Mobile

Comments=20 (View) | Text Size

article tools

Staff=20 photo by johnny simon

Tony=20 Yamamoto, of Hollis, who became a quadriplegic after an accident = in=20 December, holds hands with his wife, Sue, while waiting for a = family=20 portrait to be taken with his daughters Katie, right, and Anna, a = senior=20 at Hollis-Brookline High School, and Sue=92s sister, Beth Weaver.=20

more Hollis news

Jailed=20 city man charged with molesting girl=20
A=20 new film examines N.H.'s dwindling youth=20
Hollis=20 teen is charged with dealing medication=20
Higher=20 costs squeezing school lunch programs
Hollis=20 DAR chapter to hold meeting, lunch

latest Local/Regional

Hollis=20 family keeps hope alive after accident
Town=20 reverses audit decision
Man=20 to plead guilty in green card scam
A=20 new film examines N.H.'s dwindling youth
Jailed=20 city man charged with molesting girl

latest sports=20 news

MLB: Red=20 Sox Watch
Other=20 Sports: Immelman=20 puts Woods in a hole
NBA: Celtics=20 rest more, crush Bucks
Local &=20 High School Sports: Boys=20 Track Preview
Local &=20 High School Sports: High=20 School Sports

latest state/new=20 england news

Addison's=20 death penalty hearing begins
Mass.=20 health-care law still a work in progress
Man=20 charged after string of car fires
Children=20 with lighter started fatal fire
Clam=20 flats close due to state error

latest world=20 & nation news

Car=20 jumps steps of city's courthouse
Key=20 aide to al-Sadr gunned down
Somali=20 pirates free hostages
Vaccine=20 safety to be re-evaluated
Slowly,=20 Walter Reed sees improvements from year ago

latest business=20 news

Bush=20 keeping 'close eye' on travel woes
Airline=20 files for bankruptcy protection
Skybus=20 Airlines says pact over airplane leases will save $10m
World=20 powers endorse plan to avert crises
Stocks=20 fall sharply following GE results

latest neighbors=20 news

Local=20 News: New=20 Nashua-Based Website Offering Free Advertising
Local=20 News: CAROL=20 FURLONG RECEIVES NEW ENGLAND CLINICIANS FORUM PROVIDER RECOG
Events: A=20 Fireside Chat - Introduction to Green Design
Events: The=20 Great Water Adventure
Events: New=20 Moon Hikes

Local/Regional

Published: Saturday, April 12, 2008

Hollis family keeps = hope alive=20 after accident

By JOSEPH G. COTE Telegraph Staff

HOLLIS =96 December 12 was a Wednesday. Tony = Yamamoto=20 remembers it was sunny and fairly warm.

He came home early from = work to=20 do a routine errand =96 clean the gutters =96 before it got too dark.=20

Normal. Run of the mill.

Three months later, Yamamoto = can't move=20 anything except his head and can't feel anything below his chest. =

His=20 18-year-old daughter Anna, a senior at Hollis/Brookline High School, has = to=20 maneuver his wheelchair for him. His wife, Sue, brought water and wiped = his eyes=20 as he related how an excruciatingly simple chore ended his days kicking = around a=20 soccer ball and fly-fishing in his favorite rivers.

Yamamoto, 55, = immigrated to the United States from Japan in 1971 to attend the = University of=20 Utah. He moved to Nashua in 1987. Later, he and his wife and daughters = Anna and=20 Katie moved to Hollis in 1998.

He's worked for the past 10 years = as a=20 software engineer at Advanced Micro Devices. It was a normal life for a = normal=20 man and his family.

Then, everything = changed.

<>Freak=20 accident

On Dec. 12, Yamamoto came home to clean the gutters. = The=20 ladder he leaned against the house had rubber boots attached to the top = to give=20 more traction against the house. As he began climbing down, the ladder = started=20 to slip away from the house. Yamamoto felt it sliding and braced himself = to=20 fall.

But the rubber boots did their job.

They caught on = the roof,=20 stopping the ladder's slide. The aluminum ladder rebounded, tossing = Yamamoto=20 off.

His right foot got tangled in the ladder as he flew and = twisted him=20 around. He only fell about five feet, but landed badly on his neck, = dislocating=20 his spinal cord between his C4 and C5 vertebrae.

He didn't know = how bad=20 it was until he tried to move.

"I never felt pain that sharp," he = said.=20 "That's when I realized it was very serious."

And so he lay there = under=20 the ladder near the front door of his house, wet and cold and getting = tired, and=20 called for help.

No one heard until Sue came home from work = around 5=20 p.m., an hour later. She quickly called 911 and brought something to = cover him=20 up when he told her his legs wouldn't move and his neck hurt.

"I = was=20 frightened, but it was almost like it wasn't happening. Surreal," she=20 said.

Yamamoto was brought to St. Joseph's Hospital in Nashua and = then=20 flown to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He spent six hours in = traction,=20 with increasing weights hanging from his head as doctors tried to = realign his=20 spinal cord. Eventually he had surgery to do that, plus a metal plate to = hold it=20 together.

