The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

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March 12, 2010

UPDATE: Family seeks help to bring injured son back home

By Joe Pinchot

HERMITAGE — A Hermitage family wants to bring their boy home.

David Johnson has not been home since June 19, when his car hit an embankment along state Route 60 in Lawrence County, flying off the side of a bridge and onto another road below, said his grandmother, Penny Strechansky.

The crash rendered Johnson, 20, blind and brain damaged. He can’t eat or communicate.

Johnson’s grandparents, Penny and Paul Strechansky, and his mother, Patty Johnson, want to move Johnson back home to live with them, where he lived prior to the crash, but the house’s rooms, doorways and hallways are not big enough for Johnson’s wheelchair and his medical equipment, said Mrs. Strechansky, the former Penny Adkins

Family members are hoping to raise about $40,000 to add on a room for Johnson, a Hickory High School graduate. They have placed collection containers at area businesses, and are planning to hold a fundraising dinner. They also have established the David Johnson Fund at First National Bank. Anyone who would like to contribute can donate at any FNB branch.

Mrs. Strechansky said it has not been determined why Johnson’s car went off the road as he came home from school.

Johnson was three months shy of completing his course work at Pittsburgh Technical Institute, where he was studying computer programming.

He spent about two months in two different hospitals and about 2è months in an Aliquippa nursing home. He has spent about six weeks at a Pittsburgh rehabilitation facility, but soon will be released back to the nursing home because he has not improved, Mrs. Strechansky said.

“He’s too young to be in a nursing home,” she said. “We’re looking forward to him coming home.”

While medical personnel have said they cannot tell if Johnson understands anything, Mrs. Strechansky said she’s pretty sure he understands what she wants to do.

“He doesn’t respond to anything except when I tell him I’m going to bring him home,” she said. “A little tear comes to one eye.”

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