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around his neck, his brain wasstarved of oxygen for a few vitalseconds, seconds whose impactwould last every day of the restof his life.

“Being a parent,” says Topal,pulling a taupe thread throughthe turned-up sleeve of a suitjacket he was altering in thewindow of his shop, “and a doc-tor telling you your kid mightnot walk or talk, it makes you somuch worry.

“Any improvement he makes,I feel like I won a lottery.

“The first time when he calledmy name, Figo, he was 5½ yearsold and I thought I was the luck-iest father on the Earth. I was sohappy. I cried.

“The second time he talked,he said, ‘Daddy, love you.’ Hewas 7 years old.”

Topal looks up from the nee-dle and thread. His face is notbitter or sad or beaten.

“From the schools and thedoctors, they tell us his motorskills and speech, they rate him29 months to 36 months, so he’slike 2½, 3 years old. But as a fa-ther, I know my son very good. Ifwe can give him more chance,patience and love. It’s all aboutpatience and love and opportu-nity.”

Ten years ago, Topal had an-other dream for his son. Hecouldn’t yet stand, but Topalwanted him to walk. The doc-tors had said it would never hap-pen; Topal didn’t listen. Forthree years, every single day, To-pal took Devrim by the hands.He held a rolled-up sheet tautaround the boy’s chest and un-der his armpits, clutching it inback, much like a harness. Thenhe walked behind him, pressingthe front of his legs against theback of Devrim’s.

They would walk like this, fa-ther literally propelling son,down the block from Topal’sdry-cleaning shop at the cornerof Southport and Fletcher, to thecorner of Fletcher and Green-view, and back again.

“It would take me two hoursevery day. Seven days a week.Rainy, shiny, hot, cold,” Topalsaid, looking back at his thread.“The first two years, no re-

sponse. I didn’t see from himany attempt. All of a sudden oneday he stepped by himself. Myleg, I was late. I was thinkingsomething else. I thought, ‘MyGod, is this real?’ That gave meso much hope.

“Before that, those two years,I had like 100 reasons why Ishould stop. I was behind in mywork. My friends, they were ac-cusing me that I was chasing a

rainbow.” Devrim still cannot raise his

leg enough to climb a curb byhimself. With his dad holdinghim and the bike steady, he liftshis foot three or four times be-fore he’s able to swing it up andover the bicycle bar. Once on theseat, he keeps his eyes glued tothe concrete beneath him. “Dad-dy, scared,” he says, barely audi-bly.

But then, knees akimbo, theboy on the bike gets a push, everso softly, from his papa. Tongueprotrudes between teeth. Agrin, faint at first, spreadsacross his face. Father and sonare smiling, almost sailingalong.

“Happy,” says Devrim.“Very happy?” asks his father.“Happy,” says the son, un-

swerving.

Tribune photo by David Klobucar

After riding his bike up and down the sidewalk near his father’s dry-cleaning business, 12-year-oldDevrim Topal gets a hand from his dad, Figo, in putting the bike away.

BIKE:

Determineddad createsjoy for sonCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

It was an exercise in stub-born optimism that cost him aspat with his wife, three daysof searching store after super-store for just the right bike,$139 for the bike, $10 for a su-persized axle sturdy enoughto hold supersized trainingwheels, nearly an hour ofpleading with a bike shop me-chanic who swore it couldn’tbe done, and $150 to get him todo it.

But in the end, Figo Topalgot the training wheels riggedonto a big-kid bike, and his 12-year-old son, Devrim, got theride of his dreams.

Devrim was born with hisumbilical cord tight aroundhis neck and so he’s develop-mentally somewhere around2½ or 3 years old.

All summer long, in fact allsummer long for the lastthree years, Devrim has beenpleading: “Daddy, wannabike.”

When he was 7, he had abike, but he outgrew it beforehe learned how to ride. Thenhis father bought one of thosekid bikes that attach to theback of a grownup’s bike.

But that felt kind of scary toDevrim, to be way back therealone. Besides, he could rideonly when his dad wasaround to ride, and Topalworks six days a week, 12hours a day, at least, at hisdry-cleaning shop at 3134 N.Southport Ave.

This summer one of Topal’scustomers told him about aWeb site where he could findbikes for kids with specialneeds. Indeed, Topal and hiswife, Emine, spotted a lovelythree-wheeler for adults thatcame with a price tag of $1,425.

It wasn’t just the moneythat gave Topal pause.

