Dave and Anita Serhan

Here is Dave Serhan with his lovely wife Anita just after baking one of their famous apple pies.  This picture was taken at an annual pie baking party.  They baked 35 pies in 3.5 hours with 22 couples participating.  Dave certainly is a man of many talents.  The neck brace is a result of back surgery Dave had recently to correct a problem that was causing chronic pain in his legs.  Way back in 1981, just after he graduated from Penn State and before he even got his Navy wings, Dave  had to eject from a jet that had lost hydraulic power.  He and the other pilot survived but both suffered back injuries due to the explosive force of the ejection seats.  That incident earned him the nickname 'Boom', which has stuck with him throughout his Navy career.  In the type of jet Dave was flying, there had been 23 ejections with 20 of them resulting in fatalities.  Dave and the other pilot were 2 of the only 3 successful ejections from that model jet.

Shown above are a x-rays of Dave's spine with the C5 and C6 disks fused together with some titanium screws and plate.  The operation was a success and he's now free of pain.  In another three weeks, he'll be able to get rid of the neck brace!

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