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Fridley Boy Hit by Car Aims to Come Home Soon

Therapy is going well for Roman Kotas at Gillette Hospital.

Roman Kotas, the boy injured when a on Mississippi Street last summer, could return to his Fridley home from Gillette Hospital as early as this month.

That's the word on his CaringBridge website, where his parents keep a journal of his progress. On Wednesday orthopedic surgeons were set to examine his leg and decide whether they could take out the pins and release him Sept. 16.

Recently Roman Kotas' family has been able to get passes to take him out of the hospital, first for an Indian buffet—his choice—and then for an overnight stay at home.

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Some CaringBridge journal excerpts:

It's clear that Roman's most long-lasting challenge will be with his eye sight. His vision on the right side cuts off about half way around leaving him without peripheral vision on that side. (Aug. 24)

Find out what's happening in Fridleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

He helped Dad grill steaks on Saturday night and we took him out to a couple of his favorite stores to do a little shopping. Wojtek and I were just so happy to have a family dinner and to put both kids to bed at night. Roman went back to Gillette on Sunday afternoon. I kept teasing him that he should think of it as an expensive boarding school in Switzerland if he started to miss home. Predictably, his response was "Mom, you are so lame." (Aug. 28)

He learned that, , he'll start doing homework this week so that he can keep up with his classes. He greeted this news with slight alarm. He's really excited to go back to school soon but he's not sure that he's all that excited about homework. We reassured him that doing the homework now will make it so much easier when he returns to Fridley Middle School. He looked somewhat convinced.

Roman had an eye exam and an MRI this week and we learned that the problem with his vision might well be permanent. His eyes can see just fine on the right side but his brain can't process what he's seeing. Fortunately, there are therapies to help him learn to deal with this situation and we'll be learning about them in the coming months. Still, there might be a chance that some of his vision will come back on that side so we're going to just have to wait to find out what happens. (Sept. 5)


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