Category: Featured

K-Bar Resident Shares His Story Of Tragedy To Triumph

K-Bar Ranch resident Pete Radigan has a story to tell, and he’s been waiting 20 years for people to read it.

On Oct. 4, Tragedy to Triumph: The Story of Tom’s Heart will be officially released for sale by Red Penguin Books.

“Oh my God, I can’t wait,” says Radigan, who moved from New Jersey to K-Bar Ranch in 2019. “If there was ever a made-for-TV (story), this book is it.”

Decades in the making, it is the personal story of Radigan’s battle with his health, his life-saving heart transplant and Jan Mauk’s healing from the loss of her son Tom, the teen whose heart keeps Radigan alive, and the rare relationship between the parent of a donor and the donor recipient.

Radigan says he and Jan have talked about writing the book for many years. Radigan, who had kept a journal during his long hospital stays while waiting for a transplant, had written his version of it years ago, and Jan surprised him with her version at Christmas in 2018.

A friend of Radigan’s, writer Jim McGrath, weaved it all together.

“Over the last 10 years, when was the last time you heard of a major story about organ donation?,” Radigan asks. “They are few and far between. This book talks about what the experience is like from the view of the mother of a deceased donor — how she felt and went through the grieving process — and also about the recipient and what they go through together. It’s the first time something like this has been catalogued in a book. I feel like it’s a healing guidebook for those on both sides of the organ donation process.”

Born on Staten Island, NY, in 1965 and raised in East Windsor, NJ, Radigan’s story certainly is unique.

In 1987, he was first diagnosed with hypertrophic cardio myopathy, which is an enlargement of the heart. It was later discovered he was actually suffering from Emery Dreifuss muscular dystrophy, which affects the heart.

By age 30, Radigan’s health had deteriorated to the point where he was having difficulty walking up stairs. He says he was teaching a corporate class in Orange County, CA, and couldn’t even wear shoes because his feet hurt so much. He was unknowingly already in end-stage heart failure.

“I thought, ‘When did I get in such bad shape?,’” he recalls. “I was embarrassed.”

Radigan returned to the east coast and underwent a battery of tests that made it official. He needed a heart, or, his doctors told him, he was going to die.

That led to months in the hospital. His first transplant was canceled after Radigan, surrounded by his family, had been prepped for the surgery. The heart he was to receive, doctors said, was damaged.

A week later, at 7:15 p.m. on Aug. 4, 1997, a new donor heart had been found, and Radigan received his heart at the New York Presbyterian Medical Center.

Just two days earlier, 16-year-old Tom Mauk was driving his motorcycle when a car struck him and sent him flying more than 150 feet.

Jan says she struggled for a day with the decision to donate Tom’s organs, but knew that was what her son would have wanted.

Jan listening to her son’s heart. Pete described the moment as one of the most emotional of his life.

On Sept. 13, Radigan walked out of the hospital with a cane and a new lease on life.

Jan mourned.

That’s the tragedy. The triumph came more than a year later, when, after a few letters back and forth, Pete and Jan agreed to finally meet on Feb. 5, 1999, in Niagara Falls in Toronto.

Radigan says it was one of the most emotional moments of his life. He brought Jan flowers and asked her if she wanted to listen to her son’s heart. She leaned in and pressed her ear to his chest.

“It was not like listening to the quality, rhythm, or rate of a heartbeat or detecting arrhythmias, which I practiced as a nurse,” she wrote. “Listening to his heart brought a connection to Tom, joy to my soul, in contrast to the previous sadness, as tears formed in my eyes….The sound of his heartbeat was a melody to my ear, as I wanted to permanently affix my head to (Pete’s) chest to hear it continually. It brought comfort to me.”

Radigan says that the last third of the book details their friendship, and includes the letters and emails they wrote to each other over the years.

“When I asked Jan what made her want to write the book, her answer was pretty simple: ‘It gave me the opportunity to leave a legacy for my son, the man he was and the gifts he provided,’” says Radigan.

For Pete Radigan, it was another chance to say “thank you.”

To purchase the book or for more information on donor and tissue donation, visit TragedyToTriumph.net. Tragedy to Triumph will also be available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Google Books.

Pete Radigan Tragedy to Triumph

AdventHealth Care Pavilion Now Open In Hunter’s Green!

