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On February 7, 2008 a dear friend Sonny Novotny from Ossipee, New Hampshire was in a serious snowmobile accident and suffered a serious spinal injury.  He and his wife Kim are both self employed and do not have health insurance. Sonny was transported from Maine Medical Center to a Spinal Research Center in Georgia on Tuesday, February 26th where he spent a month in intense physical therapy.

Sonny has served 20 years as a volunteer firefighter with the White Hills Company fire department in Shelton CT where he's from originally.  Sonny and Kim have been married for 8 years and have four wonderful children.

  

The Novotnys need our help now and any and all donations are appreciated. 

The Benefit for Sonny Novotny fund has been set up to help them with their medical expenses.

Fundraising Info for Sonny Novotny

CaringBridge.org

More updates on Sonny

SonnyNovotny.com

myspace.com

Thank you for your help!
Sonny is a devoted father, husband and dear friend to many. 

 

 

 

Please feel free to send fund raising updates, edits, etc. to clayworksnh@yahoo.com

E-mails & photos received from Kim and Friends regarding Sonny:

What a great surprise!!!

 A visit from friends Charlie and Dom!
Wednesday, February 20th
Here are some pics from the hospital!  Our friends Jen and Kim hooked us up and got mom's laptop online in Sammy's room.

Wayne and the kids just showed up and he's in great spirits. It's looking like we may be leaving a week from today but we still haven't gotten the O.K. so we will be in touch.

 

He sat in a new wheel chair that he didn't like much today. It was newer but more uncomfortable, made his legs numb but maybe tomorrow we can adjust him a little better. As you can see in the pictures, he is SO happy to be vertical. We wheeled him down to the cafe and the front lobby and let him look out a few windows. He lasted about an hour and a half each day so far. His PT gals are the best and are amazed at his advances already!  He's hoping to be able to slide himself to the wheel chair before we even get down to Georgia. Fingers crossed it will happen, he is very determined.
We are now in Room 603 so give a call and say hi. Thanks to everyone for everything, we really can begin to tell you all how much it means. I've told him everything you all have been doing but now he will be able to see it. And the hospital has blocked the myspace website so I haven't even seen it.....That's the next thing I do!

More pics on the way.  Love Sam & Kim

Wednesday, February 20th

Hello. I'm going to update as soon as I get a definite hopefully today! He was put in a normal room again! And much happier. It's room  603  and his number is 207-662-7717

He is in great spirits today!!!  Yeeha

Friday, February 15th

Snowmobile accident in Wakefield NH on a state trail on 2/8/08 at around 10pm. He went off a side-less snowmobile bridge and struck some trees going down. Had instant paralysis. Went to Huggins Hospital in Wolfeboro and rushed via ambulance to  Maine Medical Center in Portland ME (would have gone by heli but weather was bad).

He has in-complete paraplegia  He had a previous unknown injury on his T 11 & T 12 vertebrae that were re injured and caused a compression / wedge fracture and very badly bruised his spinal cord and ended having a spinal aneurysm. He also fractured his L2-L3-L4 & L5 in his Lumbar which also has a large clot. From the clots he actually had a stroke in his spine which gave him the paralysis. When waking after surgery he was overly aggressive and confused so they did a CT and saw that he had a Pulmonary Embolism (clot that travel and is in his Lung). He was stabilized that night and the next day 2/14/08 had a filter put in the Veena cava (spelling?) to stop any more clots from going to his lungs or brain. Today 2/15/08 he has not had a lot of out put of urine and they just did an X-Ray of his abdomen because they are concerned about his Kidney's. I think they now are letting him go to a regular floor (I assume great news but haven't talked to doc yet about kidney issue) And he just sat on the edge of his bed with the PT people (physical therapy). So I think we are on our way. He has feeling but no movement but may start to wiggle toes again soon. after swelling subsides we will know much more and this can take some time. As for the clot in the lung they haven't been able to give reg. meds to dissipate so we need to keep an eye and will take meds for a long time.

I think that's about it. I am probably missing something. You all are so wonderful and thank you for starting the Fundraising. we need him to get to the best of his ability and this is the place we need to be! I don't know what I would do without all this support! I cant say this enough. Thanks  Love Kim

Friday, February 15th

Hi guys. Its hard to call everyone and I apologize. Yes I will send an email today about all that has happened to him and specifics for fundraising. He is in SCU again they aren't getting the output in urine and are worried about his kidneys now.

Love you guys and I will call later. He didn't have a good night and they are taking an x-ray in the room and he hasn't wanted to take his meds so he can think clearer. He isn't in good spirits so we need to let him know that we can do this!!

Thanks again     Kim
Wednesday, February 13th

I sent some out via cell phone. He's in. Probably about 2:30 so a little earlier. They took him to get an x-ray on his stomach to see if there were any obstructions and brought him right down without letting me know.

He felt horrible so I hope once he is out and will be able to move because things are fused he will be a bit more comfy. They plan on having him sit up tomorrow...?  we'll see how that goes.

Love Ya'll  Kim

  
 
Tuesday, February 12th

We received a few of these yesterday, it's free and he was so happy to read them.

