Illness Forces Vietnam Veteran to Turn to Charity

THE NEEDIEST CASES
Illness Forces Vietnam Veteran to Turn to Charity
By C. J. HUGHES
Published: December 19, 2010

Angled between the houseplants in Luis Perez’s high-rise apartment in Rockaway Beach, Queens, is a telescope aimed at surfers.

The views of them in the waves, along with the plants, help Mr. Perez, 59, feel somewhat connected to nature. He can no longer journey outside much — his immune system is too weakened by his illness, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which was found in his neck in December 2008 and has since spread to his stomach.

“The plants bring out beauty, you know what I mean?” Mr. Perez said on a recent afternoon, as waves crashed in the distance.

Yet to someone who used to go fishing often, and who would excitedly count the days until an annual camping trip to Hammonasset Beach State Park in Connecticut, ersatz wilderness might seem an offensive substitute for the real thing.

Another cruel twist is that Mr. Perez, a Vietnam War veteran who spent years working with suicidal teenagers, gang members and the developmentally disabled, is now in a position to need help himself.

Last spring, a doctor told Mr. Perez that he had to quit his job at Garfield Manor, a group home run by Catholic Charities in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Mr. Perez was a counselor there, helping residents with basic daily hygiene, as well as a floor-hockey coach for players vying for the Special Olympics.

Being in such close quarters with the 10 people living at Garfield put Mr. Perez at risk of infection, his doctor said. As it was, he wore a surgical mask to keep germs away on the A train, which he took to his hospital visits three times a week.
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Illness Forces Vietnam Veteran to Turn to Charity