FISHER HOUSE - HELPING MILITARY FAMILIES

Share This Page

Ed Matayka has spent the last 10 months beating the odds.

He wasn't expected to survive his injuries for more than 24 hours after an improvised explosive device detonated under his patrol's armored vehicle in Afghanistan in July.

When he arrived days later at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., his wife, Karen Matayka, was again told he likely wouldn't survive.

And when he fell into a coma, it was uncertain he would come out of it.

But he did.

The Lee, N.H., couple are medics with the Vermont National Guard's 186th Brigade Support Battalion and had been deployed together to Afghanistan when Ed's accident occurred. Today, Karen says they are stronger because of what they've been through together.

In an interview with Foster's from a lounge area at the West Roxbury Veterans Hospital Thursday, where he's been receiving physical therapy since March 2, Ed, 33, refers to his recovery process after the accident as a story he keeps expecting to end, but it doesn't.

He has lost both legs, suffered a spinal injury, a broken jaw, bleeding in his brain, fractures in his back and face and a stroke that has left him with partial paralysis of his left side. He spent two months in intensive care.

With ongoing therapy, Ed is now medically stable. Just Wednesday, he was approved to be fitted for prosthetics.

"I was very confident because I do know how strong Ed is," Karen said.

And for the first time in months, he and Karen are talking seriously about their plans for the future, which includes starting a family.

"I'm terribly excited," Ed said. "But there's a lot of things that need to happen before that."

They'd like to start by going home, but that won't be easy. Even as he begins to walk, their Lee home will need serious renovations to be wheelchair-friendly and accessible for Ed.

"It's a two-story home with a walk-out basement," Karen said. "In order to get into the main level, you have to walk up a flight of stairs. There still needs to be wheelchair access; he's not going to be a full-time walker."

The couple, who has been married for almost seven years, bought the home in 2007, and say it would be cheaper to rebuild than renovate. They have already qualified for a $63,000 VA grant, which they would need to apply toward wheelchair-friendly flooring, handicap accessible bathrooms, doorways at least 32 inches wide, installation of a ramp to the front door that's at least 120 feet long and installing another wheelchair accessible entryway to the home.

"It's just a matter of how much you can do for $63,000," Ed said. Karen added that after looking into the renovations, it would cost at least $125,000 to do what they need.

"Military pay is not extraordinary," Karen said. "A lot live paycheck to paycheck and when something like this happens, you have the devastating realization that you need money to fix a house."

Karen has been living rent-free across the street from the VA hospital at the Fisher House, one of the homes built around the country on donations for the purpose of serving family members of veterans staying in the hospitals.

"That type of institution has been instrumental," Ed said. "She's right next to me if I ever need anything."

Ed credits much of his recovery to his wife, saying if it weren't for her being sent back from Afghanistan to be with him, he doesn't think he'd be alive today.

"I've always been the realist," he said. "Day to day, this is what it is, this is what I can do."

But Karen told him almost from day one that he would be fine; that everything would turn out OK. She talked with him about hiking the presidential range in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

He said he broke through a lot of barriers in Richmond, Va., at the McGuire VA Medical Center, where he did much of his recovery and rehabilitation. He's been regaining some movement of his left side with the therapy he has received in West Roxbury.

He also said he's getting back his old personality and sarcasm. That side of him was evident as he rolled round the room in his wheelchair during the interview, explaining, "I'm sorry if I seem distracted. I suffer from restless wheel syndrome."

He said when he started seeing results from his treatment, he got more involved in the process.

"Karen's been instrumental in not only being an advocate for me, but keeping me honest and working," he said. "All in all, anybody going through this without somebody is going to have a tough time."

Karen started and has maintained daily a page on the social networking site Facebook called Edward Matayka, get well soon!

It's been through this page they have received support from more than 1,300 people and been nominated for ABC's Extreme Makeover Home Edition, which opened up casting in New Hampshire less than two weeks ago.

They will have to make a video at their home, which will prove difficult as Ed can only really enter the basement. With his wheelchair, he can't get into the bathrooms or fit in their bedroom. The deck also wouldn't support the weight of his 403-pound wheelchair and his body.

Karen said they'd ultimately like to add a bathroom and put an addition on to extend the size of their bedroom. The house currently sits on a hill at the end of a gravel driveway, and one of their considerations has been to tear it down and build a new home on a piece of flat land off the side of the driveway.

They have some hope for assistance from the Wounded Warrior Project, an organization that helps soldiers move forward with their lives. They had recently been contacted by the senior benefits liaison there.

There are also other agencies that help soldiers with their homes such as HomesForOurTroops.org, which has worked with Extreme Makeover Home Edition in the past.

"We'd like to get back home," Karen said. However, the couple acknowledges it's still a matter of taking one thing at a time.

"You never think it's going to happen to you," Ed said of his ordeal. "It's one thing after another. There will always be more work."

But while they face more challenges ahead, Karen already knows they'll be all right.

"Either way, we're going to have a good life because we're going to spend it together."

John Huff/Staff photographer  Edward Matayka and his wife Karen talk about the challenges facing them with renovating their home in Lee for Ed, who was injured by an improvised explosive device while serving in Afghanistan. Below, Ed looks up pictures on his smart phone. Click here to view Foster's prints for sale

John Huff/Staff photographer Edward Matayka talks about the challenges with renovating his home in Lee. He was injured by an improvised explosive device while serving in Afghanistan. Click here to view Foster's prints for sale

John Huff/Staff photographer Edward Matayka and his wife Karen talk about the challenges facing them with renovating their home in Lee for Ed, who was injured by an improvised explosive device while serving in Afghanistan.

John Huff/Staff photographer Edward Matayka and his wife Karen talk about the challenges facing them with renovating their home in Lee for Ed, who was injured by an improvised explosive device while serving in Afghanistan.

John Huff/Staff photographer

Edward Matayka looks up pictures on his smart phone while he and his wife Karen talk about the challenges facing them with renovating their home in Lee for Ed, who was injured by an improvised explosive device while serving in Afghanistan.

Share This Page