03/26/2022
Incredible to see how multidisciplinary trauma care can help people! Please donât forget our amazing trauma team led by Dr. Obaid-Schmid, as well as Thera Ex Occupational Therapists who spent countless hours on rehab.
In May 2020, then-18-year-old Evan Kowal â like many of us â was struggling to adjust to the pandemic. Tensions were running high. âMy family and I were all stuck in the same house,â he says, âand my mental health wasnât in a good place.â In a burst of frustration, Evan punched through a window. The glass cut through four tendons, a nerve and an artery in his left hand. He started losing blood, fast.
âI thought Iâd killed myself by accident,â Evan says. âI was scared. I didnât want to die.â His father put a tourniquet on Evanâs arm, and he was rushed to Huntington Hospital Trauma Center.
After Evanâs condition stabilized, he was transported to a surgical unit, where plastic surgeon Sanjeev N. Puri, MD, quickly got to work. Not only did our expert caregivers save his hand and his life, but also his dream of continuing to play water polo.
Today, Evan is doing well. He addressed his mental health issues and is now a sophomore at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is playing the best water polo of his life.
Evan gives immense credit to Dr. Puri. âIn eight hours of work, Dr. Puri changed the entire course of my life, and Iâm infinitely grateful,â Evan says. In fact, he inspired Evan to consider a career in medicine. âDr. Puri is honest with patients, while still keeping them motivated. Heâs the kind of doctor I want to be.â
To learn more about Evan's inspiring story, visit https://linktr.ee/HuntingtonHospital.