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Show y Work and optimism help man overcome disability BvMARCEM-AWALKEH You' could sit around and feel rrv for yourself or you could get and accomplish everything you n That is the philosophy of Gail Albiston, a Pleasant Grove man who J has an inoperable brain tumor, but ! lhas not let it stand I in his way of 5 doing what needs to be done. The tumor had been discovered hen Gail was 26. The doctors say 1 1 Ire is a 60 per cent chance he fc Luld be paralyzed if they tried to j operate on it. Gail does not want to tv (,ke that risk. si Bom and raised in Idaho, Gail V snent time visiting relatives each t i summer. Once whe he was visiting, O can of paint was dropped on his Ld and he was in a coma for 14 J L,s This may have been the cause jj of (he later development of the 'Tail takes medication which jijes it possible for him to lead a H fairly normal life. He has a spell once in a while where he is in-fel in-fel capacitated and does not recognize H people nor know what is going on about him It lasts a few days and then he is better again. Fortunately, he can tell when he is going to have one of these spells and can prepare for it. Because he knows when one is coming, he is able to keep his drivers license and although he is considered disabled' he is able to do the work that needs to be done. Six years ago Gail and his wife, Kathleen, who is a nurse, bought a house in Pleasant Grove on 200 South. "It was a real mess when we moved in. It had been a rental home for about 25 years and it had not been well taken care of," Gail said But they got a good buy on the house. They did most of the repair work on the house themselves. They used 15 gallons of paint on the inside of the home and paneled the walls. They redid the ceiling and put all new carpets down. They had to have the home fumigated three times to get rid of all of the cockroaches, Gail noted. The back porch had been used to overhaul engines and Gail needed to '' ' f V ' . " y - wj '. ' ' VJ t-, - . ' ' i- . ..-n . ' : '. :i-A ! ' : 1 ; . yS ; ;: . K I : . . f i ' ' ' .i i' " f - -- ' '-' ' I rf t' "' '" , ? v. J use a wood chisel to get the grease off. They finished the rooms in the basement and redid all the windows in the house, putting thermalpane windows in all around. At that time, Mountain Fuel Supply would help with insulating houses so they had the entire home insulated and now it only costs them about $43 per month year round for natural gas. The yard was in bad shape and had a wooden fence which was falling down, there was hardly any grass and there was a forest of trees. They could not remove one tree stump on the east side of the house, so Gail cut it to ground level and planted a flower garden over the top of it. The circular flower bed is an attractive addition to the yard. Gail and his family added a chain link fence, cut down 26 Chinese Elm trees and had Grant Fowles come in and fell a huge Cottonwood tree that leaned over the house. There is a garden spot on the other side of the flood control ditch and it was full of rocks. It took a long time, but Gail got it cleared and now he has a large garden plot which keeps his family and some of the neighbors adequately supplied with vegetables during the summer. They have built an attractive arched bridge over the ditch to give access to the garden which his daughters, Rachel, 10 and Mary, 9, have helped him plant and take care of. "People ought to take pride in where they live, whether they rent or own," Gail stated. He and his wife spend about $75 to $150 per year on flowers to make their home look more attractive. Now that the house and yard are looking good, Gail has been doing some woodwork. He had never done any before, but he started out with simple things and now has made grandfather clocks, cedar jewel boxes, kids toys, etc. He refinished some old Singer Sewing Machines. He worked on one for two-and-one-half years. It had sat out in the snow for quite some time before he got it. Both of the sewing machines now sew. One is both electric and treadle. Gail sent the refinished machines back to the Singer Company. They went clear through the machines and fixed them up so they work very well. Recently Gail and his two daughters built a large shed out back. The girls would hold up the wallboard, etc., and he would nail it into place. They insulated the building, wired it, painted it, etc. Always accident prone, Gail had a terrible summer just past. He was trying to get a car part at a wrecking yard and while assisting the employee em-ployee there to remove the part from a car he fell from a high stack of cars. He received some serious injuries then. Later he had to have eye surgery and then he spent 28 days in LDS Hospital for surgery of an abdominal ab-dominal tumor. When he was putting a new roof on his home a few years ago, he fell and broke both wrists, one in 12 places and the other in 14 places. The High Priest Quorum then finished the roof for him. Through all of this, Gail has kept an optimistic outlook. He is called in : quite often by neighbors who need ; things repaired and he enjoys doing ' Gail Albiston, center, who has not let a physical illness impair his ambition, spends time with his two daughters, Rachel, left, and Mary. this for people. Gail feels that there is no sense in sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. There is plenty that needs to be done and he is willing to do it. "I couldn't stand it if I had to just lie about," he said. "I would sleep my life away and that is no way to live," Gail added. So he keeps busy, very busy. |