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Cost of son's operation beyond their means EDITOR'S NOTE: "Light One Candle" is an annual Mail Tribune feature that focuses on a single need of a person, family or agency during the holidays. For more information, call reporter JoNel Aleccia at 776-4465. The idea of having surgery is scary enough for a 7-year-old Medford boy. What also frightens his parents is the prospect of paying for it. Doctors want to perform surgery as soon as possible to repair a hernia that is leaking into the boy's testicles. Costs before the operation have mounted to $1,200, already exceeding the parents' ability to pay. Both parents are unemployed, with benefits that put them just above the qualifying income for the Oregon Health Plan, said Charlet Gunter, a family service supervisor with Southern Oregon Head Start. Doctors have agreed to reduce some of the costs of the operation, but donations are needed to offset the rest. Contributions can be made in care of Southern Oregon Head Start, to be paid to Providence Medford Medical Center. If more donations are received than are required, proceeds will benefit other medically fragile children served by Head Start. The agency will be closed for two weeks; however, messages can be left at 734-5150. Southern Oregon Head Start provides preschool and social services to low-income children in Jackson and Josephine counties. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.