By Ron Vidika, The Morning Journal
LORAIN — For most people, April 15 is the deadline for filing income tax.
For the Rev. Peter Toth, pastor of the Hungarian Reformed Church, 1691 E. 31st St., Lorain, the date carried a different deadline.
It was the day he almost died.
Toth was in the backyard of the new home he and his wife, Brigitta B. Dalmi, moved into in mid-February.
He decided to do a little spring pruning that began with slicing off the hefty limb of a weeping willow tree that stood 60 feet high in his backyard. Toth revved up his chain saw and began cutting into the limb that measured 40 feet in length and a foot in diameter.
“The limb was waterlogged. It started to break and bend backward and I was behind the limb, standing on top of the trunk,” he said.
The branch snapped back and hit him. Toth was leaning against another big branch at the time, so his right arm was crushed between the two big branches.
A Hungarian friend of Toth visiting from out of state freed him from the tree and began walking him back to the house.
Fortunately, Toth’s neighbors, Don and Lisa Dellisanti, were home at the time. Don called 911, while Lisa, a licensed practical nurse, began efforts to stop Toth’s blood loss.
Lisa Dellisanti yelled to the out-of-state visitor to lay Toth down immediately.
“His friend tried to walk him into the house,” Don Dellisanti said. “They’re both speaking in Hungarian. My wife called out to him to stop walking him and lay him down. He was on his side bleeding. My wife was checking his pulse. He was bleeding severely, all over the place.
“We got towels and packed them around his arm.”
“When I was waiting for the ambulance, the pain came to me,” Toth recalled. “It was overwhelming. I started to cry. The firemen came. They were very nice. They took my shirt off and then the ambulance came.”
Seven months later, Toth has undergone 13 separate surgeries.
“Hopefully, that is it. Thirteen is my lucky number,” he said.
Toth suffered setbacks when infection set in.
“My arm was almost hanging from a strip of muscle,” he said. “They shortened my arm by an inch-and-a-half. They’ve inserted a plate with 10 screws right above my elbow. They managed to put some screws and a plate in the lower part of my upper arm. It took five months for the bone to heal.”
The orthopedic surgeon told him his right forearm was broken in three places.
“They managed to save my arm,” he said. “It’s not functional yet. It will take about a year to heal. They say I have a good chance of it healing completely.”
When it comes to his ministerial duties, Toth said he is being aided by members of his congregation.
“The church members are helping me,” he said. “I can do most of the things as a minister, such as speaking, preaching, teaching, but physically, I am unable to do what I once did. It was the Hungarian community of Lorain that came to my rescue.
“I can use my left hand to drive. So, that’s encouraging,” Toth continued. “I have some movement in my arm, but I am missing my bicep muscle. They took a muscle out of my thigh and made a muscle flap out of that.
“I have a little feeling in my arm. It’s limited. But I’m full of hope.”
While in the hospital, Toth said he was experiencing dark moods.
“I was struggling with depression. But my friends visited me and really supported me,” he said.
On Nov. 7, a fundraiser took place, called “Paprikas for Peter,” sponsored by the 90-year-old Hungarian Council of Lorain County, Inc., which is the umbrella group for all of the other Hungarian organizations and churches in the county.
John Peters, president of the Council, said, “I wholeheartedly thank the people for their help with this fundraiser. It’s not just one man or one Council. Once more, we prove that, as Hungarians, when the time comes to help someone in need, we go out of our way to help them. His bills are skyrocketing and his insurance will not cover all of it.”
The Hungarian Reformed Church donated the seasonings and the plastic foam carryout containers. Peters donated the cabbage rolls. And the church donated use of their facility for the event.
“Paprikas for Peter” consisted of chicken, paprikas dumplings and two stuffed cabbage rolls for $12.
“They held a food sale to support me. And they gave me a nice chunk of money, “$5,000,” said Toth, whose medical bills continue to mount.
“I didn’t expect that to happen,” he added. “It was amazing. The Hungarian community supports me in many ways.
“It was funny. A week before my accident, I gave a sermon about how life is full of changes and how we should be prepared for the unexpected in life.” Toth recalled.
Source: www.morningjournal.com
