Battling back -- but not alone

Mike Sciacca

The sweetness in Tawn Pracon’s voice makes it nearly impossible to

think of the personal journey she has traveled in the past three months.

If you know anything about Pracon, it is that exact sweetness,

combined with a personal resolve and much fortitude, that has made this

unexpected journey just part of her life experience.

“When you wake up in the morning, you have two choices,” she

explained. “One, you can either be happy and choose to make people happy,

or you can be miserable and make them miserable. I’ve always been a happy

person, and I choose to continue to live my life being happy.”

Pracon spoke those words from her bed in the HealthSouth Tustin

Rehabilitation Hospital after a morning round of physical therapy last

week. The center has been her home away from home since early July.

A typical weekend

It was a beautiful Memorial Day weekend and the start to the summer of

2001 when Pracon took her 14-year-old son, Kristopher, on an off-road

all-terrain vehicle expedition in the desert near Gorman with a group of

friends.

The trip was typical for Pracon, a trained adult Scout leader for the

Boy Scouts of America who routinely would round up her son and other kids

from the neighborhood for a trip to the beach for a day of fun in the

surf. Or, they’d go hiking or skiing as she took on the role of both

parents. Pracon and Kristopher lost their husband and father, Craig, 42,

to a brain aneurysm nine years ago.

The Huntington Beach resident, a 1976 Edison High School graduate, was

also the “Kool-Aid Mom,” as neighborhood children would call her. She

would arrange Super Bowl Sunday parties for the kids, while the adults

held their own party at a neighboring house.

But this day, May 28, turned out to be different, incredibly

different, from the others.

When nearing the end of that all-terrain vehicle ride, Pracon’s bike

slipped out from underneath her and caused her to tumble down a 50- to

75-foot cliff.

She was airlifted to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, where it

was determined that Pracon had suffered major injuries, including a

ruptured spleen, punctured lung, broken ribs, a crushed hip and severed

spinal cord.

“I remember trying to get around this part of the hill and saying,

‘Please God, let me stop tumbling,”’ she said. “But I have full memory of

falling down that cliff.”

Fighting through surgery

The accident has left Pracon a paraplegic.

“It’s funny, but my first reaction was, ‘Thank you, God,’ that I could

still use my upper body, and that I still had my son,” she said. “I was

widowed eight years ago, and that was devastating enough. You just need

to continue to take charge of your life and keep whatever positives there

are.”

It is that same indomitable spirit that has gotten Pracon through five

surgeries, which included the removal of her spleen and the

reconstruction of her shattered left hip. She endures four physical

therapy bouts per day, two occupational and two physical. She looks

forward to returning home someday soon and even plans on learning how to

ski again, albeit in a new fashion.

“This won’t stop me,” she declared. “I have such an incredible support

system in my faith, family and friends. “If I didn’t have that support

group, things would be different. I don’t see how others who don’t have

that support make it.”

Rallying support

The members of that support system who have rallied around Pracon will

sponsor several benefits in an effort to raise funds needed to make her

home and car wheelchair-friendly. Individuals and companies also are

donating various services and assistance to make her transition as easy

as possible.

today, the Prince of Peace Church in Costa Mesa will stage a Broadway

revue to help raise money for Pracon’s recovery.

The show -- which can be accompanied by dinner -- will take place at 7

p.m. at the church, 2987 Mesa Verde Drive East, and will feature a

20-piece orchestra.

Members of the church also have helped Pracon by widening doorways in

her home to make it more accessible for a wheelchair.

A barbecue on Sunday is being headed by Pracon’s sister, Britta

Presho.

“Everyone was telling my family to do a fund-raising event,” Presho

said. “They all wanted to help out and said that Tawn deserved it. She’s

such a very positive person and her spirits are still high.”

Reflecting Pracon’s personality, everyone -- young and old alike -- is

welcomed to a day that will feature clowns, face painting, crafts,

carnival games and live music. The benefit barbecue will be held from 1

to 5 p.m. at the Newland Barn in the Newland Center, at Adams Avenue and

Beach Boulevard.

“I just think it’s the neatest thing,” Pracon said with a smile in her

voice. “I’m trying to get a release from the hospital so that I can be

there that day. Right now, at this point, though, it’s hard to say if I

will be able to attend.”

But she knows she will go home one day soon. Things will have changed,

but not her outlook on life. No matter what the setback, she has met the

challenge.

“I will be back,” she said. “My life has changed, but it isn’t over.

There’s still plenty left to do.”

FYI

* What: Benefit show for Tawn Pracon

* Where: Prince of Peace Church, 2987 Mesa Verde Drive East, Costa

Mesa

* When: 7 p.m. today

* Cost: $20 for dinner and show; $14 for show only * Call: (714) 624-9370