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PAGE 3-PLAINDEALER-FRIDAY, MAY II, 1* Harvard youngster beats the odds; defies Reye's Syndrome By Georgette Braun Plaindealer news service HARVARD-"Your little boy is as sick as he can be without being dead," one physician treating Diane Hetty's 12-year- old son told her. Brian had Reye's Syndrome. That was in mid-February. After being comatose for four days, Brian left Milwaukee Children's Hospital a few days later with a smile. He recovered 100 percent: Kelly said the disease is "fairly rare." It strikes one in 100,000 children. "The first thing they told me was 'You're Catholic. You better call your priest,' " said Mrs. Hefty, vocational program director at Alden-Hebron High School. f Dick Peterson Putting the old television on the shelf with antiques Does anyone out there not have a color television set? And if there is, how much longer will it be before there isn't a single black-and-white TV outside those collected by in­ vestors as antiques. They'll put the old black-and-white next to the radio with tubes, the black dial telephone, the wind-up clock, the manual can opener and the adding machine, which was the first electronic abacus, kiddies. I'll probably tell my kids about grandpa's adding machine that he used in the old days, way back in the 1960s. I'll tell them how it weighed about 15 pounds, could go all the way up to 99,999.99, and that you couldn't play games on it. It had seven rows of numbers across the bottom for cents, (rnes, tens, hundreds, thousands and ten thousands; and 10 rows of numbers from the bottom up for zero through nine. You see, I'll tell them, you had to punch in each of the numbers and hit a bar, which caused the numbers to appear on a white tape. (I'll have to use words like enter, execute and printout, of course.) You should've heard the racket that machine made, kids. It even had a distinct odor. It could subtract, too, and even did that in red. It couldn't do multiplication, division, trigonometry or teach you Spanish, however. Tliey'll be amazed. And when I tell them the story for the hundredth time, they'll be amazingly bored. They'll ignore me, the old codger, and continue trying to break into the Defense Department system on their home computer. It will be the same way with the black-and-white television set. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person in the world who regularly watches televison in the dead hues of black and white, the opposite of living color. We have three black-and- white televisions. Only one of them works, which is about the same average for my radios with tubes. They're becoming antiques. Sometimes I think I'm missing something when I watch televison in black and white. Other times, I think I'm cheating the networks. They go through all the trouble of having bright colors, pretty graphics and beautiful pic­ tures, and it's all wasted on me and my black-and-white. Have you ever watched a fireworks display in black and white? If it weren't for movie theaters, I would think that all actors and actresses bleed black blood when they are shot. It used to be you could distinguish sports teams by their light and dark unifdtms. Now, uniforms are made with color television in mind and are quite colorful, except on black-and-white television, where they all look kind of gray and muddled. You have to pay close attention to figure out who to root for. And there are those computerized weather machines that show weather patterns, rainfall and fronts in the different colors of the spectrum. On black-and-white sets, the colors are all the same. I never know what's happening. When the "Wizard of Oz" switched from black-and-white to color when Dorothy went over the rainbow, I didn't realize it. That was a significant part of the movie, and I was in the dark, the black-and-white so to speak, about it. Some day we'll break down, or our 13-inch black-and- white will, and we'll buy a color television set and enter the fourth quarter of the 20th century. There were two reasons for not buying a color TV. First, the color never seemed to be right. People had green skin, grass was purple, and apples looked like oranges. Those technical problems have been overcome. Second, a story circulated awhile back about how color televisions caused radiation sickness. You don't hear about that anymore, so I suppose that problem has been solved, too. Or, maybe people are willing to make that sacrifice for better TV viewing. Those were the only reasons I had for not buying a color TV. Now they're gone. Before we have children, we'll have to get a color TV. If they grew up with a black-and-white set, not only would they be deprived, what old story would I tell them when they refused to listen to the 101st rendition of the adding machine story? * It all happened so