Jim's story for the January 27 Bulletin

It was January 13, 2020, and President Dave Gendron of course had a kick-off video—or, in this case, a kick-ass video—for us featuring a very grumpy older woman who believes life sucks.  But life appears not to suck for at least most of our members.  Kathleen Terry, herself not an older woman, boldly claimed that women are always right (except presumably for the life-sucks woman).  We watched videos of Lee Walker biking through France, Matt Peck biking the Big Sur coast, Bob Stephenson and Susan Adams rowing in New York City and skiing in Mammoth, and Kathleen Adam’s grandsons riding the Polar Express.  Watching it all with us was our distinguished guest, a former District Governor from New Hampshire.

 

And there was more.  John Russo’s wife and daughter are both recovering nicely from serious injuries.  Geoff Bremer is now an employee, having given up his independent practice and having joined Mariner Wealth Advisors.  Rick Farrell is the proud grandfather of Monica Farrell Bringleson’s 10-day-old baby Rocco.  Cedric Tuck-Sherman is the proud father of a newly minted NYU student.  Rich Ham’s granddaughter, carrying her Master’s in Physical Therapy, is visiting.  And Don Jung is grateful to Barbara Matles for organizing his trip to New Zealand and Australia. 

 

We finally got the delayed craft talk from a patient Marcus Chang, who, it turns out, went to the same schools (about a century or so later) as Ed Kushins, namely Mark Keppel High School in Alhambra and UCLA.  Marcus moved on from Westwood to Tempe, where he attended ASU’s law school, where he experienced at least one scary sandstorm.  Marcus’ parents came from Taiwan, and Marcus, all 6’4” of him, grew up in Monterey Park, and he knows the best dim sum restaurants, where you either speak Mandarin or choose blindly from the carts.

 

Established as a lawyer in both Arizona and California, Marcus went from an estate planning firm to an immigration office to his Manhattan Beach firm, Guzman Law Group, where he has been for seven years, one of eight attorneys.  He focuses on trusts and entertainment law (and could perhaps be of some assistance to the life-sucks lady).  He and his wife Christina married in May after seven years together.  She’s a social worker.  They love pit bulls and travel (USA, Europe, Taiwan).

 

Janna Kouri broke his neck in the Manhattan Beach surf, was virtually a quadriplegic, and was told he’d never walk again.  His new, broken life started with two months in the ICU, barely surviving.  He is the inspiration for anyone who thinks life sucks but wants to change all that.  He is now the same man who appeared before us, in a wheelchair but quite mobile and learning to walk.  He is also the founder of NextStep Fitness, the first rehab facility of its kind in our area, now with six centers across America and opening up in Jordan, New Zealand and Ukraine.  

 

Janna moved from Finland to the USA, went to Georgetown and landed in the Beach Cities, ready to live his life, when a sandbar gave his life a turn.  But he found Christopher Reeve’s doctor in Louisville, Kentucky, endured rigorous training there to learn to move, and returned here to share his personal success, which resulted in NextStep.  In Redondo Beach his center has 11 trainers and 55 clients—not a lot, given that six million Americans suffer paralysis, but it’s a start.  Fundraising is crucial to NextStep—the rehab process requires highly professional paid trainers.  NextStep has partnered with the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.  He has no government funding so far, instead organizing fundraising himself (most famously recently with his wheelchair ride across America).  He is currently doing the endlessly detailed work of showing insurance companies that NextStep can save them money.

 

To Life!  Janna Kouri may take it to a level none of us has to reach, but he shows us the way.  Manhattan Beach Rotarians, for the most part, have wonderful lives, but we also reach out to help others have wonderful lives.  Each of us, at our own chosen levels, celebrates life, instead of bemoaning our circumstances or despairing for others.   I think we get to join our Jewish brothers and sisters and claim the popular toast as our own:  L’Chaim!  (Or, said another way, life does not suck.)