Commencement services for medicine, dentistry planned for Sunday ...

14 Thursday, May 19, 2005
TODAY
Jared Wareham fights against the odds at Drayson Center
Jared Wareham, age 21, makes
his final turn in the LLU Drayson
Center pool, completing four laps of
the Olympic medley with his
freestyle sprint.
He swims one more complete lap
of the sidestroke to cool down, then
comes to the edge of the pool with a
big smile on his face.
What makes this remarkable is
not the fact that Jared is an accomplished
swimmer—as well as an
accomplished cyclist, racquetball
player, archer, and pianist—but that
Jared was born with the condition
known as Down’s syndrome.
“Jared has had to learn to do
things that most children naturally
acquire,” says his mother, Dorothy
Matar-Wareham. “For instance, the
reflex to put his hands down when
he fell forward wasn’t there.”
Dorothy has spent most of
Jared’s life pushing him to do things
that many Down’s syndrome kids
never accomplish.
“We put a pillow on the bed and
had Jared fall into it,” she remembers.
“Eventually, he realized he
didn’t like the helpless feel of falling.
Then we taught him to put his
hands down to stop his fall.”
This is but one example of the
efforts required over the years to
push Jared to reach his current level
of ability and accomplishment.
“He didn’t have the innate ability
to grasp an object with his thumb
and index finger,” Dorothy
explains. “We had to literally take
his fingers and pinch them together
to grasp things until he got the idea
and did it by himself.”
At the age of 3, Jared was already
understanding sign language. “He
learned 50 basic signs,” Dorothy
details, “which helped us to communicate
with him until his verbal
skills developed.”
Jared is fully integrated into the
Wareham family of five. His father,
Gerald Wareham, MD, is a practicing
radiologist in the Inland Empire,
as well as an accomplished organist
and conductor of the well-known
Loma Linda Men’s Chorus.
Dorothy, his mother, is a professional
pianist, as well as an arranger
and composer. Many of her arrangements
feature the piano and organ
in duet, which she and her husband
regularly perform. She also serves as
accompanist, as well as writes and
arranges for the Men’s Chorus.
Jared affectionately refers to
both of his sisters as his “pipsqueaks.”
Rachelle, Jared’s older sister,
graduated from Loma Linda University
School of Medicine this past
year, and has begun her residency in
the specialty of ear, nose, and throat
(ENT). With both parents so musically
gifted, Rachelle followed their
lead and took up the cello.
Lauren Joy, Jared’s younger
sister, is completing her senior year
at Mesa Grande Academy in Calimesa.
She plans to attend La Sierra
University, Riverside, in the fall and
will study both nursing and music—
the latter as a voice and cello major.
The entire family makes it a
point to treat Jared as any normal
son or brother. His household
chores include emptying the trash
and helping in the kitchen. Jared
has also taken it upon himself to not
only make his own bed, but every
other bed in the household as well.
Becky Rettig (right), a supervisor at Loma Linda University Drayson Center, has gone out of
her way to teach Jared Wareham (left) racquetball, a favor for which he is very grateful.
Jared (photo, right) completes a lap of the side stroke in Dayson Center pool.
Dorothy Matar-Wareham (right) has dedicated her life to her children. Jared, her middle
child, has made some amazing achievements, thanks in a large part to her efforts.
He will turn 22 in October of
2005. When asked about his birthday
party, he is most interested in
sharing the names of invitees who
are special in his life, telling a little
anecdote about each that reflects
what they mean to him.
Dorothy has dedicated her life to
her children. Jared, with his special
needs, has perhaps required a
higher percentage of her time, but
she has made a special effort to be
there for her daughters as well.
Jared has received his “certificate
of completion” from Redlands
Adventist Academy, where he
attended through the 12th grade.
Presently, he is being tutored by his
parents.
He is learning to read and particularly
enjoys reading the Bible. Several
pastors in the area have invited
Jared to read the scriptures for
church from time to time. Jared has
also had the opportunity to perform
on the piano for church members, as
well as in regular recitals.
