The Eric Westacott Foundation has raised over $30,000 for physical therapy for 11-year old Alex Malarkey. The funds will allow young Alex to participate in two separate two-week programs at Kennedy Krieger Institute’s International Center for Spinal Cord Injury in Baltimore, Maryland, and to receive a Functional Electrical Stimulus (FES) bike and tilt-table donated by Lorraine Valentini and Chris Reyling.

The Eric Westacott Foundation (EWF), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the study and cure of spinal cord injuries (SCI), announced today that it has raised over $30,000 to provide physical therapy for 11-year old Alex Malarkey. Continue Reading »

Time running out on local man’s medical coverage

PANAMA CITY — Pictures of Michael Harris and children in wheelchairs, children with cancer and veterans home from Iraq line the walls of his hospital room at Bay Medical Center. They’re memories from the many years when Michael volunteered with Buckmasters and the Way Outfitters, teaching terminally ill and disabled children and adult veterans how to hunt and fish in the Florida Panhandle.

One 8-year-old boy with leukemia whom Michael took out hunting was able to shoot three deer. Another 8-year-old with spina bifida went hunting and fishing with Michael and was able to shoot his first deer. Michael also initiated and coordinated with local EMS employees a campaign to voluntarily mow lawns for the wives of National Guard members serving in Iraq. Continue Reading »