Three Frigidaire heavy duty commercial chest freezers, 25 cubic foot, one, 6 months old and the others a year and a half old. Bought new for over $500 each, will sell for just $200 each. See them at Howard’s Seafood, Hwy 21 in Rincon, or call Howard at 826-1613. tfnSH

New Pride Jazzy Scooter, model #1107, paid $6000, asking $3000. Please call 748-6216.

Alex Fairbanks: A Young Man Of Unquestioning Faith

By Roger Allen

There is a young man who attends Savannah Christian Preparatory School (SCPS) who has garnered a good bit of attention, not for what he has done, but rather for what he has not done. His name is Alex Fairbanks, and he has been diagnosed with Basilar Invagination, which means that his spine is pressing up into his brain.

Up until October of 2001, Alex was living a perfectly normal life, playing both football and baseball and making the honor role at SCPS. After several days of feeling queasy, he paid a visit to his pediatrician. The pediatrician was unable to diagnose his problem. After seeing an endless parade of Savannah doctors, his mom Debbie and his dad Steve started looking elsewhere.

All during this time, Alex continued with his schooling, either as an at-school student when he felt well enough, or as a homebound student when he wasn't feeling well at all. Alex went first to Emory Hospital, where after another series of tests, the doctors said they could find nothing wrong with his ears, which they suspected were causing his vertigo.

By this time, Alex's symptoms had progressed to constant dizziness and nausea. He then went to Johns Hopkins Hospital to see Pediatric Diagnostic Specialist Dr. Rowe, who diagnosed him with Autonomic Dysfunction Disease. Essentially, this meant that Alex's body didn't follow the rules when it came to its reactions to stimuli. He returned to Savannah, and began seeing Osteopath Dr. Karen Turner at Dr. Rowe's urging.

Dr. Turner took him off all of his medications and began Cranial Sacral Therapy. This treatment requires the manipulation of the body's spinal cord fluid, which actually flows from the brain down the spinal cord just like blood flowing throughout the veins. After six months, the treatment failed to bring about the desired results. They continue to this day, however, as the treatments do do some good.

Alex and his parents also made two trips to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. In October, 2005, they made the second trip, and despite numerous tests were finally told there was nothing more that they could do. Therefore, Alex's parents made a trip to the Chiari Institute in New York. Here they hoped that a new type of surgery would be able to "mimic" the effects of the real surgery that would have to be performed in order to remove the pressure on Alex's brainstem. If this worked, they said, they would perform the more dangerous operation.

Essentially, the doctors put Alex to sleep, put screws in his skull, woke him up, and started pulling the skull away from the neck. Unfortunately, the operation made him feel even worse right away. This, the doctors discovered, was caused by a mass of blood vessels surrounding the right artery that had stretched when the doctors pulled Alex's neck. As they stretched, the artery's flow was constricted, reducing the flow of blood to the brain.

Unfortunately, the doctors said that they needed to investigate the mass of blood vessels (which they call vascular malformation) surrounding the artery to see whether or not surgery might be able to correct this.

Alex has kept on the honor roll despite his disease, and is looking forward to finishing up the 11th grade at SCPS. He loves Math, Biology and Chemistry. He also loves doing graphic design and editing on the computer, and playing Counter-Strike on the Internet. The family has three Boston Terriers (Gator, Ali-gator, and Booger) who are Alex's constant companions when he is at home. They know when he isn?t feeling well, and comfort him. His Great Grandmother and Aunt live within shouting distance of the Fairbanks home, and his Grandfather spends a lot of time with Alex when he is at home.

Debbie has worked at SCPS for the last eleven years, the last three years of which has been at the Chatham Parkway campus, where she has served as the Director of Admissions and Alumni Affairs. Steve works for Tronox, at Kerr-McGee's chemical plant. Their work families have pitched in without hesitation for the entire 4 1/2 years of this medical crisis: their co-workers fill in when they can't make it to work; and equally important, their bosses let them leave on a moment's notice, without any questions about when they'll be back.

The SCPS family, from School Headmaster Roger and his wife Ruth Anne Yancey, the Upper School office staff, to the parents and students themselves, have held several fundraisers. All of the money they've collected is being used to pay for some of the Fairbanks's medical expenses that aren't covered. Debbie is opening an account at Sun Trust in Alex's name into which any and all contributions can be made to help with Alex's medical care.

Most importantly, the entire Fairbanks family has an unshakeable faith in Jesus Christ, and it shows. Neither Debbie nor Steve feels sorry for themselves, or for their family. This attitude has rubbed off on Mary Allison, Alex's 16-year-old sister. Debbie says she is wise beyond her years and the true ?heart? of the Fairbanks family. Oh, and by the way, the one thing Alex Fairbanks has never done is - give up.