Texas man brings hope to 'forgotten' disabled Iraqi kids

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Brad Blauser lives in war-torn Baghdad, where he doesn't earn a paycheck and is thousands of miles from his family. But he has no intention of leaving anytime soon.

For the past four years, the Dallas, Texas, native has been providing hope to hundreds of disabled Iraqi children and their families through the distribution of pediatric wheelchairs.

"Disabled children -- they're really the forgotten ones in this war," said Blauser, 43. "They are often not seen in society."

Blauser arrived in Iraq as a civilian contractor in 2004, but quit that job last year to devote himself full time to his program, without compensation.

"There's no paycheck. It's not really safe here. But this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he said.

An estimated one in seven Iraqi children ages 2 to 14 lives with a disability, according to UNICEF. Illnesses such as Spina bifida, palsy and polio leave them unable to walk.

Some parents carry their children every day. For these children and their families, limited access to health care has taken a toll.

"A number of families don't know what's wrong with their kid. There's not a doctor available for help [and] there's no pediatric wheelchair source in this country," Blauser said.

Blauser first learned about this situation in 2005 through Maj. David Brown, a battalion surgeon. His friend shared heartbreaking accounts of helpless children pulling themselves along the ground, or living motionless in back rooms, too big to be moved long distances very often.

"So I asked him, 'What do you need?' " Blauser recalled. "And he surprised me by his answer: 'I need children's wheelchairs.' "

Blauser began researching and campaigning for help from friends and family in the United States. In 30 days, 31 pediatric and small adult wheelchairs arrived in Mosul for distribution to children in need.Wheelchairs for Iraqi Kids was born.

"The experience for me in the first distribution was awesome," said Blauser. "To see the smile come across their face and [to] look over at the mothers and fathers -- they've definitely been changed." Do you know someone who should be a CNN Hero? Nominations are open at CNN.com/Heroes

That's the case for 3-year-old Ali Khaled Ibrahim and his family. At 8 months old, Ali was struck by a mysterious fever that left him partially paralyzed. He cannot speak and experiences increasingly frequent and violent convulsions.

"Ali's handicap affected the family a lot," said his father.

His mother said she couldn't carry out her daily chores and her "psychological state worsened."

"When I heard the news of the distribution of these advanced wheelchairs, I was very happy deep down," she said. "I thought maybe that will ease my work as a mother in the way I deal with my son."

Today, Ali smiles at home as he sits in his new wheelchair. His siblings giggle and sprinkle his face with kisses. The toddler's parents are thankful for the relief it has brought not only to Ali, but their entire family.

The boy is among hundreds of disabled Iraqi children to benefit from Blauser's generosity. Since 2005, Wheelchairs for Iraqi Kids has distributed nearly 650 pediatric wheelchairs.

To obtain the specialized chairs, Blauser partnered with Reach Out and Care Wheels, a nonprofit pediatric wheelchair organization in Montana. The organization provides wheelchairs designed for rough terrains in developing nations, making the devices "perfect for this environment," said Blauser.

Through sponsor donations, his group purchases the chairs from ROC Wheels for about $200 apiece, and USAID donates shipping. Members of the the U.S. and Iraqi armies, Iraqi police and border patrol work together to carry out the distributions.

Blauser and his group help adjust the children into their wheelchairs, which fit their bodies as they grow.

For Blauser, who provides part-time security consulting in exchange for room and board, an initial plan to stay for one year has become a dream to get wheelchairs to every Iraqi child who wants one. And he's determined to see it through.

"By providing what they need, I'm hoping to start a movement to change the way people think about disabled children," said Blauser. "They are not a curse, they are a blessing and they deserve to have their needs met."

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America's Best Little Beach Towns #5 of 11 Santa Cruz, CA

Santa Cruz, CA

Thrill-seekers flock to the Giant Dipper roller coaster at the Beach Boardwalk amusement park, but Santa Cruz has a surfeit of other attractions: Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, surfers at Pleasure Point (and the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum), and frolicsome seals at Natural Bridges State Beach.

