Daily Sitka Sentinel

Sitka Man Recovering in Seattle from a Head Injury

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    Roger Lloyd Hames, the son of Mary and Roger Hames, is recovering in Seattle from a head injury he suffered in a fall on a Sitka dock June 12.
    Hames, 33, suffered a subdural hematoma, his mother said. He was treated at Sitka Community Hospital before being medevacked to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle the day after the accident.
    Hames is in the Harborview intensive care unit this week receiving care for clots in his lungs from inactivity, but he is responding well, his mother said.
    “We’re optimistic,” Mary Hames said Tuesday from Seattle. “It’s a long road ahead. The staff here is totally optimistic. ... It’s a long battle. Sometimes it’s one step forward, two steps back, sometimes it’s three steps back.”
    On the day of the accident, Hames was working on a fishing boat in ANB Harbor when he lost his footing on the dock and fell backward, hitting the back of his head. He didn’t believe he was seriously hurt and later went to his parents’ house for lunch. Mary Hames said she prepared an ice pack and gave him an Advil for his headache, but after a short time he complained that he couldn’t hear and fell unconscious.
    Mary Hames called 911 and the EMTs responded quickly.
    “They were awesome, and they got him to Sitka Community Hospital,” she said.
    Local doctors consulted with a neurosurgeon in Seattle, and the prognosis was grim. But that changed the next morning when the staff at SCH saw that Roger was responding, and he was medevacked that afternoon.
    Mary Hames said her son is responding to questions with “thumbs-up” and “thumbs-down” signals, but recently has been sedated while he’s undergoing treatment for secondary problems related to his head injury.
    Both of his parents are with him in Seattle, along with his longtime girlfriend, Holley Dennison, and her mother, Minnie.
    The Hameses said their son can’t receive flowers, but that cards, letters, prayers and posts on Facebook and on the website Caring Bridge are welcome. His progress can be followed on Mary Hames’ Facebook page and the Caring Bridge website: www.caringbridge.org/visit/rogerlloydhames
    Cards can be addressed to Roger and Mary Hames, 699 John St., Unit 704, Seattle, WA 98109.
    Mary Hames said it has helped to hear from family and friends in Sitka.
    “We appreciate every note, every comment,” she said. “We really feel close to home and it’s a big help.”
    Roger Lloyd Hames is employed in the family’s grocery business and also as a fisherman.