Bob Yevak is a volunteer for the Mauch Chunk Historical Society. He helps at shows at the Mauch Chunk Opera House. It's just his latest attempt to give back.

Yevak, a Hazleton native, was your average healthy, frisky 10-year-old when, while visiting an aunt and uncle in Virginia during his summer vacation in 1964, his life suddenly changed. His aunt, driving a Ford sedan, was on the way to her husband's medical office. Yevak was sitting in the rear seat with his two cousins, one on each side."My aunt passed out at the wheel," Yevak said. "The car hit a bridge abutment and I went through the windshield. Back then we didn't have seat belts. I went from the back seat and into the windshield. The other two kids ended on the floor behind the seat.""I was conscious but bleeding really bad," Yevak said. "I was taken to the hospital with a broken nose and facial cuts that required 20 stitches to close. At least that's the way it seemed at the time."With black eyes, a set nose, and a face full of stitches, all were pleased that none of Yevak's injuries were life-threatening. Soon, his parents picked him up, took him home to Hazleton, and at the end of the summer, he returned to school, entering seventh grade.Unbeknownst to the doctors or even Yevak, his brain had been damaged in the injury. Three years later, it happened."I was walking through the hall at school," he said. "I collapsed. I hit the deck and started to shake. I was taken to Hazleton Hospital, learned that I had a grand mal seizure, and was diagnosed with epilepsy.""My parents talked to my uncle, the doctor, and they started to believe that it was related to the accident," Yevak said. "Perhaps it was some scar tissue that hadn't been noticed." Over the next 25 years, Yevak saw one neurologist after another. They routinely recommended anti-convulsive drugs, and said that he had to experiment to see which would work for him. He went through 23 different drugs and none were effective.Meanwhile, the seizures, which occurred roughly once per month, were affecting his opportunities and his self-esteem. Having been a top player in the Hazleton Area Little League, as a freshman, Yevak tried out for his high school baseball team."There were 70 guys that tried out - for only 15 openings," he said. "It was down to the last cut. I was playing center field. A ball was hit to me, I saw the ball in the air one minute, and the next I had collapsed and was shaking on the grass. I went down for the count and when the coach saw that, I was cut."After high school, Yevak started an electronics course at Lincoln Tech in Allentown. "I had a seizure in the lab. My instructor said basically that I should go home."Yevak was feeling that people were viewing him as a sick kid.He had trouble getting a driver's license and even when he qualified, he could not qualify for automobile insurance. He couldn't get a job if he noted on a job application that he had epilepsy, so he found it convenient to leave it out. His qualifications and his lack of mentioning his seizures got him a construction job with the Hazleton Water Authority."Seven months into the job, I had a seizure," Yevak said. "My boss was very understanding. He said, 'You're a good worker, Bobby. We're going to try to help you. We are going to let you continue to work but we are not going to let you drive the vehicles or handle the heavy equipment, and we will watch what you do.'""From then on, everyone treated me like family. They watched me. If I was running a jackhammer, they would have eyes on me all the time. If I were to doze off, they would grab me. They were my protectors."When his supervisor left, Yevak, feeling that the replacement supervisor would not be so understanding, took a gamble and ran for president of his local union shop. He won and held the position for 10 years."This way they couldn't easily fire me because I had the whole workforce behind me," Yevak said. 'It worked. Even with the epilepsy, I kept my job for 15 years. That's what I had to do to survive."In 1989, Yevak learned that at a hospital in Canada, the Montréal Neurological Institute, they were performing an operation that might stop the seizures."They specialized in operating on the brain," he said. "I had to go for 2-1/2 months of tests to determine if I was a suitable candidate for the procedure. Their goal was to take out the bad parts that are causing the seizures."Yevak went to Canada and met with the staff supervised by Dr. André Olivier. "When I arrived, I went through a battery of psychological tests," he said. "They put six-inch long needlelike probes into my face at the top of my cheeks."The brain probes were embedded there for over two months. A small amount of the probe stuck out beyond the skin for the attachment of wires. When the wires were attached, his brain function could be monitored on a television monitor.The final hurdle was the Amytal test. "While I was awake, half of my brain was put to sleep with a drug. Then they had me put puzzles together. It was a way to figure which side of my brain my speech was on. They were concerned that my injury was near my speech center," he said.The testing revealed that Yevak had developed speech centers on both sides of his brain.As a result of the test, Yevak was selected as a candidate and underwent an 18-hour operation to remove scar tissue from his right temporal lobe."When I awoke, Dr. Olivier was there. He said the operation went OK and I would be fine," Yevak said.A week later, Yevak's stitches were removed and he returned home.Except for some minor postoperative seizures, Yevak has been living free - after years with epilepsy.To pick up where the story drifted away from the part about Yevak's Little League experience, here's what happened. Several years later, when he was 17, he was asked by his former coach to help during the summer. He did. He liked it, and the following year, he became president of the League, holding that position for 40 years.Among his achievements was starting the first handicapped team in Pennsylvania, something near and dear to him because of his enduring bouts with epilepsy. The team had 37 players from blind players to those that were wheelchair bound."We would match them with a healthy Little League team. Every week we would get a different healthy Little League team. I would designate one kid from that team to be a buddy with one kid from the handicapped team. It would be his buddy for the whole day. If he was in a wheelchair, he would push him around. If he would need a soda or a piece of pizza, he would push him to the concession stand," Yevak said.Another achievement was the expansion of the League by buying five acres to build two new baseball fields. Yevak was able to get Phillies pitcher Tug McGraw to be a guest at a Little League baseball game fundraiser for the fields in 1982."After a great game, Tug made an announcement that people could come up and get an autograph for $20 a pop," he said. "I was kind of confused because I didn't think it was right for Tug to make a whole bunch of money from this charity event. Tug raised about $20,000."Then, McGraw grabbed the microphone, and said, "Bob's doing a great job for the kids. Here is a donation to finish your fields."