Params on wordpress not working

Hi all,

I am trying to setup a wordpress page which uses parameters but I can’t get the page to read the parameters. Here is what I have done:
1) Setup a page with the following Text (not in the html part of wordpress):

<?php
global $wp_query;
if (isset($wp_query->query_vars['hellow']))
{
print $wp_query->query_vars['hellow'];
}
?>

2) Setup the following plugin to initiate the variable within wordpress:

add_filter('query_vars', 'parameter_queryvars' );

function parameter_queryvars( $qvars )
{
$qvars[] = 'hellow';
return $qvars;
}

I am using Permalinks post-name settings and ezPHP.

Here is a list of thinks I have already tried unsuccessfully.
a) Using a link including the ?hellow=test
b) typing in <mypage>/atest/?hellow=test
c) using $_GET[“hellow”] or get_query_var()
d) Updating permalinks
And all different combinations of these approaches.

The plugin is working and is added to wordpress, which I know because my site stops working when I used function parameter_queryvars() as a function call.
It seems wordpress just takes away those parameters and then they are lost somewhere and I have trouble finding them or their functions. Help would be very much appreciated. I am happy to provide further details if needed.