Surgery

Jennifer Kugies, the mother of Reef Kugies, a 9-year-old boy who died Sept. 23 of complications from foot surgery, has created a website in his memory. New fundraisers also have been announced to raise money for his memorial fund. Reefkugies.com contains a blog, photos, memorial fund information and ways for people to get in touch with Reef’s family. Reef was born with Schizencephaly, an extremely rare developmental birth disorder characterized by clefts on one or both sides of the brain, his mother said.

Apparently the world’s No. 1 golfer is not excused from diaper duty or middle-of-the-night feedings. Tiger Woods looked exhausted Monday, when he appeared via video from his Florida home to promote his upcoming Chevron World Challenge. Heavy eyes and a fatigued voice, the part-time Corona del Mar resident looked like he would have gladly traded the $10 million he had won the day before at the PGA Tour’s Fed Ex Cup for a full night’s rest. “Yeah, I am a little bit tired, there’s no doubt,” Woods said.

Since I’m not paid to write this column, I can pretty much express my gardening opinions and say what I want. Besides, I’ve got a day job. My children ridicule me for often driving through unknown neighborhoods, looking at plants and exploring for interesting gardens, curious of what I might find. Sometimes I participate in this odd habit with full, premeditated intention, weaving through the neighborhood. Perhaps you’ve seen me. Other times I’m going someplace in particular, but to get there, I’ll avoid the main streets and weave through unknown neighborhoods, so I can see what’s going on in the gardens.

A 12-year-old boy was in serious condition and another boy suffered minor injuries after they were hit by a car while walking to Wilson Park in Costa Mesa, police said Tuesday night. About 6:42 p.m. the pair were crossing Wilson Street northbound from Fordham Drive when a car westbound on Wilson hit them, said Sgt. Joyce LaPointe. Police said the 12-year-old boy suffered a serious head injury and had bleeding in his brain and was in emergency surgery Tuesday night at Mission Hospital’s trauma center in Mission Viejo.

For years, Angela Mendez, whose husband is a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. at Camp Pendleton, couldn’t wear low-cut tops or certain kinds of T-shirts. The breast implants Mendez, a registered nurse and mother of three, got several years ago were covered in painful scar tissue. The implants were lopsided, and one began to shift, eventually almost protruding out of her chest. “A lot of military families can’t afford surgery like this,” Mendez said.

A defibrillator machine saved Costa Mesa resident Angela Edgerly’s life after her heart stopped beating while undergoing surgery in January at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian. “I went home and hugged my son after it happened,” Angela, 39, said from the Costa Mesa home she shares with her husband, Chris Edgerly, 5-year-old son, Dylan, and several pets. “I feel lucky in that I’ve kind of been given a second chance at life,” she said. A registered nurse at Hoag, Angela is now on a mission to raise money to buy defibrillation machines for schools, day care centers and swimming pools.

NEWPORT BEACH — Maria Sharapova appeared as if she was trying to come off as modest, humble, homely even, during a press conference before she took to the court with the Newport Beach Breakers Wednesday night. It didn’t work. The cameras flashed, the reporters fired questions and Sharapova tried to handle it with grace. Her rise to fame started the same, minus the cameras and media surrounding her, of course. But, the down-to-earth part, yes. Part of Sharapova’s beginning started with World Team Tennis, back when she was 15 in 2000 when she played for the Delaware Smash.

Police continue to look for the man who broke into a home in the 2000 block of Pomona Avenue and stabbed a man inside before escaping. About 9:30 a.m., directly across the street from Pomona Elementary School, about the time the younger kids are coming to school, police said a man entered a Pomona Avenue home to burglarize it. The burglar walked into a bedroom and encountered one of the home’s residents, sparking a fight in which the...

There are no more sleepless nights for Tom Watson. The pain is gone. Now he’s just expecting (or is it hoping?) for the moment when he becomes tournament-ready, five months after having hip replacement surgery. Maybe it will come in the 15th annual Toshiba Classic that starts today at Newport Beach Country Club. But then again, maybe it won’t. Whatever the case, Watson, 60, who has 39 PGA Tour wins and another 12 on the Champions Tour, is relieved to know the agony from his hip has left him. In the past, the ache in his hip would keeping from sleeping at night.

The Toshiba Classic has added two prominent golfers sure to improve an already deep field. Nine-time major champion Gary Player and fan favorite Fred Funk are the additions to the 15th annual event at the Newport Beach Country Club, Monday through March 8. Player, who competed at NBCC last year and will make his seventh appearance at the Toshiba Classic, typically skips the event the year after he plays in it. But he said he enjoys the area and...