*The 50,000-square-foot AdventHealth Care Pavilion at Hunter’s Green is now open in the former LifePoint Church building on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. at Hunter’s Lake Dr.* ***(Drone photo by Charmaine George)***

Going to the doctor may never be described as a fun experience. From the dreary waiting room to being shuffled in for the poking and prodding to the inevitable stop at the pharmacy on the way home or, even worse, a separate trip to another dreary waiting room at an imaging center or somewhere else for more tests, it’s an experience many people aren’t thrilled to go through.

However, AdventHealth Care Pavilion is opening on Sept. 14, and is happy to try and change some of that.

Located on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. at Hunter’s Lake Dr. in front of Hunter’s Green, the area’s newest facility also is its most innovative. The emphasis was on taking everything that patients find most frustrating about going to see a doctor and improving it.

That means easier and more convenient registration, modern waiting rooms and in addition to being home to eight primary care physicians, there will be no need for additional trips elsewhere in most cases because the new facility boasts in-house labs, imaging for x-rays and MRIs to name a few, and even a pharmacy.

“We tried to think through some of the little things that make it easier and more convenient and comfortable for people,” says John Johannessen, senior executive officer for non-acute services in the West Florida division of AdventHealth. “That’s the mindset of what a care pavilion is. We make it easier, make it comfortable and add a higher level of service so it’s just simply a destination location that you want to come to for your care and to stay healthy.”

Johannessen says AdventHealth is so serious about making it a pleasant experience, they hired a longtime Disney hospitality employee who will be specifically dedicated to the building’s consumer experience.

In fact, Johannessen doesn’t call it a reception desk that greets you upon entering, he says it’s more of a concierge-level welcome center.

“Obviously nobody likes registering,” he adds. “You register for the doctor and then when you have to go for the lab, you have to register for the lab, and then when you need to go get an image you have to register for the imaging. It’s a nightmare. It’s easy for people to say, ‘Why don’t you already have this information, why do I have to tell you this 10 times?’”

In addition to primary care, there will be other offerings, like subspecialties offered, such as cardiology, gastroenterology, obstetrics and general surgery. By the end of the year, Johannessen expects to have a pediatrician on staff as well.

While it is not labeled as an urgent care, the pavilion will accept walk-ins and can provide emergency care.

The facility is roomy, going more for an open-air mall type of feel than your traditional doctor’s office. A lot of thought has been put into the light, the music and even the colors, according to Johannessen, so a better mood and tone can be set.

When you are brought to your exam room, that’s where everything, even bloodwork, will happen (unless you need an X-ray, which is just a short walk away).

The focus is on connecting services for the convenience of patients.

Another convenience – a kids club for families who have children and can’t find a babysitter. The hours at the Advent Health Care Pavilion are Monday-Friday 7 a.m.-7 p.m., and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday, so parents have flexibility and don’t have to schedule their doctor visits around childcare or work.

‘We try to make it easy,” says Johannessen , who adds that the pavilion will initially be closed Sundays but the goal is to add enough to make it a seven-days-a-week facility.

The pavilion also offers a café, although it won’t be ready on day one at the New Tampa location. But, until it is ready, there will be a refreshment center.

The on-site Imaging Center will offer a separate women’s suite, focused on services that are important to them, like mammograms.

Imaging also has a large-bore MRI, which is the same as a traditional MRI but has a larger bore opening that adds more comfort and less stress for those who may suffer from claustrophobia.

“We tried to think through (many) of the little things that make it easier and more convenient,” says Johannessen.

The Hunter’s Green location actually is the second Care Pavilion center opened by AdventHealth. The first one opened in Westchase in June, to great response , according to Johannessen. But, the New Tampa location, which is roughly 50,000-sq.-ft. compared to its 20,000-sq.-ft. counterpart across the county, has more room to offer and room for expansion as well.

AdventHealth had been looking for a site somewhere along BBD for a year, and had all but settled on one when the previous owners of the property, which was most recently home to LifePoint Church (and Winn-Dixie before that) elected to sell.

The new site was perfect — close to an intersection, linked to a large community like Hunter’s Green, and was the right size with plenty of parking. “It checked all our boxes,” Johannessen says.

And, that is exactly what he hopes the AdventHealth Care Pavilion at Hunter’s Green will do for those looking for quality, innovative and easy-to-navigate healthcare.

The AdventHealth Care Pavilion at Hunter’s Green (8702 Hunter’s Lake Dr.) is now open. For more information, call (813) 467-4700 or visit AdventHealthCarePavilion.com.

