Play Stations Brighten Painful World

Children with cancer often put up a brave front while enduring the pain of their illness and high doses of radiation and chemotherapy.

But bravery gave way to excitement last week as two play stations equipped with televisions and Nintendo 64 sets were unveiled amid a festive Christmas party at Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Cancer Center’s pediatric unit.

The sets were the brainchild of Steve Bertolino, a reserve Los Angeles police officer who experienced the children’s pain first-hand last year.

Bertolino had a golf ball-sized tumor removed from his brain at Cedars-Sinai and vowed to dedicate his life to helping children with cancer.

While recovering, he saw how some old TV and electronic game cabinets helped distract the discomfort of young patients who were receiving chemotherapy or were bedridden. He asked LAPD Newton Division Sgt. Al Gomez to help him raise nearly $9,000 to buy similar equipment, considered to be therapeutic for the youths.

For several months, six officers and four mechanics from the station collected community donations during their lunch breaks and after work. The mechanics bolted the cabinets together and wired the Nintendo sets and VCRs to the televisions. In the end, Gomez and his crew paid for one-third of the cost of buying the station.

“We were fortunate that we were able to help,” said Gomez, who works in the Newton Division’s Community Relations Department.

When talking to nurses at the cancer center, Bertolino referred to the play stations as “Project Lavender Jello,” a term that kept children in the dark--until Thursday, when they were unveiled.

“Kids with cancer don’t have much control over their lives,” said Lauri Seamark, child life specialist at Cedars-Sinai’s cancer center. “But Nintendo games let them be in charge of what happens and helps them escape the world of chemotherapy and medicine.”

Added 8-year-old leukemia patient Gilbert Martinez: “I’m excited because we have lots of games to play with here now. I hope I can play wrestling on there.”

Bertolino, a 46-year-old retired insurance salesman and 16-year veteran of the LAPD’s police reserves, has suffered with cancer twice. He was found to have throat cancer in 1986 and beat it. But in January 1997, severe headaches and tingling fingers began to plague him. A brain scan showed a growth that was later diagnosed as astrocytoma, a form of brain cancer. After several tests and a biopsy, the tumor was removed.

Bertolino endured six months of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. He couldn’t keep down what he ate, became constipated and lost his hair and weight.

“I wondered if I would make it, or if it was my time to meet the Lord eyeball to eyeball,” he said.

Thanks to Bertolino, terminally ill children have had their wishes fulfilled to be a cop for a day at the Newton Division. He made another wish come true for 10-year-old leukemia patient Samantha Sacks when the play stations were brought out.

“Playing video games is fun and relaxing for me,” Samantha said. “I can’t wait to start playing.”