered with photographs of Adam, smiling and laughing. When people learn he's going to Vietnam, the first question they ask him, he said, is why? ``It's funny, but the parents of handicapped children seem to understand, but the parents of healthy kids don't,'' he said. You go because the child who was your heart, your life, your best friend for 12 years would want you to go. He doesn't need that wheelchair anymore. Somebody else does. CAPTION(S): 3 Photos PHOTO (1--2--Color) In a family photo, above, Eric Braverman holds his son Adam. Braverman said he remembers how Adam could smile and laugh. Braverman leaves this week for Vietnam a group donating wheelchairs to Third World countries. Adam's chair will be among them. (3--Color in Bulldog Edition Bulldog edition refers to an earlier edition of a newspaper or other print publications. For instance, the Sunday New York Times publishes its bulldog edition, about 100,000 copies, for distribution around the country, at about noon on Saturday. ) Eric Braverman has taken time off from work since his son's death to be with Madison and twins Morgan and Jonathan. Michael Owen
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