“He really wanted to play the
piano,” Dorothy recalls. “However,
Jared didn’t even have the basic
dexterity to push down the keys—
especially one after another, such as
in a scale.
“I prayed to God that He would
give Jared this one thing—to let
Jared hear what I hear,” she continues.
“Then we went to work.”
Again, it was a matter of teaching
him the mechanics literally “from
scratch.” Dorothy feels that God has
answered her prayers on so many
occasions—particularly in helping
Jared to master piano technique.
Another hurdle was teaching
Jared gymnastics. “We joined the
YMCA,” Dorothy relates. “I
remember the sweat from embarrassment
standing out on my forehead
as I persevered in getting my
screaming son to participate at all.”
Her heart would ache as her son
struggled and cried when doing a
new activity such as gymnastics.
However, her efforts would be
rewarded, and Jared came to love
the gym.
“Down’s syndrome children
often have poor muscle tone,”
Dorothy points out. “We checked to
see that his heart was healthy, and
then went to work on gymnastics,
swimming, and other activities.”
After a year of gymnastics, the
other mothers at the YMCA told
Dorothy how impressed they were
with the progress Jared had made.
More importantly, they told her
they hoped Jared would be back
next year.
It was with pride that she would
watch her son run up to the desk at
the YMCA and reach up to show his
membership card to the attendant.
Jared ultimately achieved the
intermediate level of gymnastics, a
difficult feat for any kid, let alone
someone with Down’s syndrome.
He now leads an amazingly
active life. Jared volunteers in the
kitchen at some local eating facilities
and helps out at some local grocery
stores.
Twice a year, he gets up in front
of the students at Eisenhower High
School in Rialto to talk about
Down’s syndrome and the perseverance
required to overcome many of
the limitations imposed by his condition.
“Some of these kids are pretty
tough,” Dorothy describes, “but
Jared has a way of getting through to
them.”
She remembers one time when
some of the “tougher” kids were
actually reduced to tears after hearing
Jared speak. “I think what Jared
is really telling them is that if he can
persevere and achieve, so can they,”
she adds.
He has been working with a local
swim coach, Walt Anderson, for
some time now. A former Olympic
coach and member of the U.S.
Swimming Hall of Fame since 1992,
Mr. Anderson works with Jared in
his own personal backyard pool at
his home in Redlands.
Jared has completed his Level 7
swimming certificate and mastered
most of the strokes necessary to pass
the American Red Cross advanced
swimmer program. He has earned
and been issued the Basic Water
Rescue Red Cross Certificate. He is
mastering his basic dives from the
one-meter board.
Jared enjoys typing on the computer
(at about 15 to 20 words per
minute with 100 percent accuracy),
learning to speak and understand
Spanish, working on his cursive
writing workbooks, snow-skiing,
ice-skating, archery, riding his bike,
and doing gymnastics.
In archery, he has trained with
Olympic gold medalist Mark West,
and earned his own gold medal in
archery for being the pioneer at the
event’s premiere during a recent
Special Olympics.
He plans to attend Pine Springs
Ranch, near Idyllwild, for his fifth
year this summer.
Dorothy attributes much of her
personal understanding for dealing
with a Down’s syndrome child to
Jared’s teachers at his first elementary
school in Texas.
For example, one of his teachers
asked her one time why she was carrying
Jared’s school things. “I really
couldn’t answer her,” she recounts.
“His teacher told me, ‘Jared is fully
capable of carrying his own things.’
That statement set the pattern for
the rest of our lives.”
Jared has joined Loma Linda’s
PossAbilities Program and takes full
advantage of the possibilities and
opportunities it provides him.
The staff at Drayson Center are
honored to have Jared as a member
of the facility. Several have gone out
of their way to teach him such sports
as racquetball and basketball.
His typical exercise routine
includes jogging, working out on the
stationary bike and other machines
in the cardio room, a little racquetball,
and of course swimming.
If you see Jared at Drayson
Center or around town, don’t be
intimidated. Jared is one of the
nicest people you’ll ever meet—
though he might be a little shy at
first. And he’s humble too, in spite
of his many accomplishments.