Young inventor turns philanthropist

Bill Gates, the legend goes, started the empire that would one day become Microsoft in his garage. More recently, Cameron Cohen got a start on what looks to be a promising future while stuck at home in a hip-to-toe leg brace for six months. Cameron taught himself computer programming, came up with and wrote the software for a new iPhone/iPod application called iSketch and submitted it to Apple Inc., which now sells it in its online apps store. Like Gates, Cameron has become a philanthropist. He decided to donate a substantial portion of his iSketch profits to Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital, where his story began last March when he underwent surgery for what fortunately turned out to be a benign bone tumor. He remained hospitalized for about 10 days, then headed home to West L.A. with his parents and older brother, where he would be stuck hobbling around for months instead of being the active tennis, football and basketball-playing boy he usually was. "All my friends were doing sports and games and I couldn't," Cameron said during a phone interview.