Tony Siciliano: Update July 13, 2026

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Greetings NPN’rs,

On behalf of Tony and his wife Maggie, we wanted to let the NPN community know that on Feb 1st Tony was hopitalized after suffering a “large, spontaneous brain hemorrhage.” He was soon in surgery to address the bleeding, swelling and to remove the clot. He was suffering from severe migraines and post surgery has partial vision and mobility issues on his left side as well as some congnitive confusion.

Since then he has made daily progress thru some agressive physical and occupational therapy; and was moved to an accute neuro rehab program facility. Further good news he will be able to move back home in the very near future. I will likely be a long recovery, but we’re hearing his progress is continuing daily and hopefully that means as full a recovery as possible!

A couple notes to let you know that his photography is and will be (IMHO) front and center to his recovery. A couple of direct comments from Tony:

"He said to me (his wife) last week “maybe there’s a way I can go on a photo trip without a camera”. and also,

“Maybe I can take pictures with a little point and shoot camera?” and I said ‘we are all excited to see what kind of photography you will do now.’

I believe the visual stimulation of photography will be helpful and important in his therapy and recovery!

Some of us in the CA Regional forum had organized and scheduled a get together early May in Yosemite. Please check our Regional forum if you are interested. I wanted to mention that myself, others, and including Tony and his wife are keeping Yosemite “on the table” - hoping his therapy and recovery would allow a visit to Yosemite in just over 2 months from now.

I am posting a link to a site called the “Caring Bridge” where family and friends have been providing updates.

If you wish to contact Tony, his wife has been responding to DM’s here on NPN as well as providing daily updates on the Caring Bridge site. Also, in respecting their privacy and obvious mental and physical activities surrounding Tony’s recovery, you can post a message/reply here in this thread. I know Tony will see them and will appreciate them.

Please keep Tony and his wife Maggie in your thoughts and prayers for his full recovery! We hope to have Tony back here on NPN in the near future! :folded_hands:

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WOW, heartbreaking update here, Lon. Thank you for posting this information and sincerely pray all goes well for Tony and his entire family in do time. Being on the backside of the time warp myself I confess I hear similar updates all too often these days and once again always hoping for the best for any and all families living thru the experiences.
Gosh, as part of the old CANP group we all go back 20+ years now, “a blink of the eye”, to our annual Eastern Sierra gatherings. Sadly, Tony missed the actual photo from the Nellie Deli back in the day but I’ll post it here as a salute going out to him for the best in his recovery.
EDIT: I had not touched this image since 2008 so I took a few minutes to clean it up. Actually got rid of a couple lamp poles growing out of the tops of a few heads in the back row too… :+1:

BTW: Lon, I think your wife actually took this photo of us back at that time with an old small 4 meg Nikon I toted around… :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

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Wishing Tony a speed and full recovery and I’m sending positive vibes his way! May we see Tony back on NPN soon! :folded_hands:

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Lon, thank you for providing this information! I truly hope Tony has a full and rapid recovery. I know it will be a lot of hard work for both Tony and his wife. I’ve been looking forward to meeting all the photographers on the Yosemite trip, and I really hope Tony is able to make it! My thoughts and best wishes are with him.

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Thanks for letting us know this. I’m sending healing vibes and prayers his direction. Caring Bridge is a wonderful site. That’s how I kept folks informed when my wife was sick. I’ll head over now and leave some love.
ML

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Thank you Lon for the update.

Tony, I hope you have a full and quick recovery. Keep the faith and be patient and in time this too shall pass.

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Wishing him the speediest of recoveries and that he can join your meet up. Thank you for letting us know. I love that he’s itching to get back to photography in any way he can, even if it’s just coming along for the ride.

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Thank you for informing us Lon. I don’t know how I stumbled upon this thread given the new format but I’m glad I did. I’m so glad to hear that Tony is recovering from this. Many do not. It’s not that uncommon for people of our age. The key seems to be to get on Eliquis. It’s amazing how important photography is to some of us and Tony proves the point. It’s more than just taking pictures.

