5 years after near-fatal fall, he can celebrate

Jack Pulaski wasn't supposed to survive an 18-foot fall from a ladder while hanging Christmas lights outside his Algonquin home five years ago.

He wasn't supposed to recover from brain injuries so severe doctors questioned whether he would ever function above the most basic levels.

He wasn't supposed to go back to work and become a productive member of his community.

Pulaski wasn't supposed to do a lot of the things he is doing today, and because of that, he and his family have reason to celebrate today's five-year anniversary of his near-deadly fall, not mourn it.

For his family and rescuers, Pulaski is a true Christmas miracle, a man who suffered such devastating brain injuries during the holiday season of 2002 that he was given a small chance for survival and an even smaller chance for a normal life.

"Doctors gave him only a 20 percent chance to live and said even if he did he would be a vegetable for the rest of his life," said Pulaski's daughter, Kari Pulaski. "To see him where he is today, it's a miracle. There's no other way to explain it."

But it is a miracle that did not come easy, or without a lot of help.

Jack's wife of 33 years, Yvonne, says her husband's recovery may be the result of a higher power, but one that used a lot of good tools down on Earth to make it happen.

Those tools included rescue workers who rushed Pulaski to medical treatment when there seemed to be little hope, doctors who worked feverishly to save him even if his chances appeared slim, rehabilitation specialists who helped him find himself again, and most importantly, a family that dropped everything to be at his side.

"We gave a small chance for survival to the patient's family, but the recovery is all theirs," said Tammy Chatman of Flight For Life-Northern Illinois, which played a key role in getting Pulaski fast medical attention. "We have patients who don't have that support system around them and they don't make that kind of recovery."

Pulaski suffered his injuries Dec. 11, 2002, while hanging Christmas lights above his garage door. The fall broke nearly every bone in his face, caused severe brain damage and left him bleeding profusely. Despite those injuries, he managed to crawl from his driveway into a first-floor bathroom, where his then 19-year-old son, Brian, found him as much as three hours later.

Huntley EMTs and Flight For Life rushed him to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where he would spend the next eight weeks -- 3½ of them in an induced coma. Family members never left his side.

"The first weeks were very scary," Yvonne Pulaski said. "The doctors couldn't tell me what was going to happen. It was all iffy."

Pulaski made it out of the hospital in early February 2003, but still faced a rough road. He needed almost constant care from his family and, because of the serious injury to the right frontal lobe of his brain, was subject to personality changes, mood swings and short-term memory loss.

"Things you wouldn't normally say, that your brain would filter out, they come out," Yvonne Pulaski said. "It's raw emotion with no filter."

"There were days where I felt I couldn't do it anymore," added Kari Pulaski, who took time off from work to care for her father. "But people said, 'Keep hanging on and it will pass.' "

In many ways those difficult times have passed now, five years later. Though he still suffers from the effects of his injury, Pulaski has recovered much of his independence and has now even taken a job as a part-time bus aide for Huntley Community Unit School District 158, helping young special-needs children with their daily rides to and from school.

His experiences with brain injury and its effects, he said, give him extra insight into what those children are experiencing.

"There's a closer connection," he said.

And Pulaski's work with young children in need is a source of pride for those who saved his life. They will gather with him and his family tonight in Huntley to mark the anniversary of his fall and his miraculous survival.

"Even though he suffered devastating injuries, he gives to others who are less fortunate than he is," Chatman said. "I think that's part of what makes this so special."

Despite all the difficult times since the fall, Pulaski and his family say they are closer because of it, stronger in their faith and more grateful for their time together.

"There's more meaning in my life now," he said. "I may not be able to do all the things I wanted to do, but every day has meaning."