- By Dan Veaner
- Around Town
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Last week Tom and Elsie Todd were hospitalized when their car went off the road and flipped over on Route 90 South of Aurora on May 20. The car caught fire and the Todds were rescued by Karen and Joseph Philip and Brian Myers. A Mercy Flight took the couple to Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, where they have been for nearly two weeks.
Tom Todd at a Lansing Town Meeting last January
Elsie Todd fell asleep while driving and the car left the road, struck a bank, became airborne, flipped and skidded before coming to a stop in a yard. The two were trapped in the burning car when the Joseph Philips and Myers pulled them out just before flames enveloped it. Karen Philip called 911 as the rescue took place.
Eldest son John Todd, of Ozark Missouri, says that Elsie suffered a dislocated shoulder and two broken ribs, with lots of bruising from being in the car when it flipped. Tom has seven broken ribs and a partially collapsed lung and bruising. He was successfully treated for a collapsed lung with a tube inserted into the lung. The procedure was successful and the tube had been removed.
Thomas Todd is a long time legislator and poultry farmer. He was Dryden Town Supervisor and served on the Dryden School Board, then was the Lansing representative on the County Legislature. Todd worked to steer the County Legislature toward fiscal conservatism, fighting to lower property taxes and representing rural issues on the board. He retired from that post last November when Mike Sigler defeated Hurf Sheldon to win the seat. The couple has been very active in the local Republican party. Fellow legislator George Totman says, "Tom and I are good friends, I've known Tom for 30 years."
Totman reported that he spoke to the Todds' daughter Ann Leahy, who came from Aurora Missouri when she learned of the accident. She told him that Tom was originally supposed to come home last Tuesday, but that now doctors wanted to keep him in Syracuse for a few more days. Wednesday a tube was inserted to drain fluid in his lung cavity. John says that procedure went well.
Elsie was moved to Cayuga Medical Center Wednesday and was scheduled to begin rehabilitation on Thursday. John says Tom may be transferred there at the end of this week or after this weekend. "We had a good day today," said John on Wednesday evening. "It was kind of a roller coaster because it was so traumatic. We've had good days and bad days. Today was definitely a good day."
The Todds' other three sons have also been here to be with their parents. Robert lives near Boise, Douglas in Cincinnatti, and Jacob in Marlton, NJ. John says that he thinks it will be three or four weeks before the Todds will be able to come home. "We would expect that friends can start calling the hospital next week," he said.
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