Frace in severe sledding accident Bapst coach faces 6-month recovery

Andy Frace, the John Bapst boys varsity soccer coach and freshman girls basketball coach, has a long road of recovery ahead of him but is improving after he suffered what could have been a deadly sledding accident Tuesday afternoon.

Frace is in Eastern Maine Medical Center’s intensive care unit with broken bones from his shoulder blade to his pelvis, his wife Pam Frace said Friday afternoon. He was on a ventilator until about noon Friday and has already had two surgeries with one more scheduled for early next week.

Frace, a 57-year-old Corinth resident who hit a tree while sledding down Essex Street Hill in Bangor, is conscious, Pam Frace said.

“He’s able to talk and he’s well aware of everything that’s happening,” she said. “He’s got a sense of humor.”

Essex Street Hill is a popular sledding spot because of its steep slope.

Andy Frace, who led the Bapst boys soccer team to the 2006 Eastern Maine Class B title in his first season with the Crusaders, had taken his Bapst freshman girls team sledding at Essex Street Hill for the afternoon, Pam Frace said. He likely hit the tree on the left side of his body because most of the worst damage seems to be on his left side, she added. He may have been using an inflatable sled.

“He hit hard,” she said. “The impact must have been very, very hard. … We’re very, very blessed, not only because it wasn’t his head, but because of how he’s doing.”

Andy Frace’s first surgery Tuesday night was to stop bleeding from a laceration on his lung. He had his second operation Thursday which was the major surgery to repair his shattered pelvis, Pam Frace said.

“He’s full of plates, bolts, pins,” she said. “You name it, he’s got it.”

He’ll have a third operation Tuesday to work on his left femur. Doctors may decide to perform a hip replacement, Pam Frace said.

The doctors are estimating a six-month recovery, she added.

Andy Frace didn’t suffer many severe internal injuries, however, with just the lung laceration and some bruising to his liver and spleen. Pam Frace said she was told almost one-quarter of those who suffer the kind of pelvic injuries Andy Frace did can bleed to death within an hour if not treated because of two main arteries in the legs.

Frace was not allowed to have visitors as of Friday afternoon, but that may change next week, Pam Frace said.

A lot of students had stopped by earlier this week, she added, but the nurses felt the coach needed his rest.

“I can’t say enough about this place,” she said in praise of the EMMC nurses and hospital workers. “Until you experience it, you don’t know.”

Pam Frace took a firsthand look Friday at Essex Street Hill, which she said is very steep with hard-packed snow and is icy because snow has melted during the day and frozen at night. Bangor hasn’t had a significant snowfall to cover those icy spots in at least a week.

There were several other accidents last week, she added.

Known as Essex Street Hill, the slope actually is on Watchmaker Street near the Bangor Police Department’s Police Athletic League building.

Frace teaches psychology and sociology at Hampden Academy.

He coached the Hampden boys soccer team from 1995 to 2003, winning Eastern Maine Class A titles in 1995 and 1998, and the Central of Corinth boys from 1987 to 1993.

He was also the Broncos’ boys basketball head coach for seven years and was the junior varsity girls basketball coach at John Bapst last year.

Current JV girls coach Jay Adams is working with the Bapst freshman team, Crusaders athletic director Mike Thomas said.