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Aug 23 Update

By Bud | August 23, 2008

This week has been a great week for Peter. Very good PT and ended with a fantastic night at the BA football scrimmage on Friday night.

This week in therapy showed some more signs of muscles reacting according to Professor Shirley James at the OU Med Center. Wednesday they hooked up the E-stem to Peter and were getting good response on his quad muscles. He was on the LoKoMat for 25 minutes. During this time Peter’s job is to visualize walking and trying to fire up those muscles. Thursday he returned to therapy at St. Johns with Janet Day and she reported that his legs were moving the best she has seen since she started working with him. Friday we returned to OU and Professor James said they were getting some reaction from his glut muscles. For you that failed anatomy, the quads are the thigh muscles and the gluts are the butt muscles. Don’t worry about your knowledge of anatomy, movement and flexing is good. Just remember that.

Friday night the Broken Arrow football booster club sponsored a fund raiser at the football scrimmage. It was a special night for Peter. The love and support was demonstrated by everyone there. The coaches and football team were a site for sore eyes to Peter. He was presented with an autographed ball and honored by Carl Salazar, this years BA star kicker, by Carl winning the kicking contest. Some of Peter’s former teachers were there to cheer for him. One was Mrs. Joan Kelly, Peter’s English teacher. She had sent Peter a Staples , “That was Easy Button” while we were at Craig Hospital. We had it with us Friday night and we informed Mrs. Kelly that the button was one of the most inspirational presents we received. Every time Peter would do anything, whether it was doing stretches or walking in the pool, we would always press the button and hear “That was Easy.” We can not thank the BA community enough for their support. Friday night was a very important part of Peter’s recovery and I want everyone in BA to know they are an important part of his recovery. Special thanks to Barbara Moses for her hard work to organize the event.

In today’s, Sunday, Tulsa World, Jimmie Trammel wrote a fantastic article about Peter. You can go online and read. www.tulsaworld.com. Thank you Jimmie.

Today we attended St. Bernard Catholic Church. This is our dear friend, Mosignor Patrick Gaalas, church. He has been our neighbor and friend for many years and paid several visits to us while we were at Craig Hospital. He is one of the finest human beings I have ever known and St. Bernards should feel very fortunate to have this very caring man. We love him very much.

Our next stop Sunday will be New Creation Church in BA, Pastored by Doc Blevins. Doc has been sending us inspirational messages everyday since May 23rd. His work with the youth in the community has helped many in our community. We just ask that since Doc is a big supporter of Union athletics, that while in Peter’s presence, he does not pray for a Union victory against BA.

This week we head for Overland Park, KS to begin rehab at a private facility called Quest to Walk. They specialize in spinal cord injury rehab. They will evaluate Peter and then create a program for us where the main goal is our Quest to Walk. We will be in their program for two weeks and then we will return to Tulsa to continue the therapy program that they have outlined for us.

There have been so many answered prayers and we ask that you continue the vigil of prayers for us and all the other victims of spinal cord injuries. God is working in our lives and he will work in your life if you just ask Him to be with you everyday. We ask you to pray for those we were with at Craig and those we left behind. I ask you to say special prayers for Katy and Jeff, both are still at Craig and need your daily prayers. I also ask you to say a special prayer for my friend Scott Roy’s family. Scott is the gentleman from the Miami Project that came to Denver to film a short documentary on Peter. Scott and his wife had a baby and there have been some complications. Please remember them in your prayers. Another dear friend of mine, Tim Malloy from St. Louis, is at Duke under going brain surgery to remove some lesions. Tim has been valiantly fighting brain cancer for the last four to five years. We have seen some healing in Peter and we know that God does heal. We ask God to come into their bodies and rid them of their afflictions.

Miracles are happening everyday and the one miracle that happens everyday is Peter’s attitude. Those that have seen and talked to Peter are in awe of his fantastic spirit. His determination will pay big dividends in the future and all his friends, supporters and Peter know that someday…………………

He will walk again.
Bud

Topics: Peter |