Mourners bid farewell to Farmingdale crash victim at center of life support legal battle with NUMC

Friends and family bid farewell Wednesday to Anthony "Tony" Gestone, who died last month after a car crash and his family's legal battle with Nassau University Medical Center over when to take him off life support.

Mourners packed the pews of The First Baptist Church of Patchogue while photos of Gestone through childhood flashed on monitors, paying their respects at his black coffin topped with white roses. 

Gestone’s grandfather, William Hauser, told those assembled he was thinking of his daughter, Gestone's mother, as she coped with the loss ahead of Mother's Day. Hauser praised the family and Gestone's friends for waiting at the hospital while the 23-year-old Farmingdale man was unresponsive for weeks.

"They had him covered in the hospital 24/7. He was never alone," Hauser said. "It showed unbelievable faithfulness."

Pastor Stephen Willoughby also praised Gestone's mother, Angelique Gestone, for staying by her son's side. "I just want to pay tribute to the fact that Angel stayed there by Tony, not only through his life, but stayed there by his side and fought. That comes from love." 

Gestone's uncle, Joseph Hauser, 31, of Farmingdale, said he remembers his nephew like a brother. He said the family had no choice but to say goodbye after Gestone spent 20 days in the ICU unresponsive.

"It doesn't feel real," Hauser said of losing his nephew. "You hear stories about this happening at hospitals, but I never thought anything like this would affect me like this close to home. But it did."

Gestone crashed his car into a tree April 9, after he crossed the center median into the northbound lanes on the Wantagh State Parkway. He suffered severe brain hemorrhaging and NUMC surgeons had to remove part of his skull.

He suffered two collapsed lungs and spinal cord trauma, remaining unresponsive and on life support for three weeks. He was taken off life support and declared legally dead April 29 after tests showed no brain activity.

The family had obtained a temporary restraining order to prevent the tests, saying the hospital had not given Gestone enough time to recover and the tests violated their religious beliefs.

But Nassau Supreme Court Justice Donald X. Clavin Jr. brokered a compromise in court between the family and NUMC, setting a 24-hour deadline by 5 p.m. April 29 to move Gestone to another hospital or do the tests and end treatment if they showed no brain activity. He was taken off life support after the family and the hospital were unable to find a place that would accept him.

Hauser said the family still had hope that Gestone could have regained consciousness if he had more time. "We can't bring him back," Hauser said. "They might have said we were happy with the court judgment, but we really weren't. The family definitely wasn't.

"We weren't able to give him that shot — the shot at coming back," Hauser said. "He'll always be with us. There's so many memories I have with him ... he's in a better place. We might not understand it now, but maybe someday we will."

Nicholas Kester, 70, of Ridge, who is related to Gestone's father through extended family, came to the church to pay his respects.

"It's terrible. Tony was far too young," Kester said. "No family should have to go through losing a child."

Gestone was a Farmingdale High graduate and wrestler, who worked for the family’s window and door company. He wanted to be an elevator mechanic after studying electrical engineering, family and friends said. He was also a caregiver for his three younger brothers.

A closing prayer is planned at 10 a.m. Thursday at the church before he is buried at Pinelawn Memorial Park.

Newsday's Robert Brodsky contributed to this story.