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February 2023 | Volume 16 | Issue 4
Let’s Face It: Your Smile is Yours Forever Our Lifetime Smile Guarantee offers peace-of-mind. If you’re unsatisfied with your smile after treatment, we’ll fix it at a discounted price. Visit BhamSmile.com to schedule a free consultation. SERVING THE 280 CORRIDOR, HOMEWOOD, HOOVER, MOUNTAIN BROOK, TRUSSVILLE AND VESTAVIA HILLS
THE 280 CORRIDOR’S COMMUNITY NEWS SOURCE 280LIVING.COM | STARNESMEDIA.COM
FLYING HIGH Briarwood student soars with epilepsy awareness efforts By JON ANDERSON
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or six years, Elaina Burt has watched her cousin, Charlie Wilson, battle epilepsy caused by a gene mutation called SMC1A. Charlie is nonverbal, stays in a chair all day long and is fed through a tube. She’s on medication for epilepsy, but if she didn’t have the medication, she would continuously have seizures all day, said Burt, a 17-year-old who lives in Riverchase. “We’ve really had to grapple with the unfairness of that,” Burt said. Burt, a junior at Briarwood Christian School who was named Miss Jefferson County’s Outstanding Teen last July, decided to take action. She started a nonprofit called Charlie’s Chance and now works to raise awareness about epilepsy, advocate for people suffering from it and raise money to enrich their lives.
See BURT | page A24 Miss Jefferson County’s Outstanding Teen Elaina Burt, a junior at Briarwood Christian School, stands in front of a plane at Over the Mountain Aviation at the Shelby County Airport. Burt is scheduled to take her Federal Aviation Administration check ride on Feb. 4 to get her private pilot license. Photo by Erin Nelson.
Healing the heart
Jim Baker, right, and his son Jake run on the indoor track at Ascension St. Vincent’s One Nineteen nine months after Jim suffered a heart attack. Photo courtesy of Mary Katherine Tullo.
Brook Highland man’s journey back to health By LEAH INGRAM EAGLE It has been 18 months since Jim Baker suffered a heart attack in July 2021. He was 55 years old and in good health and
INSIDE
Sponsors ......................... A4 City ................................... A6
Business .........................A10 Community .................... A12
hadn’t had any previous heart symptoms. The only pill he took each day was a vitamin. “It caught me completely out of the blue,” Baker said. “I had pain around 1 p.m. and went to the emergency room around 10 p.m. The pain was incredibly bad in my chest, but I still didn’t think I was having a heart attack even when my wife was driving me to the ER.”
Schoolhouse ..................A16 Sports..............................A19
See BAKER | page A26 Opinion............................ B14 Calendar.......................... B15 facebook.com/280living
Finishing Strong
Medical Guide
Paul Lanzi and Chelsea High basketball team are aiming for a postseason push.
Get to know some of the health and wellness providers along the U.S. 280 Corridor.
See page A19
See page B4