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August 28th Update

By Bud | August 28, 2008

As you know we have been at Quest to Walk in Overland Park, KS this week. We arrived at 2 pm Monday and they did not waste any time putting Peter through the riggers of their methods. One of the things they started on were his abs. They had him doing sit ups with their help and Monday night he was sore. The good news is that he was sore about 3-4 inches below the belly button. This is the first time he has had any sensation below the belly button and he can now feel a soft touch in that area. Another item they started him on immediately is standing under his own weight and putting weight on his legs. He has stood more in the last four days than he stood in two months at Craig. Wednesday he was standing on his own, holding on to a rail and the trainers were not holding on to him. They even held their hands back and told Peter, look no help. Today, Thursday, he was doing squats on the Total Gym with the help of a trainer and his tendons behind the knees were firing. Many good signs have appeared this week and I am convinced that working on the total body and not just the upper body to live in a wheel chair is the answer to total recovery.

Since Jimmie Tramel’s article in the Tulsa World, I have received one email and one phone call from two other young men that this has happen to them. Somehow they received the article. One is from St Augustine, FL and his incident also happen at age 19 in FL and after three years he is back to 85%. He warned me that it is a slow process but to never give up. He was a three year football letterman in high school and a weight lifter. He had actually surfed a few times before his injury. Another young man in St. Louis, and get this, had this happen to him at Waikiki on May 20th, three days before Peter’s. We were actually in the hospital in Hawaii at the same time only he was at Straub and we were at Queens. Two in three days on the same beach and there was not even a news story on these occurrences. He started recovering quickly and is walking again at almost 100%. He is the lucky one. The reason I tell you all this is it is obvious to me that this happens more than the surfing industry wants you to know and this frustrates me more every day. We must stop this senseless affliction.

Friday night the Broken Arrow football booster club will be asking for donations at the scrimmage. We can not thank them enough for their support of Peter in his time of need. Thanks to everyone there and Barbara Moses for her dedication not only to Peter but the whole football program.

There is the old joke of the man that was stranded on a deserted island and three different times he was given opportunities that would help him get off the island. He kept turning the opportunities down saying that God was going to take care of him and rescue him. The man still on the island prayed to God why he had not rescued him and God replied that he had given him three different opportunities to be rescued and did not take advantage of them. Something like that. I feel that God keeps giving us opportunities to help Peter toward recovery and we are going to take advantage of everything he sends our way. The latest is the Quest to Walk program. I feel it is working on Peter’s total body and that will be the answer to his recovery. We are seeing too many signs in this first week to think that improvement is not possible.

We will be at New Creation Church this Sunday with Doc Blevins. Hope we will see many of you there. Prayers have been answered for Tim Malloy of St. Louis. The surgery he had at Duke revealed that he did not have anymore cancer in the brain. We ask you to pray for Peter to continue to show signs of improvement and for him to regain 100%. Continue your prayers for all those at Craig and especially Jeff and Katy.

He will walk again
Bud

Topics: Peter |