Page 25 - AAA Magazine – AAA Ohio Auto Club – November 2018

Lessons in Life
By Kimberly Schwind
Special needs bring about a variety of transportation challenges.
In many ways, Daniel Rako is your average 21-year- old. In other ways, he’s an all-star, whose journey has defied the odds and broken limits.
Rako is an avid sports fan whose room is filled with autographed memorabilia from his favorite teams, awards he’s won – including three high school letters in varsity football – and photos of him at various sporting events. He coaches football for his alma mater, New Albany High School, serves as an usher at Ohio Stadium and is striving toward his goal of working in sports management at The Ohio State University.
Rako’s accomplishments can be attributed to passion, positivity and a dedicated tribe of fans cheering him on all along the way.
Looking at his accomplishments, it is difficult to believe Rako was born with spina bifida – a condition that has left him paralyzed from the waist down. He spent the
first month of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. When it was finally time for Rako to go home for the first time, Rako’s mother, Jill Clark, recalls being absolutely terrified.
“As thrilled as we were to get Rako home so we could all be under one roof, I was equally as terrified of bringing him home,” said Clark. “That journey started with buckling him in the car seat and driving the 25 minutes from the hospital to our house. Those 25 minutes felt like 25 years, as I sat in the back next to him holding tubes, the portable oxygen tank, apnea monitor and feeding pump.”
By the time Rako was a year old, he had 11 surgeries and spent an average of 31⁄2 days of every week in the hospital. Aside from learning to “find the funny” in life, Clark said she relied on the experts to guide her in caring for her son.
It might be a child with autism or ADHD getting out of the restraint and head-butting the driver, or even a child with cerebral palsy that slumps in the car and has poor head control.
“My best advice ... if you’re facing a brand-new diagnosis, or a brand-new baby or a child who has a need that develops over time, just listen to the experts,” said Clark. “Find your people. Find your resources.”
That includes learning how to safely transport that child to and from surgeries, doctor’s appointments and clinics. For some families, that means speaking with a physician’s office or hospital about adaptive or specialized seats. For others, it can be a struggle to find a way to transport their children to receive the care they need.
“As a whole, getting good transportation for people with disabilities is a challenge,” said Clark.
Kellie O’Riordan, traffic safety program manager at
AAA Ohio Auto Club and certified Child Passenger
Safety Instructor, has been working to safely transport children for 18 years. She has served as a Safe Travel
for All Children technician since 2007. STAC technicians focus on transporting children with special considerations, like Rako.
“We want to use conventional seats first. They’re easier to use, they’re less expensive and they’re easier to install,” said O’Riordan.
Rako always sat in a conventional seat, and Clark always made sure that seat, along with his two sisters’ seats, were inspected by certified Child Passenger Safety technicians. With an estimated 8 out of 10 car seats
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