Justin Stucky walked a bit more carefully down Kent’s Smith Street hill the icy morning of Thursday, Jan. 19.
A nasty ice storm had left the sidewalks slick as Stucky, 29, walked from his Kent Terrace apartment near Southeast 256th Avenue to his job as a line cook and dishwasher at Farrington Court, a Leisure Care retirement community along Kenosia Avenue.
Stucky walked past Kent-Meridian High School and headed down the south side of the street near the bottom of the hill by Mill Creek Canyon Earthworks Park just as he had every workday since getting the job in October.
Stucky has no memory about what happened next that morning.
“I was walking the hill and the next thing I know I’m waking up in a hospital disoriented,” Stucky said during a Tuesday interview at his parents’ Renton home.
The top half of a large tree broke off from the weight of the ice as Stucky walked along the sidewalk, struck him in the back and head and knocked him to the ground.
A Good Samaritan saw Stucky on the ground, picked him up and rushed him to Valley Medical Center in Renton. Stuckey was later transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He spent a week in the hospital.
“From what I’m told, somebody dropped me off at the hospital,” Stucky said. “A guy found my phone (along the street) and said emergency vehicles showed up but I wasn’t there.
“I still don’t know who dropped me off. I’ve been trying to thank them. I’m grateful for them. I don’t know what shape I’d be in if they hadn’t taken me to the hospital.”
Stucky suffered 17 fractures, including fractures to the skull. He has a shattered right shoulder blade and a damaged left eye socket. He sustained cracked ribs and a compressed spine.
Six weeks after the accident, Stuckey’s right arm remains in a sling. A doctor will examine the shoulder March 7 to see if the sling can be removed and whether Stucky can start physical therapy. He will wear a back brace until at least the end of March.
Farrington Court, his employer, tracked down an old hospital bed for Stucky to use. He cannot get out of bed or shower without help.
“I watch a lot of movies and play video games,” Stuckey said. “I can’t go far without my back hurting. It takes effort just to walk down the few steps to get outside.”
Stucky and Monique Rosson, his fiancee, moved out of their Kent apartment and in with Stucky’s parents after the accident.
“I don’t know what I’d do if my folks were not in this area,” Stucky said. “They’ve taken me in and my fiancee. They put up with us.”
Michael and Sandra Stucky weren’t about to let their son try to make a recovery on his own.
“That’s what parents do,” Sandra Stucky said about letting her son move in.
Justin Stucky doesn’t know yet how long his recovery could take or when he can return to work.
Stucky also is trying to figure out how to pay for more than $50,000 in mounting medical bills. As a part-time employee, he didn’t have medical insurance.
Farrington Court staff, residents and families will host a fundraising spaghetti dinner for Stucky Saturday, March 3 to help with the medical costs.
“It means a lot,” Stucky said about the fundraiser. “I’ve never had an employer who has done anything like that. I want to thank Farrington Court for what they are doing. It really caught me out of the blue.”
For updates about Stucky’s condition, go to his group Facebook page.
Spaghetti dinner fundraiser for Stucky
When: 3:30-7 p.m. Saturday, March 3
Where: Farrington Court, 516 Kenosia Ave. S., Kent
Donation: $5 per person (to help with medical costs)
Reservations required: Call 253-852-2737
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