If you go to the hospital website you can send a greeting and they deliver it to him.

www.mmc.org     

  In the blue box to the left  Go to : online features then send a patient a greeting

Its awesome and he really could use all these encouraging words. I try and tell him but has a ways away from getting to a PC.

UPDATE:  He finally had his MRI but they haven't gotten back to us, maybe in a few hours when they come in this morning. This will tell us what to do and expect! Cross your fingers!

Thanks for all you are doing in mind body and spirit. You don't know how much its appreciated, every email, He is such a wonderful man and it shows how loved he is.

Take Care.  Kim


Monday, February 11th

Hi all
I am sure you know that Sonny (Sam) has endured a horrific accident.  He and Kim are handling it as well as can be expected and could use all the support anyone can offer.  I am in the process of building a website that will allow anyone to send donations that will be forward to the Novonty family to help with the huge medical expenses that are ahead of them.  Hopefully there will be a spot to send wishes directly to Sam and Kim.  This web site should be running in a few days.  It is Sonnynovotny.com.  In the mean time you can go to Maine Medical Center website and send an email there that they will print out and give to him.  I am sure they could use all the good messages they can get.  Please forward this to as many people that you feel would like to help.  The website and a my space page are up and running, but there will be pictures added and a link to donate in the next few days.
Sincerely,
Jeff and Anne Castaldo

Monday, February 11th

He was in a snowmobile accident down the road from home. Right after one of these snows it was really fluffy and pulled his ski to the side which happened to be a stream with clusters of close trees. He went in head first hitting his back off a couple trees and when he landed had no feeling. Just crazy.  He only has issues from the belly down his head arms and neck are awesome. He is in room 612 B at Maine Medical in Portland. I think he will be there for a while maybe until he goes to a rehabilitation facility....months later I'm sure it would cheer him to see you all still love him!!!! Thank you so much for all your well wishes and I will keep in touch. There's  a million things to do and I don't have lots of time away from him. You take care and Ill talk to you soon.  xoxoKim

Sunday, February 10th

Hi everyone. Please first understand how your emails are SO appreciated and vital at this time to both myself and Sam. I relay all the calls and emails every chance I get.

As of Sunday 3:23am this is what we know. I know some of you have talked with some family and called our house and talked with the kids but I'm not so sure its all correct info. Let me say we on a daily basis (feels like weeks already) get mixed messages from different doctors which hasn't helped but I'm hoping our complaints have curbed that from now on.

He has some sensations but nothing has progressed, except that some soreness is starting to pass (his pain is changing constantly) so other areas "seem" better. But he cannot walk.

He fractured the Spinas Processes L2, L3, L4 & L5 in his Lumbar (lower back). These are little butterfly shaped bones that support the vertebrate. And those fractured pieces may be one of the factors to his paralysis....? One theory. And also fractured another bone that is hooked shaped in the lumbar near these others but I cannot remember that name.

He also has 2 Thoracic Compression/wedge  Facet fractures. Which means they fractured into the cord area instead of away (I think....bare with me) And those are his T11 & T12 vertebrate.

We were also told by the Neuro Surg. that one or two of the Thoracic fractures were done years and years ago and have been re-injured now.

We are still in need of an MRI , they are all closed and wont open until Monday - no exceptions. He wasn't able to fit his shoulders into the closed MRI.........believe me this was not a fun few hours. He cannot move and is in real pain when bumped or moved in the slightest.

We still don't know if surgery is an option, and were told that it may not change the fact that he cannot walk....Lots of other smaller details but you get the picture.

Again, thank you so much for all your support. If you try and call the hospital room and I don't pick up, I shut the ringer if he needs more uninterrupted sleep....but mostly if the doctors come so we can focus on that so just try again. His cell battery died but I will have the charger by mid morning Sunday so leave messages and I will get back to you.

Keep him in your prayers. I have a very good feeling things will turn out good, we are scared and await final diagnosis so we can start to deal with whatever happens.

Also, he will more than likely be here, best case, weeks to months so we have only just begun.

Take care. and yet again...THANK YOU!!!  Kim

Saturday, February 9th

I know this is not a good way to do this but I am emotionally and physically exhausted so please bear with me.

Sam was in a very serious accident Thursday night, We are now at Maine Medical Center. He isn't able to walk and every few hours we get more details on his condition. He is heavily medicated and in horrible pain but still can make us laugh every now and then. The very short version is that he has fractured some not so important lumbar (I cant remember what they are called) and compressed a more serious one that seems to be the culprit of his anxieties.

Again I apologize for this letter and will get back with everyone with details soon.

Chris, I will call you soon. I will talk with Billy about taking care of some things (plowing, boxes ect....) Until we know what the long road holds for us.

Pray for him. He needs to know that things aren't so bad and could have ended much worse.

I will read all email very soon. I just have not slept in almost two days and I just found out they have this available to use so when he is sleeping and comfy I will get back to you.

Thank you!    Love Sam & Kim
 

 

  

For more info or to make contributions go to:
 

SonnyNovotny.com

  

Sonny also has a page on myspace.com where you can post messages and photos.

Page courtesy of Clayworksnh.com