From The Orange County Register
By David Whiting Staff Columnist
Instead of falling apart when her 22-month-old grandson was getting slammed with chemo to battle cancer, Kay Burnham decided to sing and dance.
It had been decades since Burnham had gone onstage – high school, to tell the truth – but in a very wonderful way she believed she had no choice. After witnessing the dedication, care and tenderness of the staff at CHOC Children’s Hospital, where little Carter was being treated, her soul needed to give back and she knew of a very special musical that would help her do just that.
Now, six years since those terrible days, Burnham is still giving back by, yes, singing and dancing.
It’s a recent Saturday and Burnham and more than 100 other volunteers rehearse – and rehearse – for one of the craziest and coolest fundraising events in Orange County, the annual CHOC Follies. It’s a musical of epic ambition and – absent my two-left feet, unlike a few years ago – the April 2 opening night is sure to be a musical of epic success.
“What if your hinges all are rusting?” dozens of voices soar in unison and with “All That Jazz” finger-snapping cool. “What if, in fact, you’re just disgusting?
“Razzle dazzle ’em / And they’ll never catch wise!”
Join me as we walk through the fourth floor of a building on the corner of Bristol and Sunflower in Costa Mesa that just happens to be a perfect home for razzling and dazzling.
CURING BABIES
Like Burnham, Kathy Hornsby has her own story of struggle, success and paying it forward.
Thirty-six years ago, Hornsby’s son, then 2 years old, suddenly couldn’t breathe. He was rushed to CHOC and diagnosed with acute bronchitis and asthma. He made it through the ordeal with injections, steroids, inhalers. But there would be many more trips to the hospital.
“I remember waking up at 2 o’clock in the morning and driving like a maniac to the hospital,” Hornsby says. “He had his head out the window to breathe.
In 1989, Hornsby joined CHOC’s Littlest Angel Guild to help fund raise. Then eight years ago, she was back at the hospital when her three granddaughters came into this world too soon at 32 weeks.
Emma was the big girl, weighing just 3 pounds and later suffering from asthma and pneumonia. Then there was Haley, 2 pounds, 14 ounces with a hole in her heart. Finally, there was tiny Katelyn, 2 pounds, 12 ounces with a brain bleed.
But today the girls are doing fine as the hole in Haley’s heart slowly closes. And Hornsby is realizing her dream of joining the Follies.
Echoing my feelings when I joined the Follies and discovered the whole commitment totals about 100 hours, the retired Yorba Linda travel agent allows, “I had no idea what I was getting into.”
Hornsby sings in her church choir. She also is an amazing fundraiser.
Cast members must raise $1,250 to participate. So far, Hornsby has raised more than $4,000.
VOLUNTEERING IS MEDICINE
Louis Berlin, senior vice president for wealth management at UBS Financial Services in Irvine, can sing, dance and has stage presence to spare.
He also is celebrating his 10th anniversary with CHOC Follies. With two adult sons who are professional actors, Berlin laughs, “What I lack in talent, I make up for in enthusiasm.”
He traces his dedication to volunteering to his lawyer father, Sidney, who pro bono fought for school integration in the Bay Area.
But it’s his grandfather to whom Berlin traces his entertainment roots. Grandpa Ben loved an audience and often enlisted his grandson in a routine:
Grandpa to friends: “Hey, I got a new hearing aid. Works great!”
Grandson: “Really, what kind is it?”
Grandpa, looking at his watch: “Oh, it’s 1:30.”
Ba-da-boom.
But more than anything, Berlin traces his commitment to when he became a Big Brother and joined an organization that helped terminally ill children.
“When I first got into my business of being a financial adviser,” Berlin explains, “I was 22 and everything we did was about money.” But Berlin knew there were other riches.
It was October 1987, only days after a massive global stock market crash, and Berlin had been mentoring a 14-year-old named Jimmy when he got a call from a nun: “You’ve got to get down to Stanford Hospital right away. Jimmy’s mother wants you.”
Driving to see Jimmy, Berlin wondered what he could possibly do for a dying child. Berlin walked into the hospital room. Jimmy was unconscious. But a few minutes later, Jimmy’s mom noticed her son’s heart monitor went up a wee bit.
She told Berlin, “Start talking.”
Berlin knew Jimmy was a huge 49ers fan.
“Hey, Jimmy, how about those ‘Niners?” Berlin chattered. He called a player he knew, linebacker Keena Turner, and asked him to talk to Jimmy on the phone.
“All of a sudden, Jimmy’s pulse and blood rates went up high enough levels to sustain him.”
Eventually, Jimmy was able to leave the hospital. He died peacefully at home, one of his final wishes.
“To this day, that time with Jimmy still motivates me,” said Berlin, an Aliso Viejo resident.
SLIDE, SNAP, SING
Doctors soon determined Burnham’s cancer-stricken toddler grandson needed a liver transplant. But the side effects would include brittle bones and hearing loss. Within a year, Carter suffered three broken legs.
Today, Carter still takes organ anti-rejection pills twice a day and wears hearing aids. Yet life is a celebration. Carter is cancer-free and a healthy, happy first-grader who plays baseball.
“The doctors at CHOC, the nurses, everyone are all so fabulous,” says Burnham, who lives in Newport Beach. “They make you feel at home.”
The same could be said of the CHOC Follies leaders.
Gloria Zinger founded the charity, now in its 18th year, to motivate people to give back through a fun, uplifting activity.
To date, the Follies has collected more than $7 million.
As we talk, Burnham, Berlin and Hornsby – and 100 others, most dressed in gym clothes – slide, step, kick, snap fingers.
The chorus rises. Music fills the entire floor. “Give ’em the old razzle dazzle. Give ’em an act with lots of flash in it. And the reaction will be passionate.”
Passion’s guaranteed when the curtain rises.
