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Laguna Beach couple take detour into cerebral palsy patient’s life

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Yvette Dobbie was on her way to pick up her dog at the vet’s when she turned onto Newport Boulevard from 17th Street and noticed a man in a wheelchair sitting in the sun and holding a sign that read, “Pay It Forward — God Bless.”

The Laguna Beach woman suddenly found herself taking a detour into the Ortho Mattress parking lot, where he was positioned.

Dobbie’s response to the sight of the man might have interrupted her day’s routine, but reaching out to him would change her life — and his.

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“When I saw him I felt compelled to pull over,” she said. “I thought, ‘I gotta get to him.’ It was hot, and I felt bad for him. My reaction was instant. I saw this gnarled figure [with twisted] arms and legs, and his physical being touched me.”

When she got out of her car and approached him, she asked him what was going on, and that’s when she discovered that he couldn’t talk. Dobbie escorted the man across the street to an umbrella-shaded spot on the Starbucks’ patio and began the challenge of communicating.

Bobby Landfair, 49, alternated between struggled attempts at verbal communication and one-word explanations written on a dry-erase board.

What she learned about Landfair during their 10-minute encounter went something like this: abandoned, Ohio, lonely, isolated, tired, motel.

With her dog waiting at the vet’s, Dobbie delivered Landfair back to his spot, where she gave him a big hug, told him it was going to be OK, and then handed him the $40 she had in her wallet. “I’ll be back,” she told him.

Dobbie said the meeting was difficult emotionally and even harder to process, but she knew he didn’t belong there and that she had to do something.

“It’s easier to throw down money, keep driving and hope for the best, but how many have stopped their life in order to help him?” Dobbie asked.

She picked up her dog and went to meet her husband, Steve. By they time she arrived she was in tears and all she got out was, “I want to introduce you to someone.”

Without telling him anything more they went back to the parking lot.

Dobbie said her husband would have cheerfully greeted anyone else, but as he shook Landfair’s hand and promised he would check on him later, she could see he was upset.

Landfair’s situation broke their hearts, and on the ride home to Laguna Beach, they discussed ways to help him.

Dobbie, a political consultant, is no stranger to advocacy. She served under former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration as an advisor on animal issues, such as banning gas chambers for euthanasia and preventing the slaughter of horses.

Dobbie’s dedication to Landfair doesn’t surprise Bill Radovich, who has known the couple for more than 15 years through his work as a veterinarian at the Airport Irvine Animal Hospital.

“Both are the type of people to help others without expecting anything in return,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s people, dogs, cows, horses — whoever needs the help. They take it as a mission in life and get it done.”

“[This is] new for me advocating for a disabled person,” Dobbie said.

Around the community, people know of Landfair and some do what they can to make his day a little better, including Daniel Sandoval, who manages the Panera Bread on 17th Street.

“Bobby comes in quite frequently. I’d call him a regular,” Sandoval said. “He always orders mac and cheese and brings his own pork and beans for me to mix for him, which I always do.”

In their few weeks together since they met, Landfair has communicated to the couple that he was abandoned as a child and lived in the care of a family that fostered mentally disabled children.

Landfair suffers from cerebral palsy and said he has been living on the streets in Costa Mesa since he took a Greyhound bus from Ohio when he was 21 years old.

Cerebral palsy is a disorder affecting muscle control and physical development, but Yvette Dobbie said Landfair’s cognitive ability is intact. He is, however, unable to control speech, swallowing and walking.

He has resorted to panhandling to pay for the occasional cheap motel room. When there isn’t enough money for a motel, he either sleeps in places that are open 24 hours or on bus benches.

He no longer has his teeth, which rotted from insufficient care. His diet is limited to soft foods, with his favorites being mashed potatoes, chili, smoothies and macaroni and cheese.

The Dobbies have found a window into Landfair’s personality through his texts. One of his original text messages to them read, “It’s nice to have a friend.” Landfair has grown so close to the couple that he now refers to them as mom and dad.

They live up to the titles by taking his laundry home, giving him motel money, getting him a haircut now and then and advocating on his behalf with Social Security.

His Social Security benefits had recently been cut from $935 to $400, so the Dobbies took him to the Fountain Valley office to straighten out the matter. One problem was that Landfair had no way of receiving mail, so the Dobbies added him to their post office box.

His benefits are now restored, but the Dobbies say it’s not enough. They said between his cellphone — with texting that serves as his lifeline — which runs about $100 monthly, and food, a bus pass and a motel room averaging $50 a night, he’s upside down every month.

He qualifies for Section 8 housing but there is a waiting list, and it could take years for his name to be called. “His need is immediate and there is no immediate availability,” Yvette Dobbie said.

“He doesn’t need or want assisted living or board and care. He’s been down that road and was treated poorly,” she said. “Bobby explained the last board and care treated him as if he was retarded, so he left. I’m finding it’s nearly impossible for someone like Bobby to navigate the roads of the meager resources offered for someone such as himself. It’s quite pathetic.”

The Dobbies have made Landfair’s welfare a personal cause and say much remains to be done. To meet some of the homeless man’s needs, they have planned a barbecue fundraiser from 4 to 6 p.m. Aug. 9 at Mariner’s Park in Newport Beach.

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