The Berlin
Cit itiz ize en
Volume 15, Number 4
Berlin’s Only Hometown Newspaper
Thursday, Januar y 27, 2011
Citizen of the Year 2010: Mark Lewandowski 9/11 memorial demonstrates outstanding vision By Olivia L. Lawrence The Berlin Citizen
In March 2010, Mark Lewandowski joked with the Town Council that he was prone to “grandiose plans.” But despite the light note, he was completely serious about the vision he brought for-
ward: to build a local memorial in recognition of the nearly 3,000 people killed Sept. 11, 2001, including 343 firefighters involved in rescue operations Lewandowski, chief at Kensington Fire Rescue sent a grant application, to the 9/11 Family Association, requesting tons of steel, relics from Ground Zero. One intent of the 9/11 Family Association is to grant artifacts to community See Citizen, page 5
August 2010, Mark Lewandowski returns with a relic from the World Trade Towers.
Snow and sun
East Berlin kindergartener fights rare disease By Robin Veronesi Special to The Citizen
Photo by Larry Tamiso
The light and shadow of this photo, taken Jan. 9 at Sage Park, captures the solitude and beauty of a winter scene. See additional photo page 15. For a wrap-up of reader submitted winter wonderland pictures see next week’s edition of The Citizen.
When one of her five yearold twins woke with a headache on Dec. 27, 2010, Jessica Silva gave him a pain reliever. Soon after, he said his knees hurt. Silva and her husband, Tyler, thought their son Jonathan might be experiencing growing pains. “By Wednesday he was shuffling around like a little old man and had dark circles under his eyes,” she said. “On Thursday, he had no strength in his legs and collapsed.” By the weekend, he wasn’t walking, sitting up or eating. The Silvas called an ambulance to transport their son to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford because they could not get him into the car. After a series of painful and invasive tests, including a spinal tap, doctors diagnosed Jonathan with Guillain-Barré Syndrome — a rare, but treatable autoim-
mune disease. According to the keepkidshealthy.com website, GBS occurs 0.4 to 1.7 cases per 100,000 people per year. It strikes randomly and is not genetic, which explains why Jonathan’s twin brother Alex is unaffected to date.
“For most people, it starts at the bottom and works its way up,” Jessica Silva said. In addition to muscle weakness, symptoms may include numbness, tingling, and difficulty walking,
See Disease, page 9
Jonathan Silva, 5, of East Berlin, at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford