Bill Zoller's Injury on January 1987
It all began on January 5 of 1987, when Professor Zoller was seriously injured in an automobile accident while driving to the Seattle-Tacoma Airport. Dr. Jeff Gaffney, a staff scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Professor Zoller, a Consultant at the Laboratory was trying to catch an early 6:00 am flight to New Mexico. While driving on Route 520 between Redmond and Bellevue, Washington, their car skidded on “black ice” and barreled into another car, which had already skidded on the same ice. At this point Zoller was unconscious collapsed onto the steering wheel with all of his ribs broken, lungs collapsed and diaphragm split open. A big pick-up truck then proceeded to skid on the same ice and hit the back of Zoller’s 1970 mustang convertible, knocking the top of his head into the steering wheel, leaving two large blood clots in the brain. The ambulance arrived quickly since it had already been called for the others that had previously been hurt in the accident. With speed, skill and prayers they managed to get him out of the destroyed car, and to Overlake hospital, where the doctors operated, sewing his diaphragm together and pumping his lungs up.
He remained in a coma for a week. Upon awaking from the coma, life was not the same and never would be. Physically everything worked right though a little slow and clumsy. Mentally he had the IQ of about 55 or somewhere there about. Learning was fast as the brain reestablished some old pathways. The short-term memory, which in the beginning was less than 5 seconds, has much improved. But much is still forgotten. The long-term memory still has years missing. He remembers his childhood, but does not remember ever being a Professor, which he has been since 1970! Many things he will remember if the right connection can be found. His health is now fine and his teaching and chemistry abilities are as good if not better than before the accident, after a lot of diligent and hard work. His biggest problem is lack of faith in his abilities, and courage to try anything new or different from what is routine. Fear is his constant companion, and the courage to try anything new is nowhere to be found! He gets tired easily, and cannot stay awake past about 9:00 PM at night. His depression was deep and he had no hope for the future.
In the spring of 1999 he found the Handle Institute in Seattle as a place where he could get help. The Institute was established by Judith Bluestone to help brain injured people and stroke victims to be able to better handle their problems by building up new pathways in the brain to do things that the brain damage had impaired. Zoller had been to see Neurologists at both the University of Washington, and Virginia Mason Hospitals, and was always told the same thing! “You do have substantial brain damage, and you will have to cope with it!” At the Handle Institute, after an hour of simple tests Judith said that he had a problem of no communication between the right and left hemispheres of the brain, and that the automatic background functions were not working! Because the brain was always busy with the simple things like walking and moving and talking, it tired easily and had no time to remember or to think. People at the University told him that every time he walked up or down stairs, he had to look at his feet, and could not carry on a conversation with anyone! If doctors and Professional therapists could not help him how could these people? He did not believe this at all, and thought this Institute was a total waste of time. Well where the others could do nothing, Judith and the Handle Institute helped him out! The exercises were “too simple” to help, but in 6 months they had done things that nothing else could do. They got Zoller’s automatic background functions working again, and the right and left hemispheres of Zoller’s brain were working together. That meant he could stay up at night and not be totally exhausted, and when walking he did not have to look at his feet anymore! Not only that, he did not lose his temper as much as he normally did, and with the time, his brain could begin to go back and fill in the old memories that have been lost for 13 years. He has been able to remember some of the times from the years at the University of Maryland! The Handle Institute people, primarily Judith have made a difference in his life, and now for the first time in 13 years he is looking forward to the future! You can learn more about the Handle Institute by looking at their WEB page at: www.handle.org on the World Wide Web!
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Questions or Comments? zoller@chem.washington.edu
(206) 543-1643
10/01/97