Mark Razniewski, a 16-year-old New Trier High School junior from Wilmette who was paralyzed from the waist down in a November car accident, has pledged to try to walk one block of a five-kilometer walkathon on May 3 to raise money for his medical bills.
Rallying behind the teen’s own resolve to walk again, relatives, friends, neighbors and students in Wilmette, Winnetka, Kenilworth and Glencoe are seeking monetary pledges to join in the walkathon, said his father, Bruce Razniewski.
The “Walk With Mark” will begin at 9:30 a.m. at Winnetka’s Indian Hill Park on Winnetka Avenue just east of Green Bay Road.
When the car carrying Razniewski and four other teens careered into a tree, he suffered massive injuries. He lay in a coma for several weeks at Evanston Hospital, undergoing surgery for broken facial and pelvic bones and for a ruptured aorta.
The heart surgery to save his life left him paralyzed, his father said. “We were told he’d never walk again,” he said, “but Mark’s not willing to take that sentence.” And, indeed, after he moved his toes and feet one day, doctors ordered rehabilitation therapy.
Razniewski spent seven weeks as a patient at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, but his family said that as an outpatient client, none of his therapy is covered by insurance. The family’s bills have skyrocketed, hitting $2,000 a week.
Razniewski’s father says his son will need at least another year of physical and cognitive therapy, which could top $100,000. The teenager’s memory is intact, but his learning skills must be built all over again.
“Mark’s not who he was last October,” said his father. “But because of the community’s support, he’s been inspired to make incredible progress. We feel heartened and optimistic that he will recover.”
Towering question: Like so many towns, Northbrook is dealing with the controversial issue of a new telecommunications tower. And neither side in the controversy seems to be pulling any punches in its rhetoric.
“I hate these things,” Northbrook village president Mark W. Damisch said of a proposed 80-foot telecommunications monopole. “If this were an 80-foot sign, we wouldn’t vote for it.”
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” retorted Dan Willinsky, public relations director for SprintCom’s new markets, “and we often have to find a balance between the press for delivery of services and a not-in-my-backyard attitude.”
SprintCom PCS came before the board last week seeking a 10-year permit to place a monopole with two antennas at 205 Huehl Rd., near the Tri-State Tollway Extension. The board advanced the plan on the condition that SprintCom come back with material showing how the tower would appear to anyone in the closest residential neighborhood, 1,400 feet away.
Surprise departure: Glencoe School District 35 Supt. Phillip Price recently announced his resignation, effective June 30.
Citing “other professional opportunities,” Price decided to leave the post after seven years. He did not elaborate.
Officials said the search firm of Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates has been hired to find a replacement.
Cab cleanup: Taxi drivers had their hands slapped by Wilmette’s Village Board Tuesday night for dumping trash, overhauling their cabs on the street and using local parks as toilets.
Drivers must now park their cabs inside designated areas at the 4th and Linden Street CTA stop and the Metra stop on Green Bay Road. Overflow vehicles must move on until there’s an opening.
Board members also gave the go-ahead for St. Joseph Church to reopen a school this fall for kindergartners through 8th graders.
