Gore ad tells story of disabled boy

AN EVERETT family is appearing in a national TV advertisement after the vice president helped secure care for their infant child.

EVERETT - The camera sweeps over a sleeping baby, then up to a nurse busy with tubes and monitors next to his crib.

The 30-second ad tells the story of 1-year-old Ian Malone, who was born severely disabled.

His parents thought things couldn't get worse until their HMO decided to terminate nursing care, even though Ian's pediatrician said he'd die without it. In desperation, Ian's father called Al Gore's presidential campaign office in Seattle. Gore came to the rescue and helped secure a promise from the HMO to continue Ian's care.

This political ad, which started airing nationally last week, highlights Gore's support for a national patients' bill of rights.

But the woman cradling Ian and standing next to the vice president is no actress. Christine and Dylan Malone of Everett have spent the past year fighting a battle to save their son's life. Last year, they were looking forward to the birth of a healthy baby boy. Now they have learned to find joy in the simplest things.

"Zoopa, zoopa, zoopa!" Dylan Malone coos to Ian, bouncing the baby on his knee. Ian giggles and smiles blissfully. This is his favorite game.

That rosy-cheeked smile is more than Dylan, 27, and Christine, 36, once hoped for. A botched delivery deprived Ian of oxygen; he was born gray and lifeless.

Ian now suffers from a long list of medical problems. He can't swallow, which means he's in constant danger of choking to death. He can't eat, and is hooked to a feeding tube 20 hours a day. He can't hold his head up, can't walk, can't talk. He has some mental retardation - how much, Ian's doctors don't yet know.

But already, this frail little boy has surpassed expectations. Ian's pediatrician warned the Malones that he might never smile, might never recognize them or show any positive response other than to stop screaming for a few minutes.

The Malones have learned to cherish the smiles.

Dylan hopes his son will one day be able to accept a feeding tube into his stomach instead of his intestines. That would mean quicker feeding, and more free time away from the machine. Christine wishes Ian could gain the strength to hold up his head, which has an alarming tendency to flop around.

Then there are other dreams, wishes they don't speak aloud very often.

"My goal is to take him to Al Gore's second inaugural walking and talking," says Dylan. "Even if walking is with a walker and even if talking is 25 words."

It would be hard to find bigger fans of Al Gore than at the Malones' home in Everett. Both parents firmly believe the vice president saved their son's life.

When Ian came home from intensive care, he was much worse off. He only stopped crying when he was sedated, he had frequent seizures and he nearly choked to death several times.

"It was a very, very dark time," Christine recalls.

"There were times I would come home and Christine would be almost in a fetal position, just sobbing," Dylan remembers. "And I just wanted to join her."

Then Aetna U.S. Healthcare, the nation's largest medical insurer, began cutting back Ian's nursing care. They told the Malones Ian did not qualify for in-home nursing at all - even though Ian's pediatrician recommended 16 hours of nursing care a day. The Malones went through Aetna's appeal system, but lost.

They called everyone they could think of. Their legislators and the state insurance commissioner offered help, but there wasn't much they could do. The newspaper where Dylan Malone works as a graphic artist is self-insured, meaning their insurance is governed by federal, not state laws.

With nowhere left to turn, Dylan called Gore's campaign office.

Gore happened to be campaigning through Washington before the presidential primary in February. He met the Malones and talked to them for an hour, then made their story part of his stump speech.

"Don't do this. Don't cut this child's coverage," Gore railed at Aetna during his next rally.

Things started moving quickly after that. Gore and the Malones went on NBC's "Today" show, joined by an Aetna representative who surprised them by saying Aetna would continue Ian's 16-hour nursing care for as long as he needed it. Christine put a hand to her earpiece, as if to check that she was not hearing things.

Aetna says that evaluation of Ian's case was accelerated due to Gore's interest, but that the company would have made the same decision regardless.

"We did follow procedures in this case, and we are not contemplating making any changes in those procedures," Aetna spokeswoman Elizabeth Sell said yesterday.

The Malones, on the other hand, are sure Gore's pressure and the media attention prompted Aetna's turnaround. Appearing in Gore's campaign ad was a no-brainer.

"When we met the vice president, we had come to a fork in the road," Dylan says. "One direction was Ian's a martyr, and the other direction was Ian's a poster child. I'm really glad he got to be a poster child."