Students Go Extra Mile to Show Care

Multiple sclerosis is a reality for thousands of Americans newly diagnosed with the disease each year. But for a handful of eighth-graders at Kadima Hebrew Academy in Woodland Hills, it has hit close to home: Three in the close-knit school community either have the disease or have a family member with it.

This year, 25 students--flanked by family and friends--took to the streets of the Warner Bros. studio lot for the 5K MS Walk 2000.

“It was pretty amazing,” said Kaley Zeitouni, 13, who was diagnosed last October. “It was great to see everyone pull together and to see how everyone cared.”

The “Kadima Kares” team sang: “Kadima’s in the house! Huh!” during the April 9 event as they hoisted banners through the back lot.

“I was so proud of these kids,” said eighth-grade social studies teacher Mari Siegel, who has several relatives and friends with the disease. “It was like a festival.”

The event, including satellite versions around Southern California, raised about $800,000, said Bret Prichard, an MS Walk 2000 spokesman. About $5,000 came from sponsorships from Kadima.

Student Joel Dinin’s dad, Michael Dinin, completed the walk in his motorized wheelchair. Michael Dinin was diagnosed when Joel was just 4 months old.

“My dad is talking about what he is going to do when he walks again,” Joel said. “I think they are getting close in finding a cure.”

Most people with MS--which affects the central nervous system--are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Symptoms range from numbness in the limbs to paralysis and blindness.

Since Kaley was diagnosed, the straight-A student has had trouble with fatigue, concentration and memory. Friends have rallied around her by helping her study and delivering homework to her if she misses class.

“I savor every moment now,” she said, knowing that at any time she might lose her ability to walk. “Everything is much more important to me.”

KUDOS

Essay Winner: Joseph J. Hopkins of Birmingham High School in Van Nuys has won a merit award for his essay questioning the unproven link of the pesticide malathion to cancer.

The 17-year-old senior was diagnosed with bone cancer in 1992, a year after the pesticide to eradicate the Mediterranean fruit fly was sprayed over the San Fernando Valley.

He wrote: “The day after the spraying, I was running through the grass in my backyard and could still smell a strong chemical odor from the malathion.”

Three neighbors also were diagnosed with cancer soon after the spraying, Joseph wrote.

His essay continued: “These entire incidents make you wonder if the malathion distribution could have caused these occurrences of cancer.”

The contest, sponsored by the Public Health Enterprises Foundation, was developed to raise awareness of important public health issues and to encourage students to consider careers in public health.

Four other essayists from the Valley won prizes: Jeffrey Alan Krause of James Monroe High School in North Hills won the grand prize; Cassondra Joy Kobashigawa of Birmingham High School took first prize; and Monica N. Modi of John F. Kennedy High School in Granada Hills and Adam Ovasapyan of Verdugo Hills High in Tujunga both took second prize.

Hopkins, whose cancer has been in remission for five years, received the top honor on the eight-year anniversary of the day that doctors told him he had cancer.

“It’s ironic,” he said of the coincidence. “I’ve accomplished something--having cancer and still being here eight years later to write about it.”

Malathion is not a listed known carcinogen, according to toxicologists with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, but long-term or a single highly concentrated exposure can be harmful to the body’s nervous system, they said.

Environmental and public health experts judged the essays for good writing, creativity, originality and thoughtfulness.

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