Fashion Show Fundraiser - Wed. March 3rd
Many of you know Will graduated from Endicott College in Beverly, MA. Delta Epsilon Chi (DEX), an international organization for college students preparing for a variety of business careers, is presenting the 8th annual DEX fashion show on March 3rd. The theme is Discover the Fashion: Celebrating 70 Years of Endicott College. Each year a different charity is chosen, and this year, the funds raised will go to Will to cover medical expenses. Will is flying up for the show; he will leave NC on Feb 26th and return to NC on March 4th. Matt Forcier, an Endicott alum and founder of Lasting Memories Videotaping, is producing a short documentary about the challenges Will now faces in his day-to-day life. The video will air at the end of the show. I hope to be able to upload the video here on the blog for those that cannot attend. If you are interested in attending or donating, here is the link
http://www.endicott.edu/servlet/com.rnci.products.PublishNow.RetrieveSingleArticle?serv=endicottpub&db=endicott&site=endicott&sction=adminprerelmain&article=207&part=2&archivepref=N
In other news, we did get some snow down here - about 6-8 inches. We hunkered down for the weekend and played Chathamopoly (Monopoly - only with Chatham Real Estate). Will was the first to go broke and I won :) We are all looking forward to spring and warmer weather!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Late Fall/Early Winter Update
This past Friday, Dec. 18th, Will celebrated his 28th birthday and boarded a plane bound for Boston. He will be home on the Cape in Chatham for at least Christmas and New Year's and may stay for 2-3 months. He will be going up to Spaulding Rehab in Boston on 12/28 for an evaluation to enter their outpatient rehab program. It is still very much up in the air if he will "get in" and if he does, how long he will stay. He finished rehab down here at Wake Med and has regained very slight function in some leg muscles. If he concentrates really hard he can contract his quads a little bit. He still has significant muscle spasms which he can use to his advantage at times. Other times, they just "get in the way" and make transfers to/from his chair a bit challenging and time consuming. He has a new back rest on his chair which is more user friendly and lighter than his old back rest. He is still waiting for a standing frame to arrive. Once the order is complete is should be showing up on our doorstep down here in NC. The standing frame will allow him to "stand" which is very important for his bone health.
In other news, we subjected him to a turkey fry at our house with our friends which I think he enjoyed. It turns out our fryer is defective and my friend had to run home and get her parents' fryer and to make a long story short we didn't end up eating until about 9 pm. Still a good time though. It appears that Will left just in time and has arrived on the Cape with about 1 foot of snow! Dad built a ramp for him that had to be shoveled off this morning...sounds like he may need some snow tires on his chair!
This past Friday, Dec. 18th, Will celebrated his 28th birthday and boarded a plane bound for Boston. He will be home on the Cape in Chatham for at least Christmas and New Year's and may stay for 2-3 months. He will be going up to Spaulding Rehab in Boston on 12/28 for an evaluation to enter their outpatient rehab program. It is still very much up in the air if he will "get in" and if he does, how long he will stay. He finished rehab down here at Wake Med and has regained very slight function in some leg muscles. If he concentrates really hard he can contract his quads a little bit. He still has significant muscle spasms which he can use to his advantage at times. Other times, they just "get in the way" and make transfers to/from his chair a bit challenging and time consuming. He has a new back rest on his chair which is more user friendly and lighter than his old back rest. He is still waiting for a standing frame to arrive. Once the order is complete is should be showing up on our doorstep down here in NC. The standing frame will allow him to "stand" which is very important for his bone health.
In other news, we subjected him to a turkey fry at our house with our friends which I think he enjoyed. It turns out our fryer is defective and my friend had to run home and get her parents' fryer and to make a long story short we didn't end up eating until about 9 pm. Still a good time though. It appears that Will left just in time and has arrived on the Cape with about 1 foot of snow! Dad built a ramp for him that had to be shoveled off this morning...sounds like he may need some snow tires on his chair!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
License to drive!
Today was a historical day for Will. He is now back to driving his truck! This is a great milestone, made possible by hand controls. We cannot thank folks enough for the donations he has received which made the vehicle modification possible.
Life continues to be an adjustment for Will. After returning from Hawaii, reality set in a bit more. I know how much Will appreciates his buddies and values talking to them all, much more than talking to a counselor. As my family and I had time right after the accident to grieve the loss of Will's ability to walk, I am not certain he has completely grieved. Many of you know that grief is an ongoing process. Will is working through his reality and continues to press on as best he knows how.
As of now, he is researching Spaulding Hospital's rehab program in Boston. He would like to get on the robotic treadmill machine known as the "Locomat" to see if that may help him in anyway. The Shepherd Center had multiple Locomat machines, but that was not included as part of his therapy since he did not have any lower extremity movement. He would have had to pay out of pocket if he had wanted to get on the machine and at the time we did not pursue that. He continues to do acupuncture twice a week, pool therapy once a week, and regular PT three times a week. He is looking at returning to the Cape in December around his birthday (12/18). He may stay up there for a bit if Spaulding works out, but much of that is up in the air as of now.
For now, it continues to be a step-by-step process, with the wonderful aspect that he can now drive himself anywhere he needs to be!
Today was a historical day for Will. He is now back to driving his truck! This is a great milestone, made possible by hand controls. We cannot thank folks enough for the donations he has received which made the vehicle modification possible.
Life continues to be an adjustment for Will. After returning from Hawaii, reality set in a bit more. I know how much Will appreciates his buddies and values talking to them all, much more than talking to a counselor. As my family and I had time right after the accident to grieve the loss of Will's ability to walk, I am not certain he has completely grieved. Many of you know that grief is an ongoing process. Will is working through his reality and continues to press on as best he knows how.
As of now, he is researching Spaulding Hospital's rehab program in Boston. He would like to get on the robotic treadmill machine known as the "Locomat" to see if that may help him in anyway. The Shepherd Center had multiple Locomat machines, but that was not included as part of his therapy since he did not have any lower extremity movement. He would have had to pay out of pocket if he had wanted to get on the machine and at the time we did not pursue that. He continues to do acupuncture twice a week, pool therapy once a week, and regular PT three times a week. He is looking at returning to the Cape in December around his birthday (12/18). He may stay up there for a bit if Spaulding works out, but much of that is up in the air as of now.
For now, it continues to be a step-by-step process, with the wonderful aspect that he can now drive himself anywhere he needs to be!
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