Stay: At the Casablanca Inn, most rooms have ocean views (and a handful have fireplaces, for when those NoCal nights get chilly). The restaurant looks out on the awesome expanse of the Pacific.

Eat: Center Street Grill is the go-to restaurant for salads, pastas, homemade hollandaise sauce, ahi tuna, and freshly squeezed lemonade and orange juice on the outdoor patio.

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Mongolia’s Yokozuna Takes Nagoya Title

Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - UB Post

The Mongolian 69th Yokozuna Hakuho took the Nagoya Grand Sumo Championship with a 14-1 record.

Hakuho was awarded the 11th Emperor’s Cup on the last day of the event on July 26.

“I wanted to win without falling down in the Nagoya Basho,” he said in an interview with NHK. His wish was squandered by Ozeki Kotomitsuki on the 11th day.

On the last day of the tournament, he beat Mongolian Yokozuna Asashoryu.

Mongolia’s Asasekiryu Dashnyam (9-6) won against Tochionada, and Kyoktonho Tsewehnyam ended with meager 6-9 mark.

Hakuryu Anand ended with 5-10 mark and Harumafuji finished with a record of 9-6.

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At Camp Twitch and Shout, Tourette kids can be themselves

By Leslie Wade - CNN Medical Producer - 7/27/09

(CNN) -- For Brad Cohen, the barking and squealing noises he could not control began in the fifth grade.

"I remember eating lunch at school all by myself and the mean kids would parade around me and mock my noises. My teacher made me get up in front of the class and apologize to everybody for the noises I was making," Cohen recalls.

More than 20 years later, Cohen is a camp director, celebrating the first year of Camp Twitch and Shout, a place for youngsters, who like Cohen, have Tourette syndrome.

"Tourette syndrome is a neurological disorder which causes people to make noises and tics that they can't control," Cohen says.

Fifty campers, between the ages of 7 and 18, came from all over the country to spend a week in Winder, Georgia, about 45 miles east of Atlanta. They have plenty to do, from swimming and fishing to music and arts and crafts. Most have been teased or harassed in school, and the camp is a place just to have fun.

"It's very nice to be able to let it all out and just not have to worry and not have people stare at you and think that you're weird and think -- what's wrong with that person?" says 16-year-old camper and black belt Tinsley Birchfield of Atlanta.

For other campers, such as Jacob McGee of Savannah, Georgia, just being outdoors is magical. "My favorite part was when we climbed the tree. That was pretty awesome. I went as high as I could go. It was really fun," says the 11-year-old.

According to experts, Twitch and Shout is one of only five weeklong camps in the country for children with Tourette syndrome. Atlanta-based child neurologist Howard Schub says such camps help children better cope with their condition. Some campers have never met another kid with Tourette syndrome.

"A child goes to camp, they see that they're not the worst. ... There are others that are functioning pretty well with worse tics than they," Schub says.

Cohen adds, "They see that wow, 'There are other kids that are like me.' They laugh, they tell the same jokes, they have the same interests. And what we hope is that their self-esteem goes up."

Twitch and Shout campers display motor tics common to most kids with Tourette syndrome such as eye blinking, facial grimacing, shoulder shrugging, head jerking, and -- in a few rare cases -- cursing. Camp activities are filled with the sounds of typical vocal tics: sniffing, throat clearing, hooting, barking, hissing and squealing.

But campers such as teenager Kevin Kardon of Athens, Georgia, say they've just gotten used to it.

"It's just kind of like you're listening to music, and you hear something in the background and you don't really hear it," Kevin says.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, three out of every 1,000 school-age children are believed to have Tourette syndrome. The cause is unknown, but genetics appear to play a role. Most children develop the condition between 7 and 10, and if their tics are mild to moderate, they usually require no medicine to control them. Symptoms usually peak during the late teens or early 20s.

