Help a Local Family in Need

You may have seen the posters in various places around town with a photo of a smiling teenage boy. Like other boys his age, Jake Shumbo is determined and has a great sense of humor. He is also trying to recover from a devastating brain injury accident that has left him relearning how to do everything.

Jake was snowboarding on December 28, 2011, when he fell and hit his head. He was wearing a helmet at the time, but the blow to his head, according to a release by the family, caused a small bleed and his brain to swell very quickly.

The family he was with at the time responded quickly and had him transported to Waterbury hospital, where he went in for emergency brain surgery. During the surgery, the right side of his skull was removed to allow for the brain swelling.  

The following day, he was transported by Lifestar to Yale New Haven Hospital, where he spent the next week in the pediatric ICU. Jake then spent the next six weeks at Yale until they were able to replace the piece of his skull that had been removed in the earlier surgery.

During this time, Jake's communication was limited to eye blinks and very light hand squeezes. The family then transferred him to Blythedale Children's Hospital in New York for the next phase of his recovery. He stayed at Blythedale for six weeks as he made slow but steady progress. 

Because the hospital was 2 1/2 hours from home, the family took turns staying with Jake, switching off every 2-3 days. They then decided to move Jake closer to home so that more family and friends could visit and help to stimulate his recovery. At the beginning of March, Jake moved to a hospital for special care in New Britain for the last phase of his in-patient treatment. Jake made steady progress there and on April 24th, almost 4 months after the accident, he was able to finally come home.  

Currently, Jake is now getting speech, physical and occupational therapy at home and the family also takes him for additional physical therapy twice a week. Jake has to literally relearn how to do everything and medical costs are mounting higher and higher.

“He is very determined and has a great sense of humor even as he faces his many challenges,” said his mom, Dawn Shumbo, “he has a very long road ahead of him but we know he can do it.” 

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The local community has come together in amazing ways to help the Shumbo family as they go through the recovery process. for example, raffled off a grill last month and gave all proceeds from the raffle to the Jake Shumbo Fund.

This Saturday, June 16, Brad Parker organized a Benefit Chicken Barbeque at the Moodus Sportsman Club to help raise money. The event is at 4 p.m. Tickets are $20 per person. Contact Brad Parker at 873-8330 or Roy Parker at 873-2367 for tickets.

Monetary donations can also be made to the .

The information about Jake’s accident and recovery was supplied by a statement from the Shumbo family.