Jason

There’s still one more thing he wants to accomplish

Telegraph photo by Mark Fraser

President Ronald Reagan greets Jason Hinrichs and his mother, Karen, Monday afternoon in Dixon High School.

Reagan deviated from his prepared speech to mention Jason and the community’s efforts which raised $37,000 to send Jason to Germany for medical treatment.

By Devon Heckman – Telegraph staff writer

In one brief moment, Jason Hinrichs went from a local personality to a national celebrity.

During President Ronald Reagan’s homecoming visit to Dixon Monday, the chief executive deviated from the prepared speech he gave at Dixon High School to recognize Jason and the community who sent him to Germany to receive medical treatment.

“You showed how much you care when you raised $37,000 for Jason Hinrichs,” the president said.

Jason suffers from Epidermolysis Bullosa, a rare skin disease that causes open sores anywhere the skin is exposed to friction or trauma.

Jason and his family found out Friday the 10-year-old would be mentioned in the president’s address to Dixon and the nation.

“I was just happy that he was going to mention me,” Jason said today. “I didn’t think I was going to be able to meet him. We knew we were going to sit in the front row.”

Jason’s mother, Karen, said she received a call from Washington Friday asking permission for Reagan to use Jason’s name. “I said we’d be honored.

“She said since his name was used in the speech, Jason should take part in the festivities and Reagan wanted to meet Jason and his family.”

“It all went so fast – too fast to register,” Karen said. “I’m still in a state of shock.”

“It was exciting. The feeling was nice,” Jason recalled. “It was real exciting when he was coming toward us. I said, ‘What’s going on.” He didn’t even finish his speech.

“My grandpa was sitting by me and my grandpa pointed to me (after Reagan mentioned his name). He didn’t know I was going to be there. He was all shook up.

“Dean Harrison was crying and said Reagan was too shook up to finish his speech.”

The fifth grader at Madison School will surely be bombarded with questions from his classmates today. “Everybody is going to be talking to me.

“Nancy Reagan put her arm around me and said ‘We hope you get better soon. We love you.”

Jason said Governor James Thompson also spoke to him after the speech. Jason said the governor asked him “How come the president said more about you than he did about me.” Karen said “Thompson told me to write a letter to his office and he would do what he could for us.”

The governor invited Jason to be his guest this year at the Illinois State Fair, visit the mansion and sleep in Abraham Lincoln’s bed. Jason is looking forward to taking Thompson up on the offer.

Once you’ve met the president, shook his hand and been mentioned on the national news, what else is there in a young boy’s life?

“I guess getting Mr. (Pavel) Kozak over here would be the last thing that I’d like to happen. I want him here so he can help everybody else – beside me.”

Getting Kozak to this country, and possibly to Dixon permanently, is also on Karen’s mind.

The Sauk Valley Community Trust Fund, who administers the Jason to Germany fund, and the Dixon Noon Lions Club have been working with KSB Hospital administrators to arrange a meeting between Kozak and the hospital’s medical staff. So far, the efforts have been unsuccessful.

“We want the doctors here to learn about the treatment so they all can work together to research a cause and cure,” Karen explained. “I hope they can open their minds to this man {Kozak) and put all their medical knowledge together and come up with a great solution.”

Karen said some medical facilities have experimented with the treatment, which consists of a special diet, vitamins, creams and lotions, but without Kozak’s supervision. “They can say the treatment doesn’t work by not using it correctly and under the direction of Kozak,” she said.

Karen said when she ran out of medicine three weeks ago, Jason suffered a relapse and broke out in open sores. “He’s on the way back now,” she said but added it takes Jason much longer to recover from a relapse than it does to break out.

Of Jason’s big day Karen summed it up saying, “If you could have seen his face it said it all.”