The Gazette (Montreal)
August 8, 2005 Monday
Final Edition
Taking care of business in time of crisis: When Zaven Darakjian, who
has owned the Pitstop garage for 34 years, was diagnosed with
leukemia, his wife Araxy, a broadcaster by training, stepped in to
run the shop
by STEPHANIE WHITTAKER, Freelance
Araxy Darakjian smiles wistfully at the suggestion that she’s
handling a tough situation with grace and courage.
“Do I have any choice?” she asks. “This is our livelihood.”
Darakjian is sitting in the office chair normally occupied by her
husband, Zaven Darakjian, who, for the past 34 years, has run the
Pitstop, a garage on lower Peel St. that specializes in the repair
and maintenance of antique and foreign cars and racing cars. It’s an
eclectic place, the kind of business in which you’ll spot an open
copy of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War on a bookshelf in the bathroom
beside a volume of Armenian poetry and a calendar sporting a 1956
Ford Comet. If you’re a customer, you might sip green tea while your
vintage British sports car is being repaired.
A broadcaster by training, Araxy, 52, stepped in to run the business
a month ago when her husband was diagnosed with leukemia and
hospitalized. It’s the kind of scenario that most owners of small
businesses hope they’ll never have to face. The person who is the
nerve centre of the operation is suddenly not there and family
members must pick up the slack.
“At first, I was calling Zaven while he was in the hospital 12 times
a day to ask him about the running of the business,” Araxy said from
the office that overlooks the service area of the Pitstop. “I would
need his expertise on where to get hard-to-find car parts. His brain
works like a computer.”
The couple’s problems began last winter. “Zaven wasn’t feeling well
throughout the winter,” Araxy said. “But he thought it was the flu.
You have a few flu-like symptoms when you have cancer. Then it got
worse in May. Sometimes, he would fall asleep in his office chair. He
would complain about being tired all the time, but he was still
working and very dedicated to his community work as a basketball
coach. He would push himself.”
In early June, Zaven injured his toe and the wound wouldn’t heal. “He
knew he wasn’t getting better and on June 17, we went to the
emergency department at the Jewish General Hospital,” Araxy said.
Blood tests confirmed that he was in the early stages of acute
myeloid leukemia, a diagnosis that stunned the couple. “I said to the
doctor: ‘Surely, you’re not talking about that dirty word, cancer,’ ”
Araxy said. “But he was. We couldn’t believe it. But I trusted the
doctors. And then the specialists began visiting one by one.”
Zaven was moved into the hospital’s intensive care ward and began
receiving chemotherapy treatments. He also underwent surgery to
reduce the effects of swelling in his neck.
But his concern was what to do about his garage, where he employs one
other mechanic. “The day after I took him to the hospital, I came to
the garage and the phones were ringing,” Araxy said. “Customers
wanted to speak to Zaven. What was worse, I didn’t know how to
retrieve the phone messages from his voice mail. I didn’t know what
had hit me and then I just knew I had to come to my senses, that this
was real life.”
Unable to speak because of the tubes that were keeping his airway
open, Zaven began writing notes to his wife about the operation of
the business whenever she visited the hospital. “I’d bring the notes
to the garage the next day,” Araxy said. “He was worried about his
family (the couple have two teenage children) and the business. He
received excellent care and I told him to have faith in the doctors
so he could take care of getting better and I would take care of the
business.”
Araxy has a degree in English literature and history that led her
into a broadcasting career in Australia. Her experience of her
husband’s business had been limited to helping out with bookkeeping
and office management. She also works part-time at the Montreal
Children’s Hospital as an interpreter of Arabic and Armenian. “I
don’t know much about the technical aspects of cars,” she said. “So I
rely on our mechanic, Jean Tremblay, who does his job so well.
Meanwhile, I deal with the customers’ questions. I order parts and do
the billing. The most overwhelming part of the work was the
paperwork. This is a family-friendly garage. Customers come to have a
cup of coffee and some drop by to say hello even when they’re not
bringing their cars in for repairs. Some of Zaven’s clients who have
moved to Ontario or B.C. have sent us customers.”
Araxy said she has started to organize the office for her husband’s
return to work in two months time.
He’s home now, recuperating, but spends many hours each day sleeping
while his body recovers.
Araxy exudes the air of a woman who sets self pity aside to do what
needs to be done during a crisis. “Sometimes, I’d be sitting here in
the office and my eyes would get wet and I’d tell myself to collect
myself. You have to be tough. If you’re weak, you’ll go under.”
Zaven said he’s been impressed with how his wife has filled his shoes
in his absence. “There was so much information about the work that
she was not familiar with,” he said in a telephone interview from his
home. “I told her to be brave and I would guide her through it.
Sometimes, she’d call me a dozen times during the day with
questions.”
Araxy says she’ll stay on the job to continue helping once her
husband returns to work.
Says Zaven: “We’re a strong team. We have total faith in each other.”
GRAPHIC:
Photo: MARIE-FRANCE COALLIER, THE GAZETTE; At the Pitstop garage,
Araxy Darakjian is running the family business while her husband,
Zaven (on computer screen), recuperates from chemotherapy.