Early Friday morning, on October 18, 2002, Moses Hamilton age 26 of Kilauea, on the island of Kauai, was in an automobile accident. He suffered a broken neck and was immediately flown to Queen's medical Center in Honolulu where he remains in the the Intensive Care Unit. Having broken his C3, C4 and C5 vertebrae, Moses is currently experiencing complete paralysis and is obviously terrified. Moses is, as all his many friends know, an amazing young man, big hearted, generous, thoughtful, deeply compassionate, animated, artistic and very active. He grew up surfing with his father and brothers and as a young adult worked as head waiter at a popular eating spot in Hanalei until the accident. Moses's accident will challenge every part of his being and his spirit, especially during the first several months of his recovery.

As you can well imagine his family is devastated. While trying to cope with this tragedy, they are faced with a very difficult financial situation. Moses is in Queens Hospital on Oahu, while his parents, Brad and Cherry, and the family live on Kauai. This means the rental of living quarters on Oahu, and making frequent inter-island flights, to tend to the rest of the family, while functioning on a bare-bones income, since neither can work during the bedside vigil. They take turns shuttling back and forth, still having to care for their youngest child on Kauai, meanwhile attempting to get by on a reduced income as working full time is currently impossible. Moses has three brothers who badly want to be with him, but the family does not have the resources to fly them between islands. The next few weeks are crucial for Moses, and he needs to have a parent at his side constantly, as he adjusts to this huge change in his life.

For Moses, the next weeks and months will be charged with shock, disbelief, depression, and the anxiety of waiting for news, prognoses and the anxiety of waiting to find out if he can live without a respirator. Finding out if he can make it free of the respirator is the next vital step, for if he can eventually breathe on his own, he should be able, one day, to go home, to be back among loving and healing family.

We, Friends of Moses, are reaching out to the community at large in an attempt to ease the burden so suddenly and randomly placed upon Moses and his wonderful family, all of whom are so undeserving of the results of this catastrophic, freak accident. As is well documented, there are astronomical costs associated with spinal cord injury that are never completely covered by insurance. Please explore this site further and send a message of hope and encouragement to Moses. And, please, send a card, a gift or cash donation by clicking on "Donations". Finally, if you know Moses, you may e-mail stories, good wishes and photos to kipwin@cox.net if you wish to add material to this new site.