Date: Fri 13-Dec-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

Alex-Zachos-disability

Full Text:

Alex Zachos Is `One Happy Kid'

B Y D OROTHY E VANS

Christmas came early for Middle Gate School third grader Alex Zachos - at

10:30 am Monday, December 10, to be exact.

That was when the Quickie P200 Power Wheelchair made especially for Alex by

Burke Medical Equipment, Inc., was delivered to his school. It came after

nearly three months of waiting, hoping and fund raising by his family, friends

and many concerned Newtown residents.

"He's a happy kid!" said his special education teacher, Joanne Taber, on

Tuesday, 24 hours after the chairs' arrival.

"He comes out of the resource room, stops and looks both ways, and goes to

lunch by himself," Ms Taber said.

"He wheeled down to his sister's classroom. She just reached out and held his

hand," she said.

Abigail Zachos is in the second grade at Middle Gate School.

"Now he drives himself over to the calendar or to check the weather

[thermometer] whenever he wants," said Yvonne Hunt, Alex's third grade

teacher.

"We plan to set the room up so he can get around more easily," she added.

Mrs Hunt and Alex's classmates were clearly delighted to see how well the

motorized chair fit Alex, and how skillfully he could manage the controls.

In fact, the new chair seemed to be exactly what their friend needed and

wanted.

Even the colors of the seat and head cushions - teal and purple - had been

chosen by Alex.

Mostly, Alex's happy smile said it all, as he motored silently down the narrow

corridor between the many desks, cruised slowly past Oscar the guinea pig in

his glass aquarium and turned right to join the other students for morning

circle time, without bumping into anything.

Together, Alex and his classmates took attendance, did the lunch count and

discussed a recent winter storm with Mrs Hunt.

"That was December 6," Alex said, turning his head to inform his neighbor of

the exact date.

Sitting in the motorized chair, Alex hardly takes up much more space than his

more boisterous and gangly classmates. The chair is compact and sturdy with

large rear wheels and thick tires for a smooth ride. The two smaller front

wheels provide a tight turning radius so Alex can navigate around obstacles

more easily.

He operates the chair himself, using a joy stick positioned near his left

hand. He can make the chair go forward and backward, as well as left and

right.

"I think next we'll have to get him a rear view mirror," Ms Taber joked.

"We had been practicing in his old chair for a week with a pretend joystick,

and I would push him wherever he pointed it," said Rose Passero, the classroom

paraprofessional who has been Alex's constant in-school companion for two

years.

Mrs Passero has pushed Alex wherever he needed and wanted to go, down the

halls and around his classroom. But the decreased mobility due to chronic

Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy that Alex has suffered since he was 3 years old,

has made the motorized chair more of a necessity.

There is no doubt that being able to operate his wheelchair by himself, being

independent, has given Alex a real boost, his teachers say.

Alex's parents, John and Ann Zachos, say the motorized chair has made a real

difference at home, too.

He had been scooting around on his mother's smoothly polished floors, but that

method had become increasingly painful for him. Recently he has needed to be

carried from room to room, she said.

Now, with the motorized chair, he can get around on his own. His mother is

amazed at how well he handles the controls.

"These days, kids are used to that sort of thing," Mrs Zachos said.

The motorized chair was partially funded by more than $7,000 in donations made

to the Newtown Fund in Alex's name.

The chair cost approximately $10,000, but the family insurance company

provided $500 and the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation provided $1,500. Local

fund-raising to purchase the chair and assist the Zachos family with related

expenses began in September.

Help From Strangers

As it turned out, it wasn't just Newtown residents who raised money to help

Alex.

Additional funds toward purchase of the motorized chair were donated by

children from two area schools, the seventh graders at City Hill School in

Naugatuck and the fifth graders at Monroe Elementary School.

Both groups of children had seen Alex's story written in a regional newspaper,

The Connecticut Post.

"We were reading a book in class about handicapped children, called The Acorn

People ," said Pam Russo, seventh grade English teacher at the City Hill

Middle School in Naugatuck.

Mrs Russo's students decided to donate their "spare change from lunch money"

to Alex - putting their dimes and nickels in a big jar in the lunch room. They

were able to raise $400 that way, Mrs Russo said.

The fifth grade students at Monroe Elementary School actually paid a visit to

Alex at Middle Gate earlier this fall, according to school principal Susan

Elliott.

They had been reading about heroes, she said, and decided that Alex was a good

example of what it takes to be a real hero - a person who faces adversity with

courage and good spirits.

"We decided that heroes don't always have to be athletes," Mrs Elliott said.

"We gained so much by visiting Alex. I was so pleased that Dr Kuklis [then

acting principal at Middle Gate] said the children could come," she added.

After meeting and talking with Alex, the Monroe school children held two

fund-raisers on his behalf.

Both Mrs Elliott and Mrs Russo were delighted to hear Wednesday that Alex had

received the chair.

"I can't wait to tell them," Mrs Elliott said.