Photo by Jody Tiongco.
Renewal is a common theme in spa treatments and it could not be truer for Nance Jack Garber who has brought new life to the former Athena Day Spa and to herself as well.
Two years ago, Garber’s 19 year-old daughter, Eden Ablid, had an epileptic seizure while showering and drowned. With the help of the Orange County Epileptic Support Network and her family and friends from her church, Garber is moving past the pain of her loss. If you don’t move on “you’re living a slow death,” she said.
Over the years Garber had been asked, more than once, to take over the salon from her former employer, Summer Sheer. But since 2007, when Eden first began having seizures, Garber’s main focus was watching over her daughter. Epilepsy can develop at any age and for two thirds of sufferers, the cause is unknown. Before Eden’s seizures started she would occasionally come to the spa with her mother and help out on Saturdays.
Now Garber, a masseuse and esthetician, hopes the Eden Spa and Salon as it’s been re-christened, will become a gathering spot for Laguna locals. With new décor, the addition of waterbed massage “tables,” free parking and lower prices, she sees the ocean facing deck as a place to relax and rewind. There is even a “doggie station” for patrons wishing to bring Fido along.
Garber hosts an open house this Saturday, Oct. 17, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. with complimentary 15-minute treatments.
Five percent of all sales from the salon, nestled between the Pacific Edge Hotel and the Laguna Surf Resort on South Coast Highway, will be donated to the Epilepsy Support Network in Eden’s honor.
Garber’s support for the Network began when she participated in an annual Epilepsy Walk. “It’s the day we do the greatest good,” said Executive Director Janna Moore, explaining that outreach raises awareness of the disease and educates the pubic in addition to raising funds. The 2016 walk takes place in Costa Mesa on April 23.
Garber sought the counsel of the Epileptic Support Network when her daughter began to withdraw. Moore strategized with Garber to find a way to entice Eden to the teen center. “There is typically a three month delay between first contact and finally coming in to the center,” said Moore, who took a job with the Epilepsy Network when her own daughter began to experience seizures.
In June, when Garber got the keys to the salon, she experienced her own renewal. “Spa treatments are not a luxury anymore,” she said, noting that busy people need her services to keep looking and feeling well.
She believes the lower prices will boost repeat business. And she’s excited about the new services offered like couples massage on the deck, ultrasonic skin treatments, and the brow and lash bar.
Epilepsy affects 32,000 people in Orange County, but medical treatment has been ineffective for a third of them, according to the Epilepsy Support Network website.
Drug therapy and diet changes did little to relieve the seizures that overcame Eden, whose friends graduated from Trabuco High School in Mission Viejo and moved on while she couldn’t even get a driver’s license.
Still, Moore said seizures can be controlled with the help of specialists. “We connect our members to these doctors,” said Moore.
