Downey Youth’s Labors Pay Off

In elementary school, Mike Ferguson Jr. was good enough to win trophies in soccer and basketball. But today at 17, the Downey youth can only reminisce about his athletic accomplishments.

“I’m just happy to be walking,” said Ferguson, who suffers from a rare birth defect in which his kneecaps dislocate without warning. “I can remember playing basketball on the playground in elementary school and my kneecaps would suddenly go out. The kids would think I had broken my leg.”

In an effort to repair his knees, Ferguson has had three major operations, the first when he was 10. After a June, 1990, operation to stabilize his kneecaps, he spent six weeks in plaster casts that ran from his ankles to his thighs. When the casts were removed, Ferguson found that his knees were frozen at the joints and he was unable to bend them, requiring additional surgery.

Then came “Hal’s Hell,” which is the way Ferguson refers to the treatment he receives from therapist Hal Nelson at Downey Community Hospital.

“I would be strapped in a chair. My legs would stick straight out and Hal would put pressure on my knees to try and get them to bend,” Ferguson said. “I had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming. The pain was unbelieveable.”

During four months of “Hal’s Hell,” Ferguson progressed from a wheelchair to a walker and then to a cane. Now he is walking on his own. He begins each therapy session by walking in an Aquaciser, a treadmill submerged in water. With the muscles loose and warm, Ferguson does weightlifting exercises, although his fragile knees limit the weights to 20 pounds.

Nelson said Ferguson is one of the most determined patients he has seen during his 19 years as a therapist. At the beginning, Nelson said Ferguson came to therapy five days a week. He has progressed to the point where he requires therapy sessions only twice a week, Nelson said.

“He knows the harder he works the better his knees will get and the more normal his life will be. He’s a real success story,” Nelson said.

His doctor, Lynwood orthopedic surgeon Thomas K. Peterson said Ferguson should eventually be able to resume normal activities, including sports. “He should be able to do what he wants,” Peterson said.

Meanwhile, Ferguson also is working hard to catch up on his schoolwork at Warren High School in Downey, where he is a junior. “I missed a lot of school because of my knees,” he said. “During the last operations, I had home study. But the pain was so great and I was taking so many drugs for it, I was unable to concentrate.”

He plans to finish high school next year. He intends to go to college and get a business degree with a minor in music, then he would like a business job in the recording industry.

Ferguson also was born with a foot deformity, and his feet were placed in casts joined by a metal bar, said his parents, Mike and Hermelinda Ferguson.

“That didn’t stop him from crawling,” his father said. “He went where he wanted to. He has never looked back.”

* Long Beach City College student Conlye Waggoner, 70, has won first place in the 18th annual John A. Lesser poetry contest sponsored by Cal Poly Pomona. Waggoner’s poem, “In Zenoria the Whistle Blew,” was selected the best of 150 submitted by community college students from throughout the state. Waggoner said his poem is based on his experience as a 7-year-old, witnessing a mob preparing to lynch a black man in his hometown of Zenoria, La. Waggoner, a retired government procurement officer, said he has been taking classes at the college for the last 15 years. “I take whatever pleases me,” said Waggoner.

Four other Long Beach City College students also received poetry awards. Linda Fuller-Smith won second place. Marjorie Martin, Sharon Lovitch and John Payne received honorable mentions.

* Francis Marlow, 80, has been named Woman of the Year in Bell for her contributions to the community. Marlow, who has lived in the city for 72 years, has been a member of the Traffic and Beautification Commission for 20 years, and serves on the Historical Commission.

* Harold (Ed) Malone is the new director of campus security at Whittier College. He replaces Jim Williamson, who retired. Malone, 44, was the chief of campus safety at Chapman College in Orange. Before entering law enforcement, Malone was pastor for 10 years of the Whittier Christian Fellowship Church, a nondenominational church.

* Douglas Aircraft Co. of Long Beach has named Renee P. Handler as its general manager of communications. Before joining Douglas, Handler was in charge of employee benefits, services and communications at the U.S. Surgical Corp. in Norwalk, Conn.

* Lakewood resident Ernestina Osorio, a junior at UC Santa Barbara, has won a $2,200 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Osorio was one of nine students from California selected for the grant, which allows recipients to conduct independent research and writing projects during the summer months.

* Long Beach City Councilman Thomas Clark has been reappointed to the Board of Administration for the Public Employees Retirement System by Gov. Pete Wilson. Clark was appointed to the board in 1990 by former Gov. George Deukmejian.