THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 5, 1995 TAG: 9501040153
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
THANKS TO PRAYER, the Reader's Digest and experimental surgery, John Babb Jr. can tint your windshield, install your stereo system and create a custom vehicle for you.
Another motivating factor was hearing, ``You only have three months to live.''
That was in the early 1980s, when doctors told Babb they found a tumor in his spinal cord. He was a senior at Forest Glen High School - now a middle school.
``They removed it, but it left me paralyzed on my left side. For six months after the operation I was paralyzed from the neck down,'' Babb, now 30, said in a recent interview. ``I was in a wheelchair for a while, but I didn't want that. I didn't want to be stuck in a wheelchair the rest of my life.''
He walks with a limp, a shuffle - but he leads a relatively normal life now, thanks in part to the Virginia Department of Rehabilitative Services.
When he found out about the help the department had given others with similar problems, he told the staff the type of business he wanted to operate and presented his proposal.
``He was fantastic. He's extremely capable,'' said Yvette McDaniel, a rehabilitation counselor who works in the Portsmouth office of the Department of Rehabilitative Services.
``He saved the money, secured the location, got the estimates for the equipment.'' The department bought the equipment after giving Babb vocational training.
His Auto Style Shop opened in August. Babb has one full-time and a part-time employee. His business is part of White's Body Shop on Pruden Boulevard. Butch White also has a location on Holland Road.
``I tinted windows on my car,'' Babb said. ``People saw it and asked me to do theirs. The business mushroomed and flourished. I give discounts to senior citizens and to people who have vans with portable lifts.''
Babb is an automotive jack of many trades. He also sells and installs car stereo systems and custom wheels, and he installs suspension systems to create custom vehicles.
Babb is making it as a businessman. But at one time, he thought he would never make it.
His problems began in 1982, when he was a Forest Glen High School senior.
``I was playing ball, but I had a lot of neck pain. I thought it was from football injuries. At Norfolk General, I was told I had a tumor.''
He also was told nothing could be done.
Something was being done in New York, however, as Babb discovered while looking at a copy of Reader's Digest.
``It was an article about a little boy with the very same symptoms. The story said he was treated at the New York University Medical School. The doctor's name was in the article, Dr. Fred Epstein. I wrote him a letter and sent him copies of my X-rays.''
The good doctor and the Department of Rehabilitative Services helped pay Babb's plane fare to New York.
``The doctor paid for my entire family,'' said Babb, who lives on Magnolia Lane with his parents, Lakie and John.
He lived with patience and prayer in New York, the latter particularly important because the surgery, at that time, was experimental.
Babb says he took the chance ``because I had a short time to go anyway. Dr. Epstein said he'd give me a guarantee that I'd live, but no guarantee that I'd walk.''
The operation lasted almost 15 hours. Babb had 2,000 stitches to show for it.
``I stayed in New York for three months, then switched to Norfolk General to be near my friends.''
Babb spent one summer at the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center in Fishersville, Va., leaving there - and leaving his wheelchair there, too - in 1983.
``Then I went to school. My original idea was to be a probation parole officer, but I landed a job as a dispatcher with the Department of Defense in Norfolk. Later I took a civil service exam, got high marks and was put on the street in a police position. With my disability, though, I couldn't do that.
``Then it was two years of interview after interview. One interviewer accused me of being drunk because of the way I walked.''
Today, John Babb is a happy businessman.
``I have a marketable skill. At the end of the day I can see what I've done. It's more than fun. I get the job done, and I care about what I'm doing. When I do a job, I'm not doing it just for myself, but for all the disabled people.'' MEMO: The Department of Rehabilitative Services offers assistance to people
with physical, mental and emotional disabilities so they can become
self-supporting and as independent as possible. People are prepared and
trained for suitable jobs and placed in gainful employment.
The department also works with businesses, organizations and communities
to help them accommodate people with disabilities and integrate them
into the mainstream of society.
For more information: 396-6875.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
At his Auto Style Shop, John Babb Jr. tints windshields, and sells
and installs car stereo systems, custom wheels and suspension
systems.
by CNB