fast. Within 12 hours, Brian had gone from a boy who "simply didn't feel so well" to a comatose state, Mrs. Hefty said. She said Brian had not been feeling well for a week or so prior. He was tired. His 13-year- old sister, Bridget, had just had mononucleosis. His mom gave him a few aspirin. Brian went to the family physician, Dr. Britton Kolar of Lake Geneva, Wis., just to be checled out. He went to T«akelanrt Hospital in Elkhorn, WI, for tests. But the next day, Brian once about noon. And late in the afternoon, he turned to his mother and said he didn't feel well. "I took one look at him...I tell you he was gray as a gray suit," Mrs. Hefty said. His tern- Marriage licenses: Applications for marriage licenses were recently made at McHenry County Clerk's office by: Todd A. Harrison, McHenry, and Michele R. Adrian, Arlington Heights; William P. MacDonald and Rebecca J. Sohn, both McHenry. James D. Lane, Palatine, and Margaret J. Kelsey, McHenry; Larry E. Cannon, McHenry, and Christine B. Zambon, Crystal Lake. Divorces: Judgments for dissolution of marriage were recently granted in 19th Judicial Circuit Court, Woodstock, to: June E. Sternberg and Howard E. Sternberg; Eva R. Schlossberg and Howard B. Schlossberg; Carina Orloff and Michael Orloff. Robert J. Olach and Karen A. Olach; Cathy M. Novak and Thomas M. Novak; Cheryl R. Lagunas and Jose M. Lagunas. Diane Wilbrandt and Donald G. Wilbrandt; Linda L. French arri^avi^M^French^^^^ 1875 Q McHeory m « Sim 18 rlamdealer McHenry Herald (USPS 335-200) Established 1875 3812 W«t Elm Street „ Phone 815-385-0170 McHenry, Illinois 60050 Published Every Wednesday ft Friday at McHenry .Illinois Second Class Postage PAID at McHenry. Illinois by SHAW FREE PRESS NEWSPAPER GROUP POSTMASTER Send address changes to McHenry Plaindealer 3812 W. Elm St., McHenry, Illinois 60050 Subscribers are requested to provide immediate notice of change of address to the McHenry Plaindealer, 3812 W. Elm St., McHenry, III. 60050. A deduction of one month from the expiration of a subscription will be made where a change of address is provided through the Post Office department. Thomas C. Miller-Publisher Donna Bertulis-Editor fltoarb Winning ihtoftpaprr MEMBER NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION SUBSCRIPTION RATES; By Carrier 50* Week 1 Year ...$19.00 In McHenry County 1 Year $27.00 Outside McHenry County I N 1 W O D U C 1 O R Y S P f C I A I SAVINGS 25° o ITEMS' perature was below normal. They headed for the emergency room. There were more blood tests and urine tests. Ammonia levels were extremely high. Kolar says be "always checks liver function early on" when regular treat­ ment for "dehydrating from an illness (does not) perk (you) up quickly." Brian became violent and started hallucinating. He was fighting Bridget at Grandma's house, yelling at her to get off him. It was really nurses in­ serting intravenous tubes. Because of fog, Brian could not be transported by helicopter. So a special van took him to Milwaukee. Doctors had to take his adenoids out to insert tubes. They cut a hole in his head to insert a small apparatus to monitor pressure on the brain. A machine breathed for him. For four days, he lay motionless in a drug-induced coma while his mom, sister and father at different intervals held Ms hand and talked to him. Kelly said the pressure in Brian's brain had to be con­ trolled through mechanical ventilation, so that the pressure would not exceed blood pressure and cut flow and oxygen and result in death. Although Kelly said there is no known cause of the illness, it usually occurs as a child is improving after an upper respiratory illness, usually after flu or chickenpox. Children are at 10 times greater risk if aspirin is ingested during that time, Kelly says. Mrs. Hefty said she no longer gives aspirin to her children. The illness is most prevalent in children aged 5 through 14, Kelly said. Symptoms of Reye's Syn­ drome, not all of which Brian exhibited, include a progression from being overly tired, being slightly disoriented, vomiting and lethargy. "Stage 2" includes being very disoriented and speaking words inappropriate for the situation and uncontrolled screaming or combativeness. By the time "Stage 3" sets in, the person is in a coma. 3$ie remaining two stages are degoening coma. Mrs. He twitched knew eve: "The outpouring of comfort from the community was tremendous," Mrs. Hefty said. said when Brian later awoke, she would be OK. 1007 N. FRONT ST. (S. RT. 31) McNENRY 344-5140 "WE SERVICE BOTH RESIDENTIAL «t COMMERCIAL CUSTOMERS SOLID OAK AT LESS THAN PINE PRICES 6 PC.SET YOUR CHOICE YOU GET THE PLASTIC TOP TABLE, EXTRA LEAF PLUS 4 SOLID OAK CHAIRS 3CII HW 120 McH ENRy 3HH- 5 HOO Mext TO OlTy WlDf CWtfETS ***** IN McNENRY 2102 W. RT. 120 ((mmtII. 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