“I was almost going to buythat. But I was thinking, ‘If Ibuy that, he will never learnhow to ride a bike. It has threewheels, he’ll get used to that.’I didn’t want that. I wantedhim to learn to balance.”

But Topal’s wife had herheart set on the three-wheel-er. She came home one dayand mentioned that she’d justseen one at a bike shop calledCycle Smithy, in Lincoln

Park.Topal, no fool when it

comes to domestic peacekeep-ing (Emine had accused himof holding the purse stringstoo tight), stopped by to checkit out. It turned out he knewthe guy selling bikes, the boy-friend of one of his customers.Topal knew him only as TallMike.

In fact, he’s Mike Nelson,and he has worked there near-ly 30 years.

Topal laid out his plight.Nelson told him they couldcustomize a big-kid bike witha heavy-duty axle that couldhold training wheels sturdyenough for 100-plus pounds.He said the bikes at his shopwere too expensive and toofancy for what he needed, sohe pointed Topal out the doorwith orders to find a bikewithout too many speeds(they would have to lock thegears to only one speed, or thespecial axle wouldn’t work).

For three days, Topal andson searched. Finally theywalked into Target and walk-ed out with a 20-inch, six-speed, silver-with-blue bike(Devrim insists that boys’bikes must be blue).

Devrim was happy. He gavehis father a kiss. He went tosleep smiling.

But when Topal rolled thebike into the shop, Nelsontook one look at it and gulped.He was afraid it wouldn’twork—six speeds was toomany. So was the mechanic,who shook his head, no way.Nelson asked how much hewould pay to have it done. To-pal said that even if it was amillion dollars, he wanted itdone.

It cost $160, all told. By the next Sunday morn-

ing, at nearly the crack ofdawn, Devrim, his father, hismother and his 4-year-old sis-ter, Evrim, were standingwith the bike in a park along-side the Chicago River, at Fos-ter Avenue.

It took five minutes for Dev-rim to get his leg up and overthe bicycle bar.

The training wheels took itfrom there.

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By Suzy Cohen, R.Ph.Tribune Media Services

Q My retired father is verypoor, and our family is

having to pay for his medica-tion, which costs about $400per month. Do you have ideasto help us?

—T.L., Greensboro, N.C.

A Yes, there are some goodprograms that offer mean-

ingful savings without a catch.Almost a million Americans

have the Together Rx discountcard. This card is free, and thereare no membership dues or oth-er hidden fees. To be eligible,

you have to be over 65, Medi-care-eligible and not have a pre-scription benefit. So it’s OK ifyou have medical insurance,but you can’t have a prescrip-tion discount.

Also, it’s limited to individu-als who make less than $28,000 ayear or couples who earn lessthan $38,000. Assets don’t mat-ter. Now the Together Rx pro-gram doesn’t give you free med-icine. Rather, it discountsbrand-name drugs up to 40 per-cent off the regular retail price.

Having the Together Rx cardwon’t ensure a discount on ev-ery single drug, but the program

boasts more than 150 brand-name drugs, including Allegra,Diovan, Flonase, Glucophage,Miacalcin, Nexium, Paxil, Syn-throid and Ultram. To sign upfor the card, call 800-865-7211 orvisit www.Together-Rx.com.

Another excellent discountcard is the Share Card. This is afree card with no hidden costs.Essentially, the Share Card al-lows you to get a 30-day supply ofyour medication for a flat fee of$15 per month per prescription.The card is available to Medi-care enrollees who make lessthan $18,000 per individual or$24,000 per couple.

You can’t get this discountcard if you already have pre-scription drug coverage. Thesediscount cards are to help peo-ple who are paying cash out ofpocket.

Because Pfizer is the founderof this program, only Pfizermedications are covered. Thereare a lot of top-selling meds onthe Share Card list: Diflucan,Glucotrol, Lipitor, Aricept, Neu-rontin, Norvasc, Procardia, Via-gra, Zithromax, Zoloft and Zyr-tec. To sign up for this card, call800-717-6005.

The Lilly Answers Card hasthe same eligibility require-

ments as the Pfizer Share Card,but patients pay a flat fee of $12for a 30-day supply (per prescrip-tion) of any medication made byLilly. Controlled substancessuch as painkillers are not in-cluded. To enroll for the LillyAnswers card, call 877-795-4559or visit www.lillyanswers.com.

You are probably wonderingif you can qualify for more thanone card at a time. Yes, you can.

