Lobsters and support for Ben Lancto

LAKEVILLE — It was just another mid-summer’s day on the job for Ben Lancto. As a construction worker, the Salisbury native was standing on scaffolding about 20 feet from the ground.

And then Lancto fell. When he hit the ground, he landed on his back and right arm. His first words were, “I broke my back,” reported Caroline Kosciusko of Cornwall, Lancto’s cousin.

His father, Chris, was also at the site and immediately came to his son’s aid.    

It turned out that Ben was right. As a result of the fall, he suffered a broken back, a broken right elbow and a shattered right wrist. 

He was transported to Hartford Hospital, where doctors operated on his back and gave the word that, fortunately, he would not be paralyzed.

Kosciusko told The Lakeville Journal that, despite the good news, Lancto and his family were told that he would need months, if not years, of rehab to be able to walk again.

After further surgery on his wrist, Lancto (who is 27) was relocated to Gaylord Specialty Healthcare in Wallingford, Conn., where he began hours of rehab with physical and occupational therapists.

“Ben has gotten to the point where he is able to walk unassisted,” Kosciusko wrote to The Lakeville Journal in an email on Oct. 5, “but his knees do occasionally buckle, and if that were to happen without his left hand on something, he could take a very nasty fall. So he walks with a cane or moves around in a wheelchair.”

On Thursday, Oct. 6, Lancto left Wallingford to return home to the Northwest Corner, where his rehabilitation exercises continue.

In the wake of the accident, friends and family have rallied to support Lancto and his girlfriend in these trying and costly times.

One group, the Masons of Lakeville’s Montgomery Lodge No. 13, is making a special effort to help by hosting a lobster sale. Proceeds from the sale will help pay Lancto’s medical and personal expenses.

“We know how to make good money,” said Michael Fitting, referring to the Lodge’s decades-old lobster sale tradition. “So let’s do it for him.” 

Lancto joined the Lodge in 2009.

To order lobsters to go for pickup on Saturday, Oct. 29, call Montgomery Lodge No. 13 at 860-435-9722 by Oct. 28. Leave a message with your name, phone number and how many lobsters you would like.