‘ Paying it forward’
Near- death experience spurs good Samaritan to help others
“I carry around a pack of these ( Visa gift) cards with me. If I see somebody in need, I’ll hand them one. My hope is the people I do this for will do an act of kindness for someone they encounter.”
Jay Lynk
DERBY — Jay Lynk can no longer walk — at least not without the help of leg braces and a walker.
He can’t lift anything with his right arm beyond maybe a six pack of soda.
And he can no longer work at the job he loved.
But this poster boy for the state’s Slow Down, Move Over law said he is happy just to be alive.
And he shows this by “paying it forward.”
Tuesday was the latest in a series of personal pay- it- forward events, when he hired Sal Ajro of Sal’s Verona Pizza and Grill firetruck from Southington and Mike Carpinello with his Super Softee Ice Cream truck from Ansonia to provide free pizza and ice cream to Derby and Ansonia first responders.
“My original plan was to do this for the Derby High School graduating seniors,” said Lynk, 52, a member of the Class of 1985. “They missed so much this year. But school officials decided there’d be social distancing issues. So on Sunday I had to find another option.”
Lynk wanted to keep his pay- it- forward event within the city he grew up, so he reached out to a former classmate, Police Chief Gerald Narowski, who gave his blessing.
“This is phenomenal,” said Derby Police Officer Frank DeAngelo as he munched on a slice of brick oven baked pizza. “It’s great when things like this happen. We are really thankful for the gratitude people have been showing us.”
Aiding first responders who have been working hard during the COVID- 19 pandemic made sense to Lynk, who said he will never forget what they did for him three years ago.
Life- changing event
Lynk’s life forever changed just before 10: 30 p. m. June 16, 2017. He was driving a AAA Northeast Battery van when he saw a female driver sideswiped by a truck on Interstate 95 in Fairfield. He pulled over to help.
“Her front bumper was torn off and her car was leaking fluids,” Lynk recalled. “I radioed it into dispatch.”
A AAA flatbed also in the area pulled over to help.
But Lynk remembers nothing beyond leaning into the disabled car’s passenger side window and talking to the driver.
It’s probably for the best. Within seconds, a box truck slammed into the flatbed, which hit Lynk’s AAA vehicle and pinned him underneath. The driver had apparently failed to heed the state’s Slow Down, Move Over law, which protects first responders — fire, police, Department of Transportation, EMTs, tow truck drivers — on state roads. The law requires motorists to slow down to a reasonable speed and, if possible, move over into an adjacent lane when they see emergency responders assisting disabled drivers on the side of the road
The crash sent Lynk sliding across the roadway, ripping away skin and covering what was left of his broken body with road rash. The impact broke 11 of his ribs, twisted his spine, collapsed his lungs, damaged his right shoulder and arm, and left a huge gash in the back of his head.
EMTs rushed Lynk to St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, where he spent a month in a medically induced coma.
“The doctors told my mom they were not sure I was going to make it,” he said.
“When we got to St. Vincent’s, things were not looking good,” recalled his nephew, Nicholas Lynk. “It was sad looking at him. We’d come and talk to him, but he couldn’t communicate. We were told he’d probably never walk again. We were just hoping his coherence would come back.”
After he came out of the coma, Lynk was transferred to Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford. He spent another monthand- a- half there undergoing intensive rehabilitative therapy.
“They were phenomenal,” Lynk said. “I’m at the point where I can walk with the walker, but around the house its easier using the wheelchair.”
“It’s incredible how someone hurt as bad as he was stays in such high spirits,” said his nephew. “He’s always joking, laughing. He never gets down on himself. And he hates to ask for help. I know it hurts him when he asks me to go shopping with him because he can no longer lift heavy items.”
Food for thanks
In the Derby Police Station lot Tuesday, Ajro cooked at least three dozen pies, with various toppings, in his food truck. The quantity didn’t faze the owner of Sal’s Verona Pizza and Grill. On Mother’s Day in New York City, Ajro served several hundred people outside Manhattan’s Lenox Hill Hospital in a benefit sponsored by the FDNY Firefighters’ Association, according to published reports.
Ajro said his oven reaches 850 degrees and bakes pizza in one- and- a- half to two minutes. A few feet away, Carpinello’s wife served soft ice cream on cones.
All of it was possible thanks to Lynk.
“When someone does something like this, it makes you feel appreciated,” said Michael Goodman, a former Derby fire chief.
“We’re very grateful,” added Patrick Sheehan, a second lieutenant with the Paugusetts Volunteer Fire Company.
One state trooper handed Lynk a state police patch.
“This is so neat,” he said, fingering the patch.
Tuesday’s party wasn’t Lynk’s first pay- it- forward event.
Earlier this year, he bought 60 burgers and fries for neighbors in the Beacon Falls trailer park where he lives.
“They’ve been so good to me too,” he said. “When I got out of Gaylord, I needed people to help drive me around. My family, my friends, my neighbors, the people at AAA, they were so helpful. I can’t ever forget that.”
He bought another 70 burgers and fries for a Naugatuck Soup kitchen. Both came from the Valley Burger Shack in Seymour.
Lynk has also donated $ 25 Visa gift cards to his niece’s sixth grade students at Bridgeport’s Wilbur Cross Elementary school and another set of cards for a friend’s class at Beardsley School.
“I carry around a pack of these cards with me,” he said, reaching into his glove compartment. “If I see somebody in need, I’ll hand them one. My hope is the people I do this for will do an act of kindness for someone they encounter.”
And he said he won’t forget the month- and- a- half he spent at Gaylord, which may be his next pay- it- forward targets.
“Their day is coming,” he said. “After all this, my heart is still beating so I may as well put it to good use.”