Phantom1

Friday, August 4, 2006

Children's Hospital, researchers to race boat for sick kids
Hydroplaning for hydrocephalus

By BRAD WONG
P-I REPORTER

For more than an hour Thursday, the hulking, gold-and-black Lucky 21 Unlimited hydroplane sat in a parking lot at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle.

The high-speed boat, which is racing in Seafair this weekend, might have been a fish out of water.

Children's Hospital and the Hydrocephalus Research Guild brought the San Diego-based racing team to the campus to give kids who suffer from the condition a chance to have fun -- and to raise public awareness.

Guild President Lori Poliski talked about how the medical condition creates worry for families because a child might need several brain surgeries -- and sometimes at short notice.

"It has little visibility, and that's why I'm here," said Poliski, 41, of Woodinville.

Her year-old son, William Gross, suffers from the condition.

What is needed to relieve the fluid is a piece of plastic that goes in the brain and a tubing system to redirect the fluid to other parts of the body.

But, parents and doctors said, 50 percent of these plastic systems fail within two years, prompting more expensive surgeries to keep children alive.


There are, they added, more than 180 causes for the condition -- and no known cure.

Hydrocephalus can contribute to vision, listening and other problems.

Kevin Aylesworth, the Lucky 21 driver, reminded the kids to continue dreaming, telling them that they can succeed.

The racing team will donate a percentage of its sponsorships to hydrocephalus research at Children's Hospital.

For the kids, the presence of the boat with its huge exhaust, air duct and fins helped them focus.

"How fast does it go?" said Karlyle Varney, 6, of West Seattle.

"200 miles per hour," responded Aylesworth. "It looks like an airplane. Doesn't it?"

When the event was over, parents clutched their kids in their arms and posed in front of the boat for a group photograph.

They talked about treatments, doctors and their children's health.

"You do what you have to do," said Louise Benz, a 24-year- old mother from Gold Bar. Her 2-year-old son, Noah, has had 17 brain surgeries.

Tacoma resident Brock Graber, 32, held his son and stood next to his wife.

"It never slips your mind. If he has a headache, you wonder if he's going to need surgery," he said.

PICTURE BELOW
The Lucky 21 hydroplane will race at Seafair to raise awareness and funds for local children with hydrocephalus, a lifelong neurological disease. Dr. Anthony Avellino talked about the disease Thursday at Children's Hospital; 2-year-old Noah Benz has already had 17 brain surgeries.
But it rested there, tilted on its side on a trailer, to draw attention to hydrocephalus, a medical condition that causes large amounts of fluid to build up in the brain, and its effect on children.

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AugiePensa

GREAT article