110 degrees magazine - Index

110 degrees magazine - wlinks_may08 - Index

BLOOM I PERSONA
Cameron is a person completely devoid of things
such as malice or greed. Michele admits that people
might tend to feel sorry for her disadvantaged child,
but Cameron doesn’t feel sorry for himself. He has
no sense of guilt for the past or fear of the future.
He harbors no resentments, feels no spite, displays
no arrogance, shows no impatience, and never
complains. He laughs heartily and often.
Cameron lives constantly in the present amid a
world of physical sensations. Even though he is
nearly blind he loves watching TV, often holding his
face right next to the screen where he can make
out the images. He particularly loves Dora the
Explorer. His father, Brian, thinks it is due to Dora’s
black hair that reminds Cameron of his mom.
Cameron enjoys listening to the classics —
Beethoven and Mozart — and he loves hymns. Music
is a multi-media pleasure for Cameron; he relishes
the vibration as well as the sound. Cameron also
loves the bubbles that Michele blows for his laughing
pleasure. He enjoys playing Peek-A-Boo and
loves the feel and taste of his beloved Tigger stuffy.
“People might feel sorry for Brian and me,”
Michele said. “But that would be seriously dis -
placed pity, since Cameron is an angel come from
Heaven to bless us with his presence.”
His little 6-year-old brother, Blake, doesn’t feel
sorry for Cameron either. “We recently went to the
doctor for a check-up of Cam’s spine,” Michele
remembered. “The doctor decided to enumerate
all the things wrong with him, which of course is
quite a list.” When he finished, little Blake said,
“Well, yes, Doctor, but God made him that way.”
Cam’s older sister, Libby, is studying Child
Psychology in a San Diego junior college. She also
cherishes Cam rather than pitying him.
86 www.110mag.com May/June 2008
“CAMERON ENJOYS LISTENING TO THE CLAS-
SICS — BEETHOVEN AND MOZART — AND
HE LOVES HYMNS.”
RISING TO THE CHALLENGE
Brian is an employee at Lucky’s, working the
nightshift, which maximizes the time he can
devote to helping Michele care for their son. Brian
worked for a while as a manager but it reduced his
ability to make a hands-on commitment to serving
Cameron. He accompanies Michele to all
Cameron’s appointments.
Michele and Brian have a number of resources
that assist them in coping with the demands that
caring for Cameron are placing on them. They visit
a representative from Oakland’s Children’s Hospital’s
satellite office, for example, once a month.
“We love Candida Brown,” Michele said, “and
she loves us. We call her during Cam’s seizures;
she always calls us right back.”
Michele added, “Cameron’s Gastroenterology
doctor, Dr. Fadi Haddad, has been a wonderful
medical resource for Cameron and has provided
continual encouragement and support for us.”
Brian and Michele are Cameron’s only two
health-care providers. They hired a nurse for a
brief period of time, but it ended with a horrible
incident when they returned home earlier
than planned.
When the nurse opened the door the shock
on her face made Michele fear that Cameron had
died, but it turned out that she was simply
drunk. The experience was so potentially harmful
that Michele hasn’t been able to bring
herself to try again.
In 2000 Cameron and his family went on a
Make A Wish trip to Florida. Disney’s Give Kids
the World Center made special needs children
and their families feel special indeed. And
special passes to Disney World and Universal
Studio gave Wish Kids preferred treatment. “It
was gorgeous!” Michele recalled.
Guide Dogs for the Blind gave Cameron a career
change dog named Harley. “She’s a love bug,”
Michele said, “and she loves Cam giving him lots
of kisses.”
Then she added, “Harley is a perfect dog, and
one who will do anything for food. She and I are
similar in that way.”
When he was in fifth grade Cameron was in
Oakley’s Vintage School. The principal, Michelle
Gaudinier was a wonderful human being who
saw Cameron as an angel as well — looking past
the disabilities to the wonderful human being
that he was.
Cameron now attends choir practice at Bristol
Middle School, which is directed by Mike Morello
with whom Cam has a particular bond. When
Cameron is present the kids all sing to him. He
loves being around them; and they love him.
Principal Margo Olson has been a great
resource. She welcomes Cameron to every
school function.
Even though he is a very slight person, Cameron
has experienced the rapid growth common to
teenagers. He weighs only 75 pounds, but has
gained ten of them very quickly over the past
months and has become too heavy for Michele to
easily manage.
“I was trying to lift him one day and discovered
that every bit of my strength wasn’t enough to
move him. At that point I burst out in tears
because it seemed that some essential connection
between us was gone. Cameron is totally
dependent upon us for a support that I was no
longer able to give.”