Haydain Neale Making Progress After August Crash

By Marc Lostracco

Haydain Neale has been making slow, but steady progress following his devastating vehicle accident back in August, according to music insider Larry LeBlanc. The musician and lead singer of Toronto-based jacksoul suffered serious brain injuries after a car made an unsafe turn and collided with Neale’s Vespa scooter at Eglinton Avenue and Kennedy Road.
The band had performed just a week earlier at the My Mississauga summer festival to support their June album mySOUL, which features cover versions of songs like “Been Caught Stealing” and “Change Is Gonna Come.”
Leblanc reports that Neale has just finished his rehabilitation program at Toronto Rehab, and has now been transferred to a private care facility in Mississauga. In January, there were reports that Neale was standing on his feet, feeding himself, and had just said his first word. “He has begun speaking,” notes LeBlanc in his industry newsletter, “and even doing some singing.”
Neale’s family has maintained a strong measure of privacy, but have said that email, letters and cards were being read and shown to him daily, even while he was in a coma. To help defray the significant costs of what will continue to be a long-term rehabilitation process, Sony BMG established a trust for his family, who are gratefully accepting contributions (that means from you too, corporate entertainment industry). Neale has a home in the Beaches with his wife and teenage daughter.
Donations can be made via PayPal via the jacksoul website, or at any RBC (c/o Haydain Neale Family Trust, account #1018647, transit #06262, branch #003). Letters can be sent via email at [email protected] or via post to 17 Stephanie St., Toronto, M5T 1B1.
Photo courtesy of Sony BMG.