Alicia Robinson
Unlike some girls her age who want to be ballerinas or get ponies,
Serena Miller prefers snakes and karate.
Serena, who is 11, is learning karate now, even though she was
born with a retinal problem that left her blind.
Her classes are at Children's Hospital of Orange County, and her
teacher is Wayne Centra, a Newport Beach occupational therapist who
uses martial arts to help children kick the lethargy caused by
chemotherapy or fight for the muscle control that's slipping due to
an illness or disability.
Some of Centra's other students are children like 5-year-old Sarah
Grant, an exuberant blond cherub with glasses who made her parents
dye her karate belt pink.
During karate class, Sarah doesn't seem like she's been in and out
of hospitals since she was about a year old because of leukemia.
"He's done incredible with her. She's come so far in the last
year," said Sarah's mother, Wendy Grant, of Huntington Beach.
"A year ago she couldn't even skip."
Getting their fight back
Now Sarah can punch and kick, and so can a number of other
children who meet on padded floor mats every Wednesday in a therapy
room at the hospital.
Centra manages to hold their attention and keep the younger
children from wriggling away, even getting them to do a respectful
bow at the end of the class.
He'll start them with some stretches, helping them as needed, and
move into basic punching moves.
By the end of the class the students get to fall to the mats and
do kicks at an exercise ball, signifying their force with appropriate
noises.
Many of the students have had chemotherapy or debilitating health
problems.
Practicing karate moves helps them keep off excess weight from
their treatments or get control of their wayward muscles.
"[Centra's] work has really helped patients regain their strength
and get normalcy to their life," said pediatric oncologist Dr. Violet
Shen.
"I've heard a lot of great feedback from the parents. They really
appreciate his work with their kids."
Change of pace
At one time, hospital karate instructor was not a likely scenario
for Centra.
He's now 34, when he was younger he was captain of the surf team
at Corona del Mar High School and wanted to go professional.
But before that, when he was 11, his mom drove him to a karate
school one day and dropped him off.
"I went in, spent two or three hours, and by the time I left I
loved it," Centra said.
"I guess what my mom was trying to teach me is there's other
things out there than surfing."
