Sibling devotion yields scholarship

CAROL LOLLIS Twins Rebecca and Howie Hill, 18, graduated from Easthampton High School earlier this month. Because of Rebecca's devotion to helping Howie recover from injuries suffered in an automobile accident, she received a $500 human services scholarship.

In 1999, when the Hills lived in Poultney, Vt., with their father, Howie had a serious car accident. Then 15, he was a passenger in a car that slid on a patch of ice and collided with an oncoming school bus. He was in a coma for a month at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire, and was temporarily paralyzed and brain-damaged.

Physical and occupational therapists did daily exercises with him, explained Rebecca. "Since I was there at his side all the time," she said they taught her how to move his legs and arms. "After a while, they started telling me, 'Hey, you're great at this, you should do this for a living.'"

After emerging from the coma, Howie was moved to Franciscan Children's Hospital in Boston. He spent two more months recuperating there, with Rebecca's help, of course.

"His brain-damage injuries made him like a newborn baby," said his sister, who lives at 3 Applewood Lane with her mother, Patty Hill, Howie, and younger brother, Sean, 14. "He had to learn to walk and talk and do things all over again."

But he did. After missing a year of school together, Rebecca and Howie have just graduated from Easthampton High School.

At the school's annual awards night recently, Riverside Industries, a mental health facility at One Cottage Street in Easthampton, awarded Rebecca with a $500 human services scholarship for her devotion to Howie, as well as for her academic achievement.

"We perceived that she was determined to pursue a career in human services," said Ronald Bittel, Riverside president. "She also provided major assistance to her brother ... She helped him get back to a functional state."

Rebecca will attend Springfield Technical Community College in September to become a physical therapy assistant. From there, she hopes to enter Springfield College's physical therapist program. "Either way, I'll be meeting my goals," said Rebecca. "If I can't get into Springfield's physical therapy program, I won't mind, just as long as I'm in that line of work."

And Howie? According to Rebecca, he is up and walking, though he still struggles with balance and coordination, is deaf in one ear and partially in the other, and has nerve damage in his left eye.

He is taking a year off to work and save money to attend Porter & Chester Institute in Chicopee next year. He wants to be an electrician.

"He's my inspiration and my motivation because even though he had to do all this stuff, he never, ever once gave up," said Rebecca. "Howie totally changed my whole way of thinking. After all, if he can do it, I can do it."

Nicole Sequino can be reached at nsequino@gazettenet.com

 

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