A lifetime of friends rally around injured resident
Friends and family of Carl Lawson will host fundraiser March 3
BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer

The Eatontown community is rallying to help the Lawson family after an accident left Carl Lawson paralyzed.

EATONTOWN - Following a catastrophic accident in the life of one of the borough's hometown sons, the community is rallying to the aid of Carl Lawson and his family.

Lawson, 44, suffered a spinal cord injury last September while riding his mountain bike with a friend in Allaire State Park .

"We don't really know what happened. He just flipped over the handle bars," said Carol Broyles, a longtime friend of the Lawson family, who, along with her husband Jake and their son Michael Brooks, have organized a fundraiser to help cover the expenses of the Lawson family.

Lawson, who worked as a postal carrier in Neptune, also volunteered as a basketball and baseball coach for the Eatontown Parks and Recreation Department.

Brooks is set to perform an Elvis impression at the fundraiser, and Carol and Jake Broyles have organized the event from their Eatontown home.

The event is scheduled for March 3 at the Rev. James B. Coyle Family Center at St. Dorothea Church on Broad Street.

Tickets are $25 and doors will open at 6 p.m. for the 7 p.m. show.

Carol said that Lawson and her son grew up and went through the Eatontown school system together. Whenever Brooks, who lives in South Jersey, is home, he visits Lawson and his family, who live right next door to the Broyles.

She said the community has been very supportive, and that they have already received gift certificates from several Eatontown merchants to be auctioned off as door prizes.

As a result of the accident, Lawson is paralyzed from the waist down, Carol Broyles said, but is progressing nicely at Kessler Medical Center, West Orange.

"He's come a long way in this short period of time," she said, "and he's still at it."

Since his injury four months ago, Lawson has been brought home for short visits, but has been hospitalized for most of the time, first at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, then at Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center, New Brunswick, before being moved to Kessler, she said.

"It's been tough on his family, of course," Carol Broyles said, "but they've really got stamina. They really do."

Lawson and his wife Gloria have three children, all of whom attend Meadowbrook Elementary School.

"They're good people," Carol Broyles said. "They have lots of friends. People have just really pulled together for them. Everyone was just so devastated when it happened, but many of his friends have visited him and offered to help in whatever way they can. It's a community where if you've been there for a lifetime, you have a lifetime of friends. You can't want for more than that."

To make donations for door prizes or to buy tickets, please contact Jake Broyles at (732) 542-3528. Tickets for the event can also be purchased by calling Wanda Crist at (732) 567-0590.