Community Corner

VW's Mini Darth Vader to Walk for Charity

The Orange County boy who had several surgeries as a toddler to treat a heart defect will join his family to support Ronald McDonald House on April 1. You'll remember Max Page as the star in Volkswagen's popular 2011 Super Bowl ad.

Before his rise to fame as a pint-sized Darth Vader, Max Page of San Clemente spent weeks in and out of hospitals as a toddler, suffering from a heart defect.

The 7-year-old, who dressed as the Star Wars villain in a 2011 Super Bowl commercial for Volkswagen and is currently a recurring character on "The Young and the Restless," is now planning to join his family in the Ronald McDonald House Walk for Kids in Anaheim on April 1.

While sweating out Max's major surgeries, his parents and little brother Els, 6, stayed in accommodations provided by the Ronald McDonald House, a charity offshoot of the fast food franchise that offers comfortable lodgings for the families of children facing major surgeries or dire emergencies.

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"I remember my grandma and grandpa were there... and then I looked up at the TV and saw Disney," Max said, recalling some vague memories about his hospital stays. "They kind of gave me this medicine to put me to sleep."

The Ronald McDonald-furnished rooms – complete with socks, robes, towels, novels and crossword puzzles – gave the family a feeling of comfort amid the often cold, clinical hospital setting, said Max's mother, Jennifer.

Find out what's happening in Newport Beach-Corona Del Marwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Ronald McDonald House has a few rooms for parents in Mission Hospital, where a lot of young trauma patients end up for long stays.

But the main Orange County facility is on Batavia in Orange, next to the Children's Hospital of Orange County. It boasts 20 rooms.

The Pages are taking donations at their Walk for Kids page here.


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