Back from the brink, appreciation blossoms

HAYDEN LAKE - Hacking away at some thick black locust branches this week, Scott Cisneros recalled a horrible snowboarding accident 15 years ago when he snapped bones in both thighs.

In the years since, he has reached a much greater appreciation for the people in his life and learned to not take his health for granted for a single moment.

When Cisneros, 44, first moved to North Idaho from Texas he couldn't wait to become a snowboarder.

At the time of the accident, on Jan. 2, 2000, he had logged four years of experience and become a regular at Schweitzer Mountain Resort. On the day of the accident, he decided to take a chance, to get better, and ventured down an area he had never been before.

At one point he went airborne and didn't know what to do next. Gravity. Landing.

"I looked down and my legs were bent in the wrong place," he recalled Tuesday.

The fractures were both mid-thigh. The release of bone marrow material into his bloodstream caused an embolism in his brain.

He spent a month in a coma, another month in a semi-coma then another month at St. Luke's Rehabilitation Institute. Years of physical therapy have followed.

He has come a long way since the accident.

The owner and arborist of Treepro Landscape Co., Cisneros is now back to work.

But he was lucky to receive a lot of help along the way.

"Being a big old guy, you don't think of being vulnerable ever," he said. When in that position, help from others becomes critical.

His mother, the Rev. Vicenta Cisneros, jumped in and took over his business for the first season following his accident.

He returned to work fully within three years, with his physical therapy lasting five years. Justin Kane of North Idaho Physical Therapy was critical to getting Cisneros back to moving well, feeling better and becoming mentally stronger.

Cisneros is still on pain medication, and pain lingers in his left leg, especially after a day of work.

"By the end of the day, I'm really hurting," he said.

Vicenta Cisneros hired another person to work with her to keep the landscaping business running, and Scott watched and learned at first.

"I quit everything to help him," she said. She is an ordained minister and chaplain on staff at English Funeral Chapel.

She had to teach him to do everything again, from tasks as simple as eating to those much more complex, like driving his truck or using a chain saw.

"When someone comes out of a coma like that, they will not grow unless you help introduce them to the things they used to do," she said. "It's so important for people to stick with you."

Scott and his mother built a cabin in the Harrison area, where they still live with their two dogs, Badger and Monarch, both papillons. He had started construction before the accident.

Scott also received emotional and financial help from his sister, Michelle Hicks, and his brother-in-law, Jay Hicks, of Atlanta.

"She came regularly from Atlanta," Vicenta Cisneros said.

He also had the loyalty and support of his customers.

"His customers adore him," she said. "They just waited for him, and he went back to work for them."

Among them is Tom Addis, whose Hayden Lake home Scott Cisneros was working at this week, cutting back the black locusts near the Hayden Lake shoreline.

Today, Scott Cisneros and his mother, as has been the tradition on Christmas Day and other major holidays, will be bringing the employees of Kootenai Health's intensive care unit food and goodies.

"He's very emotional when he talks about it," Vicenta Cisneros said. "He appreciates them for the things they did."

And he knows that while most people are home with their families on Christmas, the people at the hospital stand ready to help those who will need help but just don't know it yet.

"If it wasn't for the grace of God, none of us would be here," Vicenta Cisneros said.