Neil Young recovering from a brain aneurysm

“NEW YORK (CNN) -- Rocker Neil Young was treated for a "dangerous brain aneurysm" this week but is expected to make a full recovery, his agent said Friday.”

Occasionally, a generation is fortunate enough to have gracing its presence a talented individual whose inventive and creative genius defines its life, its traditions, its personality.

One Leonardo Da Vinci did so in the renaissance.

A bright inventor named Thomas Edison did so in the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries.

Baby boomers are fortunate enough to have Neil Young.

Neil Young, whose musical output remained of a consistent astronomically high quality throughout the last third of the 20th century, shows no signs of slowing down in the 21st.

Now he deals with a brain aneurysm. No stranger to physical limitations, Neil has two sons suffering from cerebral palsy.

Such a devastating hand dealt from life’s deck of cards might make a lesser person crawl into a shell of self-pity. It turned Neil into an inventor.

What kid (or grownup) doesn’t love model trains? Certainly, Neil and Ben Young do. Why should a kid not be able to control a train set just because he can’t control his own body? Thanks to a wireless paddle invented by his dad, Ben Young can maneuver the engine and cars through a ten-minute journey over a vast model terrain.

Neil first began inventing toys and tools for challenged kids for older son Zeke, who has a milder case of cerebral palsy than Ben.

So, ignoring for now the vast musical gifts this man has bestowed, here’s a tribute to his helping kids who have gotten a bad break help themselves.

Get well soon, Neil. We need more of your genius.