Judge full of life after his brush with death

[Max]

Judge full of life after his brush with death
By Ken Kobayashi
Advertiser Courts Writer

Judge Kenneth Enright, 58, walks with a crutch, which isn't bad, considering an early prognosis said he may end up quadriplegic.

JOAQUIN SIOPACK | The Honolulu Advertiser
FAMILY COURT JUDGE KENNETH E. ENRIGHT

Born: June 3, 1948, a native of Long Island, N.Y.
Education: St. John's University Law School, Long Island.
Legal career: Private practice in Honolulu, 1975 to 1980; deputy attorney general, including handling child abuse and neglect cases, 1980-1997.
Judgeship: Appointed by Chief Justice Ronald Moon as Family Court district judge, 1997; retained for second 6-year-term by Judicial Selection Commission, 2003.
Family: Married 31 years to Amy; three children, Christian, Shayne, Noelle.
Activities: Before his accident, running, including 29 Honolulu Marathons, with a time of 2 hours 55 minutes in 1981; swimming; board and body surfing. Currently, swimming, treadmill, two 15-minute sessions at a half-mile an hour. Quote: Of his wife, Amy, who rescued him and was a rock of support through his ordeal. "She saw me dead. It really took a toll."
Judge Kenneth Enright prefers to look on the bright side after his accident, crediting his rescuers, hospital staff and his family.

JOAQUIN SIOPACK | The Honolulu Advertiser
Before he died, Family Court Judge Kenneth Enright was floating face down off Manele Bay on Lana'i on a Sunday afternoon after he got flipped in the water near shore and struck his head on the bottom.
As much as he tried, he couldn't move. He knew there weren't many people on the beach. He knew there was no lifeguard.
He knew he would drown.
"Wow, I'm going to see God this afternoon," he thought.
But his wife, Amy, who had gone out alone for a swim, turned around, noticed him, pulled him ashore and screamed.
Enright had stopped breathing and his heart had stopped, which he described as being "technically dead." As chance would have it, among fewer than 30 people scattered on the beach were two doctors and two nurses.
They revived him.
Enright had suffered a C-3 spinal-cord injury. The early prognosis was that he could end up a quadriplegic.
But with the support of family, friends and others, Enright went from lying in a hospital bed at The Queen's Medical Center — paralyzed and unable to talk with a breathing tube down his throat — to the point where he could return part time to the bench this year.
As he sat in his second-floor chambers at the state courthouse on Punchbowl Street, the 58-year-old judge recalled that afternoon of Feb. 20 last year and his thoughts about his pending death.
"Why I was so happy about going to see God, I'm not sure, with my record, but I was," he said with a smile.
CALLED A MODEL JUDGE
Enright's accident was a blow to the legal community, but his recovery and his spirit have inspired those around him who had feared the worst. "He was truly devastated," recalled Chief Justice Ronald Moon, who visited Enright from the early days at the hospital and who calls him a "model judge."
Moon said if anyone could pull through, it would have been Enright.
"He's such a tough guy," Moon said. "Just watching him progress was just really inspiring."


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[NetoAnAstro]

Why can't a story like his be told of me? Then again, I was thinking that I was not ready to go. I was giving instructions to my friends as if I was going out of town for a few years. My heart stopped three times BUT my family has paid like $25K to the hospital only a few hours after I got there. With the money, it helped I was in a mexican hospital and whatever lie they told the doctors. I feel that had they not paid that money from the start, I wouldn't be writting this reply. They most of beleived the lie that "money was not an issue" as they kept reviving me.