Mainers visit child hospital Man to see patients at 20 sites

Greg Smith, 45, is from Hampden and Matthew Bell, 21, is from Presque Isle. The Mainers live about 160 miles apart, yet it took separate trips to the Philadelphia Shriner’s hospital for them to meet and to discover they have more in common than a home state.

Smith is an electrician and avid motorcyclist. A member of Bangor’s Anah Temple Shrine, he has taken two months off from his job with the Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. to visit patients at 20 of the 22 Shriner’s hospitals around the country. It is a 17,000-mile adventure of love for a man who said he wants to “give something back” to a world that has been good to him and his family.

The founder of K-9s for Kids, Smith is traveling with Meaghan, a liver-and-white springer spaniel that gently licks the hands of hospitalized kids. A man with a mission, Smith pulled up to Philadelphia’s Shrine Children’s Hospital around 2 p.m. Tuesday, his silver, souped-up motorcycle gleaming in the sunlight.

Bell, who had heard Smith was coming, met his Maine counterpart in a hospital hall with a wide “County boy” smile and his own vehicle – a non-motorized wheelchair.

Bell is paralyzed from the waist down, the result of a snowmobile accident 18 months ago. His revved up snow machine hurtled over a snow-covered potato field one winter’s evening and plunged into a ravine. It was Dec. 28, 1999. The young man’s back shattered, leaving him with a T-12 spinal chord injury and permanently paralyzed legs.

Not one to dwell on his problems, Bell escorted Smith around a few hospital rooms. They chatted with Reese, Bell’s 16-year-old paralyzed roommate from Florida, and Jamie, a 22-year-old woman who is paralyzed from the neck down.

Upstairs there were younger kids, even toddlers, paralyzed with orthopedic problems. A group of Shriners who met Smith as he entered the city of Brotherly Love walked him and Meaghan to the upper hospital levels to work their visiting magic. Bell stayed behind.

“He’s a remarkable young man, an inspiration. He won’t let anything hold him back,” Smith said of the younger Maine man. Smith plans to visit Bell once he gets back to Maine in August.

“I said to him, ‘Be part of life, Matt. Don’t let it pass you by,”’ Smith recalled in a telephone interview.

Bell appears to have taken the message to heart.

The Presque Isle native has a specially rigged pick-up truck that lifts him into the cab to drive around County roads, and then lifts his wheelchair into a truck compartment, ever available for his use.

Athletic by nature, Bell recently returned from a canoe trip along Florida waterways. He plans to start an adaptive ski program in Mars Hill next winter. His goal is to attend college, then teach adaptive recreation skills to others.

“Greg uses a motorcycle to help spread his message. I’ll use a truck, a wheelchair, anything I can,” Bell said from Philadelphia.

Some of Bell’s ambitions have crystallized since he began visiting the Philadelphia Shriner’s hospital about a year ago. A hospital favorite, Bell goes for two-week periods and is known to give as much good will as he gets.

The Shrine children’s hospitals treat patients free of charge until age 21 – occasionally older. Smith hopes his trip will inspire a few other therapeutic dog chapters to start around the country. He also wants to spread the word about the good works of the Shrine and the organization’s need for new and re-invigorated members.

“I think he’ll inspire a lot of people as he goes. A lot of people are so amazed by his drive to go from coast to coast – all in the spirit of helping others,” Bell said.

Smith plans to make updates and download pictures during the trip on Web site anahshriners.com.