Doctors have said that Tony is now a quadriplegic, = which means=20 that his body is paralyzed from the neck down.

He was at Brigham = and=20 Women's for three weeks before being moved to Spaulding Rehabilitation = Hospital.=20 He spent nine weeks there breathing and eating through a tube while he = and Sue=20 learned about the changes to their new life.

There were many=20 changes.

A new life

Katie came back to Hollis from = her home=20 in northern Virginia. She and the rest of the family took turns getting = up every=20 two hours to move Yamamoto to prevent pressure sores.

Yamamoto = played=20 soccer since he was a child in Japan. He took up fly fishing later and = hoped it=20 would be a hobby he could enjoy into old age.

He gets choked up = seeing a=20 picture of himself in a river, realizing he won't cast a line ever=20 again.

"The first time I saw the picture it hit me really hard," = he said=20 as Sue wiped his eyes for him.

It's not all bad, though. Yamamoto = has=20 kept his sense of humor. He laughs when he talks about watching the New = England=20 Patriots go down in the Super Bowl, which he watched in his hospital = room. The=20 worst part, he said, was he couldn't turn the TV off when the game was=20 over.

"I had to listen to all the (post-game coverage)," he said. = "I just=20 closed my eyes and tried not to listen."

He's optimistic about = being able=20 to do some things. A friend recently installed voice-recognition = software on his=20 home computer. He hopes to learn it well enough to continue = working.

His=20 prognosis isn't as bad as it could be, either. He has tingles in his = hands and=20 legs sometimes, which are encouraging, and he has feeling in both arms = to his=20 elbows. He's hoping physical therapy will earn him back enough movement = that he=20 can use the joystick on his wheelchair.

Little things tend to be = a big=20 deal. At first, he couldn't tell what position his arms were in without = looking.=20 Now he can tell if they are bent or straight, he said.

He's = looking for=20 other hobbies too, such as learning the harmonica, which he plays with a = neck=20 attachment, like guitar players use.

"I try to find other things = that I=20 can do," he said. "I am sad to look back, to realize what I've lost, but = I'm=20 looking forward to finding something new."

A community=20 rallies

His family is finding ways to deal with their new = life too.=20

"It's hard to think this is how it's going to be the rest of our = lives,"=20 Anna said.

It was strange to go back to school and see people = going about=20 their lives and acting normal, she said.

"I thought, 'How can I = possibly=20 ever do that?' But we do. You have to, right?"

Yamamoto has been = home=20 since March 7. His friends and family haven't been idle since the=20 accident.

John Lumbard, a Hollis resident and friend of Tony's = from the=20 "Over the Hill" soccer league, organized a nine-team soccer jamboree at = the New=20 Hampshire Dome last month to raise money for the family.

"I think = it's a=20 story that has touched and moved all of us in the soccer community = because it=20 could have happened to anyone," he said. "The community has really = rallied=20 behind Tony in a way that any of us would hope to experience in a = similar=20 circumstance."

The soccer jamboree raised $6,000, Lumbard said, = and=20 people are still sending donations.

"People are still walking up = to me on=20 the street and giving me money," he said.

Beth Weaver, Tony's=20 sister-in-law, has played a large role in organizing the benefits that = are being=20 planned. She said a large benefit will be held Sunday, June 22, at = Alpine Grove=20 and will include a live and silent auction.

There are also = several=20 smaller events being planned by Yamamoto's friends at AMD and = Hollis/Brookline=20 High School, among other groups, she said.

"The expenses are = huge,"=20 Weaver said.

Yamamoto's wheelchair will cost about $30,000 and = the=20 wheelchair accessible van will cost between $60,000 and $70,000, she = said. He=20 also needs a hospital bed and a lift to transfer him from the = wheelchair, not to=20 mention 2-4/7 homecare that insurance doesn't cover.

The family = is also=20 selling wristbands on his Web site, Casting for Rainbows, http://www.tonyy.net/, and at=20 local businesses like Monument Square Market, the Hollis Grain and = Hardware and=20 Attitudes hair salon, Sue said.

Yamamoto was flabbergasted by the = show of=20 support he and his family have received.

"There are some times I = feel=20 self-pity. But when I think about all the people I just have to keep = myself=20 going forward," he said.

"It gives me strength to get over some = of the=20 hardships and pains. All the support from other people makes it a lot = easier for=20 me to bear and move forward. It's unbelievable."

Sue also said = the=20 support of friends and family, neighbors and kind strangers have helped = her=20 through the ordeal.

"Tony's helped me because of his attitude and = spirit,=20 and the support of the people," she said. "It's really the people out = there that=20 are getting me through this, and my family of course."

Joseph G. Cote can be reached at 594-6415 or jcote@nashuatelegraph.com.<= /H2>
Automatic=20 email verification now required to post comments. Anonymous posts still = allowed.=20 Details here.