"Many children, as they get older, the tics become either much less prominent or certainly reduced to a single or just a few tics that are not as disabling," Schub says.

That was certainly the case with Cohen. Barking is still his dominant tic, but when he was the age of his campers, he wrestled to control several others, including eye blinking, teeth chomping and arm twitching. In middle school, when his tics were at the height of their intensity, the principal approached him and asked if he'd like to educate the student body about his condition. Cohen says this move changed his life.

"They gave me a standing ovation, and it was on that day that I realized the power of education. I wanted to be that teacher that I never had. And that was my dream. I wanted to be the teacher that focused on kids' strengths, not weaknesses," he says.

And that's what he's been trying to do in the classroom for more than 13 years. At 35, Cohen is an elementary school teacher, the author of a book on Tourette syndrome and now a camp director. He says he hopes his campers find strength in knowing they are not alone and will carry this new confidence home with them to face the challenges of the upcoming school year.

"When they have tough times and they think they can't find success, it's our goal that they will think back to their experience at Camp Twitch and Shout and say, 'You know what? I can do it; I can be successful because I did it at camp,' " Cohen says.

Next summer, Cohen says he plans to recruit twice as many campers and hopes the experience will be as worthwhile for them as it was this year for 15-year-old Chris Wall of Athens.

"This camp was awesome because it had people just like me," says Chris, beaming.

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Your morning adorable: Asian small-clawed otters at Australia's Taronga Zoo

LA Times - July 25, 2009

Australia's Taronga Zoo is home to a host of animals, but we think the resident Asian small-clawed otter family may rival them all for the title of cutest animal.

Asian small-clawed otters are freshwater otters, different from the sea otters that are more familiar to most Americans. In the wild, they can be found in rivers and streams in southeast Asia. (Closer to home for California residents, they can also be found at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.)

Their claws aren't the only thing small about Asian small-clawed otters: they're the smallest of all otter species. They're known for their manual dexterity, which led Monterey Bay Aquarium staff to devise a unique enrichment activity for an Asian small-clawed otter named Dua. They gave Dua his own keyboard (and, thankfully, captured him playing it on video).

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Mark Baker / Reuters

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Russians hear the call of the circus

By Katia Moskvitch - BBC News - 7/26/09

When Nastya Dobrinina joined Cirque du Soleil at the age of 16, she already held a number of gold medals.

But even as she got off the plane in Montreal to go to the Cirque's headquarters, the young highboard diving champion still was not sure what her talent had to do with the circus.

After all, back home in Moscow, the circus was mostly about dancing elephants, acrobats and trained horses - definitely not about swimming pools.

"I didn't know where I was going to be diving from, but I was so young that it didn't matter much. What mattered was that I was going to have a stable job to feed my entire family back in Russia," remembers Ms Dobrinina, now 29.

"My coach saw a different future for me. He wanted me to go to the 1996 Olympics, but I had surgery and wasn't able to recover quickly enough to get in shape. And then I found out about Cirque du Soleil."

So, for the past 11 years, Ms Dobrinina has been a part of the multinational crew of the Las Vegas water show, "O".

Wearing a white costume, she dives from a swing into a swimming pool that magically appears from under the stage at the Bellagio hotel.

Recipe for success

Nastya is not the only Russian to have been hired by this famous Canadian circus, which has just celebrated its 25th anniversary.

Altogether, more than 300 of Cirque du Soleil's artists - about a third of the whole troupe - are from Russia and the former Soviet republics.

The circus owes a debt to those countries' tradition of excellence in gymnastics, athletics and the pool. Many of its artists are former Olympic, World or European medal winners.

The circus's head coach Boris Verkhovsky, a former member of Russia's national acrobatics team, says: "When Cirque du Soleil decided to produce new circus acts using what we call 'elite sportsmen', we knew right away where these sportsmen were going to come from," he explains.

"Gymnasts, acrobats, highboard divers, trampoline jumpers... the biggest number of these sportsmen was in the Soviet Union."

