Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/41837
4A Daily News – Monday, September 12, 2011 Vitality & health ORLANDO, Fla. (MCT) — Jordan Thomas was 16 years old and about to go scuba diving off the Florida Keys when a wave knocked him underwater and into the boat's propeller. "I remember saying, 'Dad, my feet are gone,'" he said. The accident was freak- ish, but Thomas' reaction to it may have been equally unlikely. Still lying in a Miami hospital bed after nearly bleeding to death, the teen began planning for a way to help other amputees —children whose families were not as well off as his. "I didn't think my life was over," said Thomas, now 22 and a junior in inter- national business at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla. "I knew my life wasn't over. And that situation just let me see how much better I had it than a lot of kids did, and it made me think about what I could do to help." Both of his parents are neonatologists, graduates of the University of Florida. Their income and connec- tions helped their youngest son get the best medical care and support from a wide circle of family and friends. Twelve days later, by the time he was back home in Chattanooga, Tenn., Thomas and his fam- ily already had laid out the structure and mission of what was to become the Jor- dan Thomas Foundation — a private nonprofit organiza- tion that would raise money for children's prosthetic limbs. His mother, Dr. Liz Kennedy Thomas, who had witnessed the accident, believes the effort helped both Jordan and the family to heal. "It was his idea from the very beginning," she said. "In a lot of ways, I think that perhaps he didn't process what had happened as much as he might have, and so he moved it into a realm he could deal with. The foun- dation turned into some- Student on mission to help amputees MCT photo Rollins College junior Jordan Thomas has created the Jordan Thomas Foundation to cover the cost of artificial limbs for children whose families can't afford them. So far, the foundation has raised $1 million. thing very positive out of something that was other- wise devastating. It helped us all bond and grow." The children that Jordan Thomas had encountered in the hospital were not, for the most part, destitute. Their families had health insur- ance. But as Thomas quick- ly learned, insurers often refuse to cover prosthetic limbs for children, or they cap coverage, often at $5,000 per year. "It's just cheaper for them not to cover," he said. "Or sometimes they'll pay for one prosthetic for a life- time. I always compare it to giving an 8-year-old kid a pair of shoes and saying, 'Here, wear these for the rest of your life.' It's not feasi- ble." Children, with their rapidly growing bodies, often need new prosthetic limbs as frequently as once every year or two. Joints such as knees are particular- ly pricey —$100,000 or more apiece. Yet, as Thomas likes to say, arms and legs are not luxuries. At the national Amputee Coalition, a nonprofit resource center, the issue is one that advocates have been battling for years. "When prosthetic devices can cost ... $10,000 or more ... this cap can have catastrophic implications for families," said President and CEO Kendra Calhoun. "We have heard that fami- lies have mortgaged their homes to pay for prosthetic devices for their child." Calhoun calls Thomas "an inspiration" in more ways than one. Not only has he been able to help pay for dozens of prostheses for children in the U.S. and Haiti, but he also is a role model for the tens of thou- sands of children across the country living with varying degrees of limb loss. In 2009, Thomas was named one of CNN's Top 10 Heroes. He also won the national Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy Award and was given that year's Courage Award — an honor from the nonprofit Courage Center that previ- ously had gone to physicist Stephen Hawking, Itzhak Perlman, Christopher Reeve, Janet Reno and Bob Dole. His foundation has sold wristbands and T-shirts and held an annual golf tournament — Thomas is an avid and talented golfer —and has collectively raised nearly $1 million. For U.S. beneficiaries, the foundation commits to buying them as many pros- thetic limbs as they need until they reach age 18. "He is our angel," says Susan Fraser of Atlanta, whose 7-year-old daugh- ter, Samantha, first received a leg from the foundation in January 2010. "Our insurance plan would cover $1,000 out of pocket maximum per year toward prosthetics, and that doesn't even touch it. That doesn't even cover the foot. ... I don't know what we would have done with- out him." With the artificial leg, Samantha can rock climb, ride a bike, roller skate, play soccer and ride hors- es. Without it, her mother said, she might not have been able to do any of those things. She might well be in a wheelchair. Thomas personally called to tell Fraser her daughter had been selected to be helped. Then the entire Thomas family came for a visit that Christmas. Jordan sidled up to Saman- tha, comparing their pros- theses and talking easily. "To see someone so young be so eloquent and so willing to help others when there's so much yuck out in the world ..." Fraser said, her voice trailing off. It's not that Thomas has never had a bad day. The night before he was to accept the Courage Award, he removed his legs as usual to take a shower but wound up falling badly. Slumped on the tile floor, the permanency of his loss hit him suddenly, two years after the fact. He sat there, sobbing. "That was the moment," he said recently, walking across the Rollins campus, his gait long and athletic. "But I look back now, and, as strange as it sounds, I wouldn't change anything, not even the accident. It has given me the chance to do so much more." fitness Nutrition Quiz: New varieties of rice (MCT) — It's been estimated that Americans consume more than 26 pounds of rice per person annually. Heck, that's just an average week here at The Quiz. So imagine our delight when we heard that USDA researchers in the Southwest have devel- oped eight new rice vari- eties. Take our quiz on some of the new kids on the plate. 1. One new type is Neches, a waxy rice vari- ety used mostly in ingre- dients. This is the first time the U.S. has entered the waxy rice market- place. Which country pro- duces nearly all the waxy rice? a) China b) Japan c) Thailand 2. A new domestic competitor in the long- grain basmati rice market, long dominated by India and Pakistan, is called Sierra. Where is it grown? a) South Lake Tahoe b) Grinnell, Iowa c) Beaumont, Texas 3. What is the name of a new rice that's being used in many canned soups? a) Campbellice b) Dixiebelle c) Canorice 4. What is the major buzz around a new brown rice variety called Hidal- go? minutes a) It can cook in 10 b) It skips the usual brown-rice stickiness c) It doesn't taste like cardboard 5. Rondo is a rice vari- ety that features a shorter plant that matures earlier. In which product is it being sold? a) rice milk b) rice flour c) both ANSWERS: 1: c; 2: c; 3: b; 4: a; 5: c. Source: www.ars.usda.gov/is/br/ri ce/index.html James W. 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