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Tony, I pray you recover in short order. We are all praying for you and you and your family.
-P

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Thanks Lon for posting this! I’ve been “out of town” and out of reliable internet and just catching up now. Reading the latest on CaringBridge about Tony’s recovery is encouraging to say the least!

Tony, I am so glad to hear about your strong recovery to date! Know that I look forward to seeing you out and about, and maybe a visit to Point Reyes when you are up for it would be good medicine on your road to recovery! Let me know, and I will make it happen. I have appreciated and learned much from you on NPN, and I look forward to learning more from you! Take care and keep up the strong work on your road to recovery!

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Here is an update on Tony’s condition dated March 10:

Hello friends and family. It’s me, Tony, home at last!

I seem to be making a remarkable recovery. The left arm and leg weakness I had is improving and I’m pretty functional. Maggie and I walked almost a mile today; I can go up and down stairs. I’ve lost the left side of my visual field and I’m having trouble reading or looking at anything in bright light or that has glare.

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Igor , thank you very much for posting this update. I’ve been meaning to… a.k.a., the Great Procrastinator…

Great news indeed and I hope this past week+ that Tony continues to improve!

@Tony_Siciliano , I know if you’re not reading these, then Maggie is for sure… so I’m sure it’s ok to say that on behalf of so many NPN members, fellow photographer’s and nature/outdoor enthusiasts… we are all thinking of you and wishing you a complete recovery!

Perhaps a long shot, but I would love to be able to walk with you along the Merced river in early May. Not sure how that would work or even possible for you in just a matter of 6 weeks or so… but one can hope and dream.

Hope to see you again soon! Keep up steady recovery!

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Dear Lon and other friends on NPN. Unfortunately I cannot attend the Yosemite meet up this coming May. My stroke has left me with extreme physical exhaustion and very altered vision. I think it would be dangerous for me to tromp around uneven ground, not to mention to not much fun. Lon, I am so grateful for yur kind offer to take care of me but sadly think I need to pass on this. There is hope that with time (Drs say 6 months to a year) I will recover from some of these nasty stroke effects. I look forward to future outings with you all and am very sad I cannot join yhis one. I hope conditions are great for you. Do post some images please.

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Hi Tony,

Great to hear from you - and even more so, sure sounds like you’re making progress, which is great to hear.

Totally understand about this spring’s trip to Yosemite. But guess what? There’s always another time - this fall, next spring. Whenever you’re ready. Most important thing is your continued recovery.

Yeah, we’re hoping for some great conditions. I know the dogwood is already blooming, so I hope we’re not too late. But as you well know, there is so much more! With recent storms and snow in the high country, the waterfalls should be in full force. Plus, we’ll be there just as the full moon is waning. Should be great conditions no matter what!

Our thoughts are with you and your continued recovery!

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I received an email from Tony tonight! He asked me to post here on NPN. So great to hear from him.

Here is his message:

HELLO FRIENDS. It is now 6 1/2 months since my stroke. I I had brain surgery to remove clotted blood and spent 6 months in the hospital.It has been a rough go with many many ups and downs, with much fatigue, mental confusion, really nasty mood disorder, and some significant visual loss. Those things have improved now, but are still present but not so severe as in the past. The visual problems are that I have lost my left field of view in both eyes and that the “Photoshop” part of the brain that megulates light anad darkness and contrast is damaged so that my vision’s version of reality is that the lights are too lbright, there is too much contrast, and there is constant glare. My eyes tire easily and I can’t see detail very well. I am told that this might improve after a year. My energy has improved enough that I now would like to walk out our front door into walk the 8 blocks to Golden Gate Park and walk around and take photos. My camera and lenses are too large and cumbersome so I would like to get a decent compact camera with image stabalizaion and a generous focal length range. Any suggestions?

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Oh boy. Two steps forward and one step back. Please convey my best wishes and hopes that he can find some relief from the symptoms while his brain heals.

In terms of compact cameras, I’ve toyed with the idea of a Panasonic or a Sony along the lines that Tony wants. It’s been a couple of years, so I don’t know models, but those were the two brands I whittled down to at the time. Maybe someone else has more info or experience with one that would fit the bill.