A Driving Need to Help
The brilliant-red “BEAM ON” sign surged to life in UCI Medical Center’s cancer unit, alerting Ruben Gonzalez that the radiation treatment had begun.
Gonzalez, a volunteer driver for the American Cancer Society of Orange County, knows the treatments don’t usually last long--10 minutes is typical. Still, on this recent Friday, Gonzalez had enough time for a cup of coffee before taking home the two patients he had taken to the Orange center.
“I know every coffee shop and restroom in all the hospitals in Orange County,” Gonzalez said.
For 3 1/2 years, he has driven cancer patients to and from their appointments--rejoicing as some improve and commiserating with others.
The driving, he said, has sharpened his awareness of the lack of mobility and transportation that affects many seriously ill Orange County residents. Some of Gonzalez’s passengers don’t own cars. Medications make others too sick and disoriented to drive.
“It’s expensive to take taxis, difficult to take the bus, and family members can’t always take off from work,” he said. “It’s a very difficult hardship on a family.”
Gonzalez knows well the hardships brought on by illness, and getting around isn’t easy for him, either. Diagnosed in 1989 with a degenerative nerve disease, Gonzalez began to lose control of coordination about three years ago; he now walks with a cane.
Before his diagnosis, Gonzalez was a hard-working family man putting in 50 to 60 hours a week as a buyer for a hardware distribution company. He coached his daughter’s soccer team, stayed fit by running and attended church.
One day, while running, Gonzalez stumbled.
“That’s when I noticed that I was wearing out the toe instead of the heel of my shoes--my gait was changing.”
Doctors at two hospitals gave him the same diagnosis: spastic paraparalysis.
“It’s like [multiple sclerosis] only it doesn’t affect the mind,” he said. “Eventually I’ll need a wheelchair.”
Gonzalez went on disability when he began to lose his balance and fall. That’s when he called the Cancer Society, prompted by reading a newspaper article about the need for drivers.
The society has two vans that serve northern Orange County. Retirees and homemakers carry much of the load, but there is a constant shortage of drivers, Gonzalez said.
Most of the passengers belong to health maintenance organizations, and many are treated at hospitals far from home.
“I’ve had patients that live in Fullerton who have appointments in Hoag hospital [in Newport Beach],” he said. “I had a Kaiser patient I’ve taken to Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.”
His relationships with his passengers vary. Sometimes Gonzalez is merely a kind, competent driver; other times he is also a confidant and friend.
“I had a little girl who had leukemia and a tumor in her neck and had to go to radiation every day. That was hard to see. She was very sick. . . . But then last year, I got to see her go back to school, and her hair grew back. That’s a good feeling.”
Kenya Castro was 12 when Gonzalez was driving her to Children’s Hospital of Orange County or St. Joseph Hospital, both in Orange.
“He used to take me almost every day to the hospital, and he would give me lots of support,” said Kenya, 14.
Kenya talked to him about her fears, her treatment, her desire to be like other kids and go to school, to dances and to parties.
“I could tell him anything,” she said. “But also, he is such a good person. . . . I would wonder at how, even though he used a cane, he would still get out of the van to help other people.”
The women Gonzalez drove to UCI Medical Center last month are in the middle stage of cancer treatment, with pain behind them and hope ahead.
Sandra Harman of Brea and Amparo Montez of Santa Ana are linked by the badge of their experience, their head scarves: Harman’s is pale blue, Montez’s tan.
Montez lost her hair from radiation treatments; Harman’s was shaved for surgery.
“In October, I was making applesauce and had a Chicago paring knife in my hand,” Harman said. “All of a sudden I started to shake.”
It was the first symptom of brain cancer.
Montez, who has a cancerous kidney, said she is not worried.
“Only God knows whether I’ll be made better,” she said. “We all have to do whatever God orders, no?”
At the hospital, Harman finishes first. She wanders out the front door to find a warm spot in the sunshine. Gonzalez checks on Montez’s appointments, so the society can coordinate its van schedule.
“We all have our time we’re going to go, [but] you hate to see anyone suffer--and some of our patients do suffer a lot,” Gonzalez said, adding that, for him, the most difficult part is watching young people not expected to recover. “Then I feel so bad because it’s as though they haven’t really lived.”
Still, he finds his efforts rewarding.
“You can tell that the patients really appreciate what you’re doing,” Gonzalez said. “I feel like I’m a part of life in the community.”