The company has looked after its Russian artists, placing those who, like Nastya, joined Cirque du Soleil as children, into Russian host families.

And those performers have helped Cirque de Soleil become one of the most successful travelling shows in the world, playing to more than 40 million people in more than 130 cities in four continents over the past 25 years.

There are currently eight touring and nine permanent shows, including "O" in Las Vegas.

Fightback

The loss of so many of its best performers has caused alarm in Russia, and Vadim Gurovich of the Moscow State Circus says is is determined to reverse the drain of talent.

"When so many of the best artists left in the 1990s, it had an effect on the overall quality of the acts that stayed in Russia," he says.

"They were leaving because of a poor financial situation at that time and because Cirque du Soleil was able to offer them more money.

"But now Russian circuses are able to offer even better salaries than abroad, and that's why now people prefer to stay at home."

It is a claim disputed at Cirque du Soleil, where the casting department is still confident it can easily hire the best of the best from any country, including Russia.

And most of the Russian artists I spoke to are happy to be part of Cirque's troupe, made up of 4,400 employees from 66 countries.

"Sometimes I think: 'Hey, maybe I should go back?'" says Ms Dobrinina. "But usually only for a second."

"Cirque du Soleil has helped me see the world, and I don't regret a bit being a part of it."

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Monkey magic at the rodeo as primate rounds up sheep riding a border collie

By PAUL HENDERSON - 25th July 2009

Dogs can be darned tricky critters.

So when you're in the saddle hold tight, keep your hat on and above all, let him know who's boss.

This, at least, is how this tiny cowboy has stayed king of the rodeo for 18 years. That and his fabulous outfit of course.

From the moment he rides into the rodeo ring on the back of his border collie, Whiplash the capuchin monkey is the star of the show.

With the help of his trusty steed, he rounds up a flock of startled sheep. Then there's the crowd's favourite 'hi-ho silver' moment when the collie becomes a bucking bronco and Whiplash rides tall in the saddle.

Well, as tall as a 12in cowboy can.

His owner, Tommy Lucia, 67, dismisses claims from animal campaigners that Whiplash would be better off in the rainforests of Central or South America, his native habitat.

'I rescued him from a stinking cage in Florida when he was just a baby and I can assure you he'd let me know if life wasn't good,' he declared.

Mr Lucia and Whiplash are regulars at the rodeo in Big Spring, Texas.

But their fan base is rapidly growing. Like most 21-year-olds, Whiplash is on Facebook.

And after starring in a TV ad for a taco restaurant chain, he is also an Internet hit, being seen by millions on YouTube.

Mr Lucia says Whiplash keeps his collies on a short rein.

'The sheepdogs know their place and he curses them like he does me if they are not doing what he says,' he said.

'He's got such a strong will you never quite know what he's going to do - there's always a surprise. But he's a natural in the saddle.

'When he's done for the day he goes to our motor home for dinner. His favourite foods are pears, apples, bananas and especially strawberries.'

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Her ponies, horses carry happiness to ailing kids

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.25.2009

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

The recipient of this week's Ben's Bell is Nancie Roahrig, who helps ailing children feel better through visits with therapy horses and ponies.

Roahrig was nominated by two of the people who witness the happiness — and physical benefits — the visits bring to the children. Jill Bemis, CEO of Children's Clinics for Rehabilitative Services, described Roahrig as "magnificent."

"The visits allow them to be distracted, to take their minds off medical procedures and doctors and casts and everything they're going through," Bemis said. "It's a few moments of just being a happy child."

Allison Woods, a child life specialist at University Medical Center, also nominated Roahrig around the same time as Bemis. Child life specialists arrange for activities and playtimes for pediatric patients and help them deal with procedures, too.

"The kids who see the horses talk about it for days afterward," Woods said. "They tell their parents and family members who come in. They're very excited about it all."

Roahrig said she got involved with horses about 15 years ago, when her teen daughter decided she really wanted one, and the family moved to horse property.

