TUSTIN : Baby’s Cries Sound Fine to Friends

Instead of trying to silence her baby’s cries last week, the first in months, Donna Peery rushed to share them with others.

“It was the most wonderful thing,” she said. “I called everyone up and said, ‘Listen!’ ”

Born with a rare heart problem, Peery’s son Jason has spent about half his 20 months in the hospital and has undergone several major surgeries. Since he came home from the hospital in May, his parents have waited anxiously for him to cry, suck and eat from a spoon.

Now they’re hoping he will learn to raise his head and learn to roll over.

Friends have been sharing more than just Jason’s cries. Moved by the infant’s problems, a Tustin barber and a police sergeant have organized a dinner and dance to raise money for the Peery family.

“We’re overwhelmed, almost embarrassed by it,” Tustin Police Sgt. Jim Peery said.

Small for his age, Jason smiles and gurgles, but his parents aren’t sure he will ever walk.

“Physically, he should be able to walk, but we’re not sure his brain will let him,” Jim Peery said.

Jason’s heartbeat rose drastically after one of the surgeries, causing his brain to atrophy from a lack of oxygen. The result was brain damage, neurological blindness and months of silence.

Crucial to Jason’s improvement is daily physical therapy, which is expected to continue for at least two years, his parents say. And although Jason’s medical bills and his daily care at a center for fragile children are covered by medical insurance, the physical therapy is not.

To help pay for the therapy and necessary equipment, Police Sgt. Mike Shanahan and barber Luciano Principato are organizing a dinner-dance at the Tustin Senior Center on Sept. 30.

Tickets for the event--which will feature Italian food and music--are a minimum donation of $35 and are available from Shanahan at the Police Department or Principato at Louie’s Barber Shop on 1st Street in Tustin. Through the dance and other donations, Principato and Shanahan hope to raise $30,000.

Already 180 tickets have been sold and about $6,000 donations have come in, including $2,000 from the Santa Ana Elks Club.

“The response has been beautiful,” Principato said. One of Principato’s favorite responses came from Jason’s 4-year-old sister, Jennifer.

“She came into the shop to say thank you. It really killed me. I had to go in the other room.”