AdventHealth Care Pavilion

Tampa Palms Blvd. Repaving In Line For A Budget Boost

When City of Tampa Mayor Jane Castor presented her $1.8-billion fiscal year 2022 budget to the Tampa City Council on August 5, it did not include any money for one of Council member Luis Viera’s sought-after projects — the repaving of Tampa Palms Blvd.

Viera, who represents District 7 (which includes most of North Tampa and all of incorporated New Tampa), was crestfallen. But, while he understood some of the budget constraints, he didn’t give up hope.

With the urging of community activists and Tampa Palms residents — many of them the same folks who fought for the funding for the New Tampa Recreation Center (NTRC) a few years ago — as well as plenty of Viera’s own door pounding, Mayor Castor announced on August 24 that an additional $3.3 million would be added to the budget to repave and rejuvenate Tampa Palms Blvd.’s south loop.

“That is a really, really, really big thing,” Viera says. “It’s a big win for our area.”

For the south loop, or segment 1, the price tag is $2.3 million. The north loop, which runs from Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. to Ebensburg Dr., will cost is $1 million.

The final public meeting on the budget is scheduled for Tuesday, September 28.

Money for the Tampa Palms Blvd. repaving was originally expected to come from the $500 million raised via the All for Transportation one-cent surtax. However, the penny surtax was struck down by the Florida Supreme Court in February, ironically a day after Viera met with Tampa Palms residents at a town hall.

“I promised the residents that night that if the penny sales tax failed that I would fight really hard for it in this year’s budget,” Viera said. “Flipping it into the budget when it wasn’t originally there was a big ask.”

Viera pushed for the money, with an assist from local activists — who made phone calls and sent emails to Mayor Castor.

One Tampa Palms resident, Mike Marlowe, wrote to Castor on Aug. 21 that his community had been promised repaving of the road “which now looks like a quilt instead of a roadway” — last year. He added that in 22 years of living in New Tampa, he has “never seen the road this bad.”

A week later, Brandie Miklus, the city’s infrastructure and mobility program coordinator, responded to Marlowe with the good news — that the city’s mobility department was moving forward with resurfacing plans.

In her address to the City Council, Castor seemed determined not to let the Florida Supreme Court decision freeze her efforts to improve the city’s infrastructure needs.

“I won’t sugar coat how big a blow it was to lose the All for Transportation money that was so overwhelmingly supported by our constituents,” Mayor Castor said. “I will provide a path to forge ahead on our own, one that includes a citywide mobility plan.”

Castor’s budget includes $22 million for road safety and maintenance. “We’ve all heard the calls from our community to make our streets, sidewalks and trails safe and to improve our road maintenance,” she said.

A refreshed Tampa Palms Blvd., which Viera says is presently “a failed road,” is currently in the design phase (the money for which was in last year’s budget), with actual construction occurring in two phases and expected to begin within the next year.

According to Miklus, it will include resurfacing, multimodal and safety improvements, traffic calming, enhanced crosswalks with Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs) and separated bicycle lanes.

After years of complaints about being ignored by the City of Tampa, this could be a year in which New Tampa’s cup runneth over, as a number of New Tampa projects are in the city’s plans to receive money. In fact, after the first public hearing on Sept. 13, Viera was pleased enough to say this year’s budget could be the best for New Tampa in recent memory, if not ever.

The budget has $1.67 million scheduled for the long-awaitd inclusive playground, which will have play elements, wheelchair access and autism-friendly features, to be built near the New Tampa Recreation Center (NTRC).

The FY 2022 budget also includes $650,000 to begin the planning and design of Tampa Fire Rescue Station No. 24, which will be located in the K-Bar Ranch area. Another $11.5 million is expected to be allocated in the FY 2023 budget for construction of what would be New Tampa’s fifth fire station.

Until then, Viera says he also is working on the construction of a possible road off Morris Bridge Rd. that would allow for quicker access into K-Bar Ranch to help reduce some of the response times of the two fire stations on Cross Creek Blvd., both of which rank among the slowest in the entire Tampa Bay area.

Viera also said the budget includes $50,000 to design New Tampa Blvd.’s future renovation ($50,000), hopefully leading to its repaving in the next year or two. Like Tampa Palms Blvd., New Tampa Blvd. was initially slated for improvements using All For Transportation money.

As backers of the NTRC know, just because the money is in the budget for a project doesn’t mean it can’t be moved or taken out.

The budget has to be approved by Friday, October 1.

tampa palms tampa palms Blvd.

