Bill Mason

Bill's daughters Jill (left) and Linda (right) worked closely with Mayo Clinic physicians to help him heal physically and mentally.

"When I was a little girl growing up in Aspen, Colorado," Jill Whitener recalls, "our family used to ski every weekend. Dad would put me on his back, and as we'd ski over bumps together, I'd yell, 'Faster! Faster!' Outdoor activities were always a favorite part of his life."

So on December 17, 2004, while Bill and Betty Mason were visiting Jill in Niwot, Colo. for their grandson's college graduation and the Christmas holidays, skiing was obviously on Bill's to-do list. Before hitting the slopes, Bill drove into town to have some repairs made to his ski boots. But on the drive home, a vehicle T-boned the side of Bill's car at 70 miles per hour, leaving Bill with numerous critical injuries.

Witnesses to the accident dialed 911, and within minutes, emergency personnel pulled Bill from the wreckage and began his transport to a local hospital. But Bill was comatose, and his injuries were staggering: Seventeen broken ribs. Both pelvic bones fractured. Lacerated liver, kidney, and spleen. Right lung collapsed. Heart bruised. Skull fractured in two places. Severe brain injury. Emergency room physicians didn't think Bill would live through the night.

"At the time of the accident," Jill says, "Dad was in top-notch condition. That was probably the reason he survived." Bill's family stayed by his side in the intensive care unit 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. "We lived at that hospital for a month. But we knew that we ultimately needed to get Mom and Dad back to their home in Phoenix, where Dad could receive care from his primary doctors at Mayo Clinic."

"A daily commitment"

On January 17, 2005, exactly one month after the accident and still in critical condition, Bill was transported by air to Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix, Ariz. Dr. Stephen Thomas, a physician in Mayo Clinic's Department of Community Internal Medicine — which provides ongoing care to adult patients who live in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area — served as the leader of Bill's treatment team, coordinating the efforts of physicians, physiatrists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, and other rehabilitation professionals who worked to help restore movement and function to Bill's body and mind.

Healing and recovery was a long process, involving many treatments and therapies as Bill learned to walk and talk again. Happily, on March 30, after three and a half months of hospitalization, Bill was able to return to his home in Sun City West. "There were times I didn't think I was going to get home," Bill smiles.

During Bill Mason's recovery, his family never left his side.

But going home didn't mean the journey was over. Months of outpatient therapy still lay ahead. Jill and her sister Linda continued to work closely with the Mayo treatment team to do everything possible to help Bill heal physically and mentally. "It's a daily commitment," Linda says. "Our parents have been wonderful to us and have given so much to us. Now it's our turn to give back." Because of the traumatic injury to Bill's brain, his rehabilitation involved mental challenges in addition to physical ones. "We work a lot with his short-term memory," Jill explains. "We do a lot of lists. We bring him back to what we're talking about. And we reorient him daily, like what day it is, what month it is."

Mayo caregivers also helped Bill learn to use tools and behavior patterns to assist in those moments when his short-term memory fails. Ask Bill what his address is, for example, and he'll pull his wallet from his back pocket and produce a card with his address and phone number written on it — no detailed memorizing and recitation of numbers required.

"We read to him and ask him questions," Linda continues. "We help him follow directions, one step at a time — cooking, for example. Setting the table. Organizing things. And we take him to do active things as well: bowling, swimming, working out. The fact that he can do these things — after everything he's been through — is incredible."

Amazing achievements

Perhaps the most amazing point in Bill's recovery occurred Memorial Day weekend 2005 in Boulder, Colo., at an annual event known as the Bolder BOULDER — a ten kilometer race that attracts over 50,000 runners, joggers, and walkers annually. "Dad had run the Bolder BOULDER for many years, including the year before at the age of 79," Jill says proudly. "He finished the 10K in an hour and 14 minutes, the winning time in his age group." Now, although Bill had been walking unassisted for only a week and a half, "we arranged for him to walk the final leg of the Boulder BOULDER — the last half a mile." Local TV camera crews turned out to honor Bill's achievement.

"Dad's recovery is a miracle," Jill says. "We never thought he would be able to sit up and talk to us again. I'll always remember when I came back after two weeks away, and Dad mouthed the words, 'I love you,'" she smiles. "He's come a long way."

Sadly, Jill and Linda's mother and Bill's wife, Betty passed away suddenly on December 15, 2005 after 58 years of marriage — almost a year to the day of Bill's accident. "It's hard," Jill says, teary-eyed as she reflects on the events of the past year. "Life can change in seconds — first with dad, and then with mom. It's been a long and challenging road for all of us. But we press on, and each day we feel blessed. Mayo Clinic has and will continue to be a huge part of our lives. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts."