"After returning home, Matthew continued to receive outpatient speech, occupational, physical, cognitive and neurological rehabilitation therapies four days a week in Mountainside. He is making great strides in his recovery."
While on their way to lacrosse practice, Matthew along with his mother, Lori, three of his siblings and a friend, were struck by a drunk driver while at a traffic light, pushing them into other vehicles. Knocked unconscious at the scene, Matthew was rushed to the hospital where he was put into a medically induced coma for three weeks. As he was coming out of the coma, Matthew’s parents needed to arrange for his care and rehabilitation. At the recommendation of his doctors, the Polifonte’s chose Children’s Specialized Hospital. “We didn’t know where to begin, we had never been down this road before,” Matthew’s mom explained, “but from the moment we arrived our experience was phenomenal.”
Just coming out of the coma when he arrived at Children’s, Matthew was evaluated immediately and began intense therapies just two days later. When Matthew was admitted to the hospital, he was completely paralyzed on the left side of his body. He had a tracheostomy, a feeding tube, and he was unable to hold his head up on his own. That was April. By the middle of May, Matthew had started talking through his tracheostomy, and by the mid
During Matthew’s four months at Children’s Specialized Hospital, Lori described his therapy as, “incredibly hard work, but work he always did with a smile.” He received highly specialized care from four primary therapists who never let him quit. But it wasn’t all work for Matthew. He loved the game room and playing Uno and SkipBo. He and his family are especially grateful for the friends they made at Children’s, friends they visit with and are still in touch with today.
There is one friend in particular who made a very special impact on Matthew while he was in New Brunswick. Charles Chianese, vice president and chief operating officer of Children’s Specialized Hospital, heard that Matthew
After a four-month stay in the hospital, Matthew arrived home to a hero’s welcome of several hundred friends and family from his town, cheering his return. After returning home, Matthew continued to receive outpatient speech, occupational, physical, cognitive and neurological rehabilitation therapies four days a week in Mountainside. He is making great strides in his recovery.