Host Your Next Event At Omari’s Grille At Lexington Oaks GC!

When classically trained chef Anass El-Omari and his wife Susana Herrera purchased Lexington Oaks Golf Club about three years ago, I was excited about the prospect of having another real restaurant in Wesley Chapel.

And, although Anass at first revamped the existing golfer-oriented menu at the golf course’s restaurant, which he re-named Omari’s Grille, he ended up scaling back his everyday offerings of fresh fish, pasta and filet mignon, and has kept the menu smaller and simpler since reopening Omari’s after the Covid-19 pandemic shut it down for a few months in 2020.

But now, while Omari’s regular menu is still mainly comprised of burgers, sandwiches, wings and other fast, simple foods favored by the golfers who frequent his completely renovated golf course, Anass has brought back some of the dishes I loved on his original Omari’s menu as specials on Friday evenings.

*Owner/chef Anass El-Omari of Omari’s Grille fires up his sautée pan to create (below left & above right) delicious Cajun pasta.* ***(Photos by Charmaine George)***

Anass loves both cooking and talking about cooking. So, in conjunction with this article, we recorded our second “Cooking With Anass” segment that was released a few days before this issue arrived in your mailbox, where he made an amazing Cajun pasta (above), with both Andouille sausage and top sirloin steak in a semi-spicy cream sauce that’s as good as anything you’ll find in any fine dining establishment.

“Good food is actually really simple to make,” he said as he set some hot oil on fire before sautéeing the steak and sausage together. “The key is knowing what ingredients and how much of each to use. I love sharing my secrets.”

And, I love tasting his recipes, because Anass is a true culinary artist who serves up some of the best food in our area, even if many locals still don’t know it. So, whether you want to start with authentic Colombian empanadas, crispy calamari or shrimp tempura salad, or enjoy a great grilled chicken caprese or salmon teriyaki entrée, you can’t go wrong at Omari’s.

Great Events, Too!

Now that things have gotten a little more normal in this Covid-crazy world, people are again looking for great places to host events like weddings, quinceañeras, baby showers, anniversary parties and even memorial gatherings and you can’t go wrong if you host your next event for 20-80 people at Lexington Oaks.

Omari’s offers a complete appetizer catering menu — featuring burger sliders, mini-croissants stuffed with chicken and tuna salad and more — as well as a sit-down dinner menu for events, so you can serve London broil with mushroom sauce, orange chicken and a variety of shrimp dishes, plus a dessert bar. Anass and his staff also can custom-design pretty much anything else you’d want to serve.

And, while the indoor space currently is limited to 80 people, Anass says he plans to extend the room out to the existing patio area, so that up to 120 people could fit in the air conditioned, indoor space. And, there is an additional covered outdoor space that can fit another 60 or so people.

“I think Wesley Chapel really needs an event space like this,” Anass says, “and the food will always be good. “Plus, we have the area down by the water (photo above) for weddings (as in the photo above) and the people love it.”

Omari’s Grill at Lexington Oaks Golf Club (16333 Lexington Oaks Blvd.) is open Wednesday & Thursday, 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m., 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m. on Friday, 11 a.m., and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday & Sunday. For additional information, call (813) 929-4217, visit LexingtonOaksGolf.com, or call the golf course’s main number — (813) 907-7270 — to talk to a catering specialist about scheduling, and designing a menu for, your event.

Lexington Oaks Omari’s Grill

Ready for takeoff!

Quarterback Rocco Becht stands on the launch pad, ready to reach the stars.

He has been waiting.

He waited his turn as a freshman at Wiregrass Ranch High as the junior varsity starter, was prematurely thrown into the starting role as a sophomore and saw his junior year clipped by an inexperienced team and Covid-19. He has still managed to put up good numbers, but they have not met his expectations.

He’s a senior now. And he is ready.

“I definitely feel like I have something to prove,” he says.

Rocco is ready for liftoff.

10…9…8….

Rocco is the son of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Anthony Becht, although he shares few of his pop’s imposing physical attributes. Anthony was a 6-foot-6, 270-pound monster of a tight end. Rocco is a little on the smallish side — he’s now 6’-1”, 185 lbs. — and says that when he played Pop Warner football, “I’m not going to lie, I was afraid to get hit.”

However, he acquired the love for football watching dad catch passes and block defenders in the NFL. And, he could throw a football better than the other kids, so he ended up being the quarterback. He played flag football for Liberty Middle School in New Tampa, and full-pads Pop Warner football for the South Pasco Predators.

