Herb Segars Photography Blog

It has been sometime since I did an update on our son, Tom Segars, and his recovery from a traumatic brain injury that he received over five years ago. He has been getting hyperbaric oxygen treatments for over a year now and the changes have been amazing. He is much more aware and more vocal now than before the treatments started. His balance is improving and his ataxia subsides for periods of time. Tom’s neurologist told us that this means that a bleed that he had in cerebellum is healing and from what we understand, the cerebellum is the slowest healing part of the brain.

Tom gets three chamber treatments a week, goes to a gym and works out twice a week, drives a horse and buggy one day a week, rides a horse one day a week and has pool and vestibular therapy twice a week. He has a very busy schedule. Yesterday, Tom competed in a Special Olympics sponsored by the Horseback Riding for the Handicapped of New Jersey at the Horse Park of New Jersey in Allentown, NJ. It was part of an event dubbed the 2010 HRH Open Horse Show and Special Olympics New Jersey State Competition.

Tom’s first event was the Novice Walk Only event. He did really well and finished with a fifth place ribbon. The photos used in my blog today were all taken by Tom’s incredible wife, Lynda. Tom is riding a horse named Tucker and he is representing Special Strides Therapeutic Riding Center in Monroe, NJ.

Tom walks Tucker in the Novice Walk Only event.

Tom holds his fifth place ribbon after the first competition. Immediately following the Novice Walk Only event, Tom went into the west ring and competed in two additional events. The first was the Walk Only Obstacle Course. Tom had to take his horse over a series of pipes and maneuver through numerous cones and bring his horse to a stop in a specific spot.

Tom guides his horse over a series of pipes. After completing the obstacle course, he moved onto the third event which was in the same ring and immediately followed the obstacle course. This event was the Games Course.

One of the requirements in the Games Course was that Tom was handed a bouquet of flowers. He had to guide his horse to a flower pot on the ground and drop the bouquet into the flower pot. He did it successfully.

The event was well attended and had a large number of competitors. Tom had a large following at the event. In attendance was his wife, Lynda, my wife, Veronica and myself, Lynda’s mom and dad – Paul and Diane DeLorenzo, Lynda’s sister, Alicia and her husband, Andrew Feldman and Lynda’s grandparents, Charles and Joanne Marvin. We are all proud of Tom and so thankful for how far he has come since his injury. We did not find out how Tom placed in the last two events but I will update this post when information is available.

Finally, I have included a video of Tom’s Wild Ride. It can also be found at my facebook page.

It’s Sunday night and we just heard from Tom  by cell phone. He finished 2nd in the Obstacle Course and 3rd in the Games Competition. Go Tom!!!!!!!

© 2010, Herb Segars. All rights reserved.