[nagdu] USA Today Article

Ann Chiappetta dungarees at optonline.net
Fri Jul 31 12:40:27 UTC 2009


Thanks, this was great.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "sblanjones11" <sblanjones11 at sbcglobal.net>
To: "sblanjones11" <sblanjones11 at sbcglobal.net>
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 10:19 PM
Subject: [nagdu] USA Today Article


>A most interesting article about a remarkable man who sought the help of a
> guide dog, and had to overcome an almost insufferable fear of dogs to do 
> it!
> Blinded by Nazis, guided by a dog
>
> Sharon L. Peters
>
> USA TODAY
>
>
>
>
>
> Max Edelman, a sprightly gentleman with a potent laugh, huge social 
> network
> and vast array of interests, surges through life. At 86, he figures he's 
> got
> too much to do to slow down. Blind for decades, he receives a little help
> from Tobin, a placid black Lab.
>
> Like each of the thousands of service dogs, Tobin has been bred and 
> trained
> to help keep his owner safe and independent. And like the thousands of
> people who are paired without charge with a dog, Edelman has undergone
> training to make the most of the union.
>
> But Edelman was far from typical when, in 1990, he traveled from his home 
> in
> Lyndhurst, Ohio, to Guiding Eyes for the Blind in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., 
> to
> get his first-ever guide dog. For one thing, he was nearly 70. Back then,
> says Guiding Eyes' Graham Buck, almost all clients were much younger, 
> mostly
> kids blind as a result of premature births.
>
> But it wasn't Edelman's age that was the biggest challenge. It was his 
> back
> story.
>
> The things he'd seen and endured would have destroyed most men -- and did,
> in fact, kill millions. He suffered years of starvation and beatings and
> spirit-crushing cruelty, including an eight-day forced march just before 
> the
> U.S. Army arrived to liberate the German camps. He spent 192 grueling 
> hours
> without food or water, during which 1,700 of the 2,500 prisoners collapsed
> and were shot by the side of the road.
>
> Somehow Edelman, a Jew sent to Nazi concentration camps when he was 17 and
> freed at 22, managed to survive. He was blinded in a vicious beating by
> guards --"for no real reason. It was sport for them, they enjoyed 
> inflicting
> pain" -- months before his rescue.
>
> He was trained as a physical therapist, married and immigrated to the USA 
> in
> 1951. He landed a job in the X-ray department at the Cleveland Clinic and
> built a life -- more or less successfully moving beyond the memories of 
> the
> camps, including the death of his father.
>
> He coped reasonably well with survivor guilt and was largely able, except 
> at
> night when nightmares invaded his sleep, to deflect the awful images that
> were the last he would actually see.
>
> There was one thing he couldn't vanquish: the memory of one night in the
> camp.
>
> The commandant was holding a party for like-minded people. As part of the
> evening's entertainment, he ordered that several prisoners be lined up.
> Edelman was among them. The commandant eyed the men, made a decision about
> who would die and ordered his massive German shepherd to attack. The dog
> lunged, grabbed the prisoner by the throat and killed him.
>
>>From that night forward, Edelman's fear of dogs was intractable.
>
> But when he retired, he wanted to relieve his wife of the job of taking 
> him
> everywhere he wanted to go. A guide dog would be ideal.
>
> He mustered his courage, attended the 26-day Guiding Eyes training, was
> coached patiently through his dog phobia, and went home with Calvin, a
> chocolate Lab.
>
> The two had the skills to mesh as a team, but Edelman couldn't connect,
> didn't really know how to trust the animal. He was appreciative of Calvin 
> as
> a "tool to get around," he says, but formed no bond. Guiding Eyes experts
> provided additional help.
>
> "If I failed at this, it would not be for lack of effort," he says.
>
> But Calvin knew something was off. The dog had been around people all of 
> his
> two years; he knew how things were supposed to be, and this wasn't it. He
> lost weight and was depressed. The vet said he sensed Edelman's emotional
> distance.
>
> One day, at a crosswalk, Edelman heard the traffic stop and gave Calvin 
> the
> "forward" command. A driver made a sudden, sharp right turn and was upon 
> the
> two without warning.
>
> Watchful Calvin stopped instantly, and the two returned to the sidewalk. 
> "He
> had saved both of us from serious injury," Edelman says. He hugged Calvin,
> and the barrier dissolved. "From that day on it was love. We both
> blossomed."
>
> Calvin served him well for nine years and retired with an adoptive family.
> Then came Silas, a yellow Lab who forged a solid bond with Edelman; he 
> died
> last year. Edelman misses Silas deeply. "When we were on our 3-mile walks
> and I'd get lost in thought and have no idea where we were, he'd get me
> home."
>
> But he and Tobin, who were paired earlier this month, are bonding. Last
> week, the dog accompanied Edelman to a college campus where he spoke about
> the Holocaust. Edelman accepts two or more such invitations most weeks,
> after decades of silence. "Survivors are few in number now," he says, "so 
> we
> have to bear a larger load."
>
> Tobin eases the way.
>
> To see more of USAToday.com, or to subscribe, go to 
> http://www.usatoday.com
>
> Copyright 2009 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
>
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