What he lacked in physical stature he made up for with hard work and smarts.

As a freshman at Wiregrass Ranch in 2018, he started for the JV. Just a month before the start of the 2019 season, varsity starter Hunter Helton bolted for Armwood. Rocco was elevated to starter, and threw for 1,985 yards, 21 touchdowns and just eight interceptions while

leading the Bulls to the postseason and a 7-4 final record.

“He got thrown into the fire,” Anthony says. “Physically, he couldn’t develop his sophomore year because he was still young and just getting into weights. Mentally, he had to speed that process up. I didn’t know what to expect. He wasn’t very big then. I was worried about him physically…but he did a great job with it. Once his sophomore season was done…he started thinking, ‘You know, I got something here.’”

Rocco says until that season, he wasn’t sure if he hadn’t peaked, if there was a “next level” waiting for him. But, fully committed afterwards, he set his sights on being great.

7…6…5…

From the end of his sophomore season through this summer, few have dedicated themselves more to their craft than Rocco.

“I’m not sure anyone has worked harder,” says Wiregrass Ranch head coach Mark Kantor. “He’s dedicated, that’s for sure. He sets the example.”

Bryson Rodgers will be one of Rocco’s top targets this season.

Rocco went to his father after the 2019 season and told Anthony that he was all in. It was all Anthony needed to hear. It started in the garage of their Wesley Chapel home, where, as the pandemic raged, dad laid out the roadmap to success for his son, which included working out, eating right, watching film and absorbing the game.

Rocco continued honing his skills with noted quarterback coach Chip Bennett and his son C.J. in Tampa. He survived a junior slump in a Covid-19-shortened season and this past offseason attacked the recruiting camp circuit with a vengeance.

In April, he orally committed to the Big 12’s Iowa State University in Ames. Although he had received an offer — with more likely to come — from Ole Miss a week before he committed, Rocco passed on Lane Kiffin and the prestigious Southeastern Conference and stuck with the Cyclones, who offered him first, during his sophomore year.

A 4.0 student, Rocco will graduate from Wiregrass Ranch in December and enroll at Iowa State in January.

Also in April, Rocco was named the MVP at a Rivals Camp in Miami, earning an invite to the prestigious Rivals100 5-Star Challenge in Atlanta in June.

Competing against the likes of Cade Klubnik (Clemson commitment), A.J. Swann (Maryland commit) and other higher-rated quarterbacks, Rocco stunningly dominated the event and again earned MVP honors.

“I was told I was one of the last guys picked to go to the Rivals thing,” Rocco says. “I went out there and balled. That put a bunch of confidence in me. It gave me a lot of momentum for this season.”

Two weeks ago, Rocco earned another star in the Rivals rankings, making him officially a 4-Star-rated quarterback.

4…3….

This season, Rocco will lead a Bulls team that is loaded on offense and still developing on defense, and is hoping to open one of its most promising seasons Friday. The Bulls Aug. 27 opener against Hernando and the originally scheduled game Friday against Wesley Chapel were postponed. No replacement has been announced.

No matter when it officially starts, Rocco is “stoked” about the possibilities this season. Like many of his teammates, he has been working hard for this moment.

Anthony will be calling the plays at Wiregrass Ranch this season, as the team’s offensive coordinator. In the spring game, Rocco threw four TD passes to three different receivers. He and wideout Bryson Rodgers — who has offers from Alabama and Florida, to name a few — might be the best QB-WR tandem in Tampa Bay high school football.

But, they are just pieces of a puzzle, Anthony says. “Rocco wants to win,” he says. “That’s what is most important. Not how many stars you have, not how many yards you have, but can we go to the playoffs? You throw for 450 yards, tweet that out, people put likes on it, and it’s good for a week. He wants to do something with this team that lasts a lifetime.”

Rocco may have been a late bloomer, but he still has plenty of quarterback swagger. He says he believes that the Bulls can win every game this season and make a deep run in the playoffs. He has circled the Mitchell game on Sept. 10, after the Mustangs returned the opening kickoff in last year’s game against the Bulls en route to a 42-14 romp. Powerhouses like Armwood and Tampa Bay Tech await the Bulls as well.

“I feel like I’ve earned everything I’ve gotten, from hard work and dedication to the game,” Rocco says. “It’s going to pay off at the end of the day. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for me.”

Yes, Rocco Becht is on the launch pad, ready to reach the stars.

2….1….blast off!