12
A Year in Review 2012 – 2013:
Programs
Courage Lives Here
13
Toronto Rehabilitation Institute
Courage is...
keeping
hope alive
Body surfing accident victim
determined to beat the odds
A body surfing accident left Jake Hamoen, right, paralyzed from
the neck down. He’s pictured here with his wife, Toni.
(Photo: Toni Hamoen)
“For better or for worse,” were the first words Toni, Jake
Hamoen’s wife of 24 years, said to him when he awoke
from major spinal surgery in a Miami hospital.
It was May 2012, and the couple from the Hamilton, Ont.
area, had been on a beach in Barbados, where Jake and
his friend were body surfing.
As Hamoen, a 66-year-old mechanical engineer,
approached a wave, it picked him up and drove him
head first into the ocean floor.
Immediately, Hamoen was airlifted to the hospital in
Miami. He had fractured his spinal column in his neck,
which was compressing his spine.
Toni and Jake Hamoen pictured here before Jake’s life-
changing accident.
(Photo: Toni Hamoen)
He was put on a ventilator and told he would never
breathe independently again — and that he was
paralyzed from the neck down.
But Hamoen was determined to prove the diagnosis
wrong.
“I made it my mission to breathe again,” he said.
And he did — shortly after arriving back in Hamilton,
Hamoen was taken off the ventilator.
Hope and faith
After time in hospital and rehab, health-care workers
still said Hamoen had complete quadriplegia. But he
maintained hope and faith that this too could be defied.
After meeting with Dr. Cathy Craven, a physiatrist at
Toronto Rehab’s Spinal Cord Rehabilitation Program,
it was determined Hamoen needed to stabilize medically
before enrolling in the rehab program.
In October 2012, he was admitted to E.W. Bickle Centre
for Complex Continuing Care.
“My wound is right down to the bone and could have
killed me. The specialized care at Bickle has helped heal
my wound,” Hamoen said, noting his care team has also
focused on stabilizing his blood pressure — no easy
task given his condition.
Integrated team
Thanks to Toronto Rehab’s integration with UHN,
Hamoen also sees a registered respiratory therapist
(RRT) at Toronto Western Hospital. The on-site expertise
means he doesn’t have to travel elsewhere for respiratory
therapy.
“Our RRT has worked with Jake on breathing exercises
and has trained the nursing staff how to set up his
ventilator,” said Jon Dela Cruz, RN, 4 South, Bickle Centre.
The time and effort put forth by his care team is
paying off.
(
Continued on page 14...)
“Not every facility would do this.”
–Jake Hamoen