An innovative, Internet-based company called RxHope-.com is doing some nice things.They help doctors do the tediouspaperwork required to help pa-tients qualify for free medicine.Doctors can log on and havemost of the work done for them.There’s no cost to anyone.

Another excellent Web site,

www.helpingpatients.org, al-lows anyone to see what pro-grams they are eligible for. It’ssimple and takes less than twominutes.

Most pharmaceutical compa-nies assist patients in true need,regardless of age. You can log onto www.freemedicineprogram-.com and find out if you qualifyfor free medicine. You’ll beshocked to see all the drugsavailable for free if you qualify.

This information is not intend-ed to treat, cure or diagnose yourcondition. Always consult yourphysician. For more informa-tion, visit www.dearpharmacist.com or write c/o Tribune MediaServices, 435 N. Michigan Ave.,Suite 1400, Chicago, IL 60611.

D E A R P H A R M A C I S T

Programs ease expense of prescriptions

Immunity boostBacteria and viruses always

will be a threat to your health, sothe best defense is to keep yourimmune system strong. If youtend to fight frequent colds andinfections, chances are your im-mune system is suffering due toa low or high count of infection-fighting white blood cells, notesa detailed feature in the Septem-ber issue of Consumer Reportson Health.

The problem may be nutritiondeficiencies. Particularly im-portant to your diet are the B vi-tamins (including folic acid), vi-tamins C and D, beta carotene,iron, selenium and zinc.

Vitamin supplements canhelp, but it’s best to eat a dietrich in whole grains, produceand low-fat dairy products.

Exercise helps the immunesystem, too, but not if you workout to exhaustion. Too much ex-ercise can temporarily impairyour immune function, as canchronic stress.

Try to keep a positive atti-tude, and work out tension withrelaxation training and mas-sage.

Here are four more ways toboost your immune system: Getenough sleep, ideally seven toeight hours a night. Avoid exces-sive sun, which can suppressthe immune system. Reduceyour exposure to pesticides andmercury by thoroughly wash-ing fruits and vegetables andavoiding fish with high mercu-ry levels, such as shark, sword-fish and king mackerel. Finally,use antibiotics only when abso-lutely necessary.

Overweight kidsKids are fatter than ever, and

some blame schools that offerpoor lunch choices and toomany products with empty calo-ries in vending machines. Rath-er than wait for the governmentto act, why not gather other par-ents and ask your schools tomake the innovative changessuccessfully implemented else-where?

A story in the September is-sue of Cooking Light offers sev-eral ideas. In California, oneschool district is letting stu-dents select from 8 to 11 fruit andvegetable options. When thekids are allowed to make theirown choices, they often try new,

healthier foods.In Florida, a food-service pro-

gram delivers salads, wholefruits and fresh-fruit cups to thekids daily.

And New York City’s educa-tion department has decided toban from schools all unhealthy,high-fat vending machineitems.

At home, parents can help byencouraging their kids to cut 100calories of food daily and to adddaily physical activity.

Insurance scamsWith the rising cost of health

insurance, many people arelooking for low-cost deals tohelp pay medical costs. Butwatch out for scams, warns Hal

Morris, a Las Vegas-based con-sumer affairs journalist, speak-ing in the September issue ofBottom Line Tomorrow.

Be suspicious, he says, ifhealth coverage is at rock-bot-tom rates, if the company offers“benefits” rather than “insur-ance” and if no medical examsor questionnaires are required.Red flags should go up if theagent seems too eager to signyou up and if he doesn’t havespecific answers to your ques-tions.

To determine whether a com-pany is legit, call your state in-surance department to see if theagent and firm are state licens-ed. In Illinois, health insuranceand HMO inquiries can be madetoll-free to the Office of Consum-er Health Insurance at 877-527-9431.

A woman’s heartA national campaign called

Heart Truth is urging womenages 40 to 60 to build their aware-ness of heart disease. Womenneed to take the risk seriouslybecause 1 in 3 women dies ofheart disease, and it also canlead to disability and a declin-ing quality of life.

For tools and resource linkson lowering heart disease risk,head to the Heart Truth Web sitecreated by the National Heart,Lung and Blood Institute,www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/hearttruth. There’s informa-tion on lowering high bloodpressure, cholesterol and obesi-ty as well as a risk-assessmentquiz and healthy recipes.

—Verna Noel Jones

R E S O U R C E S

AP photo

School vending machines may be one of the best places to startattacking youth obesity.