Enjoy some BBQ and help the Shumbo family
Jake Shumbo of East Haddam, CT was snowboarding on Dec. 28, 2011 when he fell and hit his head. He was wearing a helmet, but the blow to his head caused his brain to swell very quickly as well as creating a small bleed. Thanks to the quick response of the family he was with, they quickly had him transported to Waterbury hospital where he was taken in for emergency brain surgery. The right side of his skull was removed to allow for the brain swelling. He has since had additional surgeries and is recovering but the financial burden to the family has been a heavy one. Photo courtesy of Dawn Shumbo
Jake Shumbo was snowboarding on Dec. 28, 2011 when he fell and hit his head. He was wearing a helmet, but the blow to his head caused his brain to swell very quickly as well as creating a small bleed.
Thanks to the quick response of the family he was with, they quickly had him transported to Waterbury hospital where he was taken in for emergency brain surgery. The right side of his skull was removed to allow for the brain swelling.
On Dec. 29, he was transported by LifeStar to Yale New Haven Hospital, where he spent the next week in the pediatric intensive care unit.
Jake spent the next six weeks at Yale until they were able to replace the piece of his skull that had been removed. During this time, Jake’s communication was limited to eye blinks and very light hand squeezes.
His family then transferred him to Blythedale Children’s Hospital in New York for the next phase of his recovery. Jake stayed there for six weeks and made slow but steady progress.
The hospital is more than two hours from East Haddam, so family members took turns staying with Jake for two- to three-day periods. The family then decided to move Jake closer to home so more family and friends could visit and help to stimulate his recovery.
At the beginning of March 2012, the family moved Jake to a hospital for special care in New Britain for his last phase of in-patient treatment. “Jake made steady progress there and on April 24, almost four months after the accident, he was able to come home,” said Dawn Shumbo
“Jake is now getting speech, physical and occupational therapy at home and the family also takes him for additional physical therapy twice per week,” she added.
“Jake has to relearn how to do everything,” she said. “He is very determined and has a great sense of humor, even as he faces his many challenges. He has a very long road ahead of him, but we know he can do it.”
The family, however, is faced with large medical bills, and continued care will add to that. If you’d like to help, here’s one way…
There will be a fundraiser to help Jake and his family, organized by Brad Parker, on Saturday, June 16, beginning at 4 p.m. at the Moodus Sportsmen’s Club, East Haddam/Colchester Turnpike. There will be BBQ chicken and other food donated for the event. Tickets are $20 each and all proceeds will be donated to the Shumbo family. Questions? Please call Brad at 860-873-9885.
Posted June 6, 2012
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