Matt Ferber: 'Life’s going to be different'
By Ginny Privitar
CHESTER — On Friday, Feb. 1, four friends — two from Chester and two from Middletown — went drinking at several bars around the area. Then they piled into a car.
At two minutes past midnight, while speeding south on Route 17 near the now-closed Arden Hill Hospital, the car spun out of control and hit the center guardrail. No other cars were nearby. It was a clear, dry night.
The state police said all of the passengers wore seat belts, and that the air bags deployed. But the crash was horrific. The driver, John Behler, 20, a young man who had beaten cancer, was dead at the scene. Next to him was Chelsea Gallagher, 23. She was not seriously injured. John’s sister Caroline, 24, was unconscious in the seat behind Chelsea's. She suffered severe injuries and was only recently released from Helen Hayes Hospital.
Next to Caroline was Matt Ferber, 26, who was ejected from the car. He says he doesn't think he was wearing a seat belt.
Nearly three months after the accident, Ferber recounts what happened:
“To be honest, I don’t really know how he lost control. It was a nice clean night out. Who knows? Somehow he lost control of the car, did a 360 into the guardrail. I went flying out of the car and — I realized I was still alive. I was conscious. But, I uh, I felt down. Something didn’t feel right. My leg. I looked down. My leg was totally ripped off.
“The second we did a 360 I thought maybe I would die right there. Possibly. Because of the way how fast we were going.
"When I was on the floor and I realized my leg was detached, I felt for my other leg. That was slightly detached, too, but it was on me. The other leg was three or four feet behind me. I was kinda freaking out at this time. Kinda yelling and screaming.”
He could hear Chelsea, who was still strapped in the car, screaming.
State troopers from Monroe were first on the scene. Trooper Joseph Potucek applied a tourniquet to Ferber’s left leg, while Trooper John Roden applied one to the right leg. They saved his life.
“Two or three more minutes of bleeding and I would’ve died," Ferber said. "And then I remember being in the ambulance, and they kept trying to talk to me, and I said could you please knock me out, knock me unconscious. Finally I got knocked out, and I woke up 13 days later in Westchester Medical Center.”
Ferber was wrong about his second leg. That was amputated, too, just barely connected. He lost both legs above the knee.
“I was in a daze in Westchester," he said. "It didn’t hit me exactly what happened, until I got home. Not even today — totally. When I got home, I realized life’s going to be different.
“So that was that.”
'My new mother'
Ferber left Westchester Medical Center on Feb. 28 and went directly to Helen Hayes for rehab. He came home on April 6, only to return for bypass surgery on his arm to restore proper blood flow. After two days, on April 10, he came home for good. His arm is better, but his hand still feels cold sometimes. He will need all his strength in both arms.
Visiting with Ferber at his Whispering Hills apartment on a Thursday afternoon were his neighbor Carol Baltimore and a friend from school, Larry Moore. Baltimore’s son went to school with Ferber, and she is now his advocate. She’s been “helping a ton," Ferber said. "She’s my new mother.”
The two carry on a lighthearted banter. But Baltimore is a determined and dedicated ally. She's organizing a yard sale fundraiser on May 4 at the Chester Commons (see related article). She's trying to get a handicapped-accessible apartment for Ferber at Hearthstone in Goshen. If that happens, she has only to walk across the street from Valley View nursing home, where she works, to visit him.
The condos in Whispering Hills are not handicapped-accessible. In Ferber’s unit, the bedroom and full bath are upstairs, and the doorways are too narrow for a wheelchair. He's unsure about moving — he says all his friends know where he is. But he cannot function independently in his apartment, which he shares with a roommate who works full time.
Ferber appreciates what Hearthstone offers.
“There I would have full independence," he said. "And I could do everything on my own. Wake up when I want to wake up, shower when I want to shower.” Right now, he depends on others to get up the stairs.
A disability application is in the works.
Ferber was unemployed at the time of the accident. He is living off his savings. He had private insurance with Hudson Health as his primary and now Medicaid as his secondary insurance. But they don’t pay for everything.
Eventually he’ll be fitted for prostheses. His Honda Civic might be modified for hand controls.
Ferber's family is scattered, and he does not get significant help from them. Right now, though, plenty of friends are coming to visit.
One of the most difficult things to deal with is “not doing what I want when I want to do it. Relying on other people.”
He can dress himself. But Baltimore worries about his nutrition because he mostly eats take-out. His friend Larry’s wife, Stephanie, sent over a home-cooked meal.
“I kinda feel bad for him because I just know that this is not him — sitting around," Larry said. "Ferb is normally out on the streets — anywhere from 10 to 12 hours a day. He’s rarely home. This is the longest I’ve ever sat in his house, other than us watching a basketball or football game. He’s really an outdoors guy. I’ll feel better for him once he gets out and able to do what he likes to do, like wait on line for sneakers. He loves sneakers. He collects sneakers. He’ll wait on line for hours and hours.”
Ferber chimed in.
“I just like going places," he said. "I like trying new foods. And all the restaurants. I go to movies, clubs, bars. If the weather’s nice, I can play basketball.”
But first things first.
“I want to walk — immediately," he said. "I’m ready to get these prostheses, like yesterday.”
The Matt Ferber Fund opens
Members of the public may make donations to the newly opened The Matt Ferber Fund by mailing their checks to:
The Matt Ferber Fund
c/o Key Bank
74 Brookside Ave
Chester, NY 10918