The Farmingdale Public Library last Thursday cut the ceremonial ribbon on a new head injury book collection that will serve as a national repository.

The project was funded by a New York State Legislative Grant obtained by Assemblyman Steve Labriola. Labriola had sought the money after Fred Greenspan, father of a local resident living with traumatic brain injury, described a lack of public informational resources for families dealing with the condition.

The collection was named for Fred's daughter, Tammy Greenspan, a Massapequa Park teenager who suffered traumatic brain injury and many other life threatening injuries when struck by a car at the age of 16 in October of 1996. Dina Chrils, director of the library said she is certain the collection is the only one on Long Island, and that she is not aware of any in all of the United States. Because the books were paid for by a legislative grant, they are not subject to local library direct access rules, and therefore can be shared with people throughout the country. The books will be listed on the library's web site, and will be shipped on request via the inter-library loan system. "The first of our books has begun to trickle in, and that's why we're here today to cut the ribbon," Chrils announced at Thursday's ceremony.

As a result of Tammy's accident, she suffered from life threatening fevers, numerous bone fractures and brain hemorrhaging, and remained in a coma for 10 weeks. She has made what many have called a miraculous recovery, progressing from critical medical care at Stony Brook University Hospital to preliminary rehabilitation and physical therapy at St. Charles Hospital, Port Jefferson, to occupational therapy at Long Island Jewish Transitions Institute in Manhasset and back to school at Farmingdale High School. Now 18 years old, her surgeries and rehabilitation are still ongoing. During her recovery, her father searched for information on helping a brain injured family member. Although he managed to use some resources at Stony Brook, he said, he could not find any books on the subject that were available to the general public, and wished to change this. To him, the unveiling of the head injury collection in his local library was the fulfillment of a dream that began then. The Greenspan family has also started a not-for-profit corporation to address coma and coma arousal and plan on developing a way to train educators on the subject of teaching children with traumatic brain injury.

At the ceremony, Tammy described the new collection's value, noting that many people around the nation are in need of the resources. "My father had a dream to get this together for the whole nation," she said. She also thanked the firemen and doctors who saved her life and those who helped her rehabilitate, including her father. "If it wasn't for my father - plain and simple - we would not be here. I do not even think that I would be here standing up," she said.

Fred also thanked all who had helped his daughter assimilate back into everyday life despite her memory loss and other head-injury related disabilities. "The outreach from the school district, town, village and friends has been overwhelming," he said.

Assemblyman Labriola applauded Fred and his wife Lynn for their courage and work on the head injury collection. "They faced every parent's nightmare," he said. "Not only have they overcome their adversity, but they are teaching other people how to do that."