The only problem was that her daughter soon made another discovery — boys — and, so, Roahrig found herself spending more time with the horse.

Luckily, she loved the gentle creature. And soon she was learning how to drive carriages, and her stable expanded.

Then, about 11 years ago, a friend's daughter developed leukemia, and her family spent countless hours at UMC, hoping for a miracle that didn't come.

The other mother confided in Roahrig afterward that if her horse-loving daughter had been able to have a four-legged visitor at the hospital, her daughter's last days would have been a bit brighter.

Roahrig had been a home health-care provider since 1994 and knew the importance of loving care. And her friend's story inspired her to do more. So she called the child life specialists at UMC and asked if she could bring her horse by to cheer up the pediatric patients. The folks at the hospital already had therapy dogs that came in, so it seemed like a natural expansion.

"We started out with a Clydesdale, a saddle and a ladder," Roahrig said. That Clydesdale, Lenny, was a gentle giant, she said, who would happily walk to the steps of UMC and let child after child climb aboard or just pet him or give him treats.

Her work blossomed from there, Roahrig said. She and Lenny began visiting nursing homes and retirement centers as well as the Children's Clinics for Rehabilitative Services, Tucson Medical Center and hospices.

Then she began bringing ponies and miniature horses with her, which made some of the visits a bit less, well, vertically challenging. Three years ago, she converted her therapy and her carriage programs into a not-for-profit, Step Up Into T.L.C. (the initials stand for Therapeutic Loving Caballos).

Now she has nine horses — and six of them are equine volunteers, including an Arabian, another Clydesdale, a couple of ponies and a miniature horse named Snickers who actually rides the elevators at UMC with her to visit the patients who can't leave their beds. Snickers has some special sneakers that let him walk on the tile. He also has costumes, including a cowboy outfit that he wore after Rodeo Week, and different hats.

He even once wore a miner's hat, complete with a big light.

There's pony-painting, too, so that kids who can't ride due to their conditions can still interact with the animals. Roahrig brings water-based paint and lets the children decorate ponies Dillon and Mosey. "It's a live canvas and they love it! Even some of the doctors and the nurses get in there," Roahrig said. "As soon as I come home, we wash them off, and it just melts away."

The experiences are invaluable to the patients at the Children's Clinics, Bemis said. The kids there are being treated for conditions that can require multiple specialists as well as physical, occupational and speech therapy. That includes children with spina bifida, cerebral palsy and other ailments, she said.

Roahrig visits a couple of times a month, she said, "and some of these kids are seeing a pony for the first time."

"Some of the kids aren't even verbal, but they have these smiles on their faces that are unbelievable," Bemis said.

She and Woods also praised the therapeutic benefits the visits provide. "I truly believe that the pet therapy and in particular the ponies are beneficial to helping kids recover," Woods said. "It gives the kids a chance to hold on to something, to pet something, to feel another being and also get some relief out of being able to sit up in bed and maybe ride the pony.

"And Nancie in particular provides almost as much therapy as her horses do. She has such a calm demeanor. The kids pick up on that and feel so comfortable around her," she said.

Both women had been thinking for a while of nominating Roahrig, and Bemis finally found time recently. Woods independently filled out her own form soon afterward. The folks with the bells would have chosen Roahrig just based on the first nomination, but the second one sealed it. The celebration took place recently when Roahrig visited the Children's Clinics.

Everyone gathered outside for the ceremony. There was a table with lemonade and cookies for people — and another with apples and carrots for ponies. "It was so fun! And what an honor," Roahrig said afterward.

She said she couldn't do what she does without the many people who volunteer with her group and without the dedicated staffers at the facilities she visits.

And she thanked her family, including parents who instilled in her a clear sense of community service.

But, she said, the work is its own reward. Seeing the children smile and watching seniors reminisce about childhood memories as the horses gently nuzzle them is beautiful, she said.

"That's what keeps us doing it — all the smiles and all the wonderful little miracles that happen along the way."

L. Anne Newell

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