A compassionate teenager from Westchester has completed a project aimed at enhancing a local veterans hall right in time for Memorial Day — despite being delayed by a freak accident and a challenging recovery.
Joseph Mana, 18, was on the verge of finishing his work at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Yorktown Heights. His Eagle Scout project involved setting up planter boxes, pressure washing the facility, and refurbishing a bench. He took a break in October to focus on school activities, according to Mana and his father who spoke with The Post.
âIt was supposed to be done in time for Veterans Day â but then tragedy struck,â his dad, Ed Mana, said.
While actively participating in Boy Scouts troop 173, Mana was playing touch football during his fourth-period gym class when an accidental collision occurred. Another student ran into his left leg from the side while he was leaning back, leading to the unexpected incident, Mana explained.
The impact and strange angle dislocated his knee and damaged a main artery behind it.
âI was in a lot of pain and shock,â Mana said. âThe top of my knee was indented down at an angle.â
He was rushed to an emergency room, where doctors explained he needed surgery immediately to fix the artery.
âAfter they popped it back into place, they said it could be something wrong with the vascular side,â Mana said.
For the next four months, the teen was forced to remain hospitalized while he recovered from three surgeries â including to repair the artery, remove pins from his ACL and fix a tendon.
Ed Mana, 52, said it was hard to check his son into Blythedale Children’s hospital in Valhalla knowing heâd likely be there for months.
âWhen you have to leave [your kid] there, itâs like youâre leaving someone in jail. There were tears,â he said.
As the months passed, the teenager celebrated Halloween, New Years ‘Day and his 18th birthday at the hospital.
âI was upset and annoyed I couldnât see [my friends],â Joseph Mana said.
He even applied to colleges while on painkillers and confined to the medical center.
âI told him if you donât get in, you should write the college a letter later and say, âI was high but not for the normal reasons,ââ Ed Mana said.
Finally, in March the teen was released and advised to do physical therapy twice a week and to wear a knee brace for the next year and a half.
Over the weekend, he returned to complete the vets project, which will also include a flag box, and will be unveiled in a ceremony after the townâs Memorial Day parade Monday. Mana is expected to give a short speech.
âVets deserve this because they fought for our country, so we should spend our time helping them too,â he said.
Since his accident, Mana has been accepted to SUNY Polytechnic Institute, where he plans to study computer science.
