Wildfires!

There is so much to tell you I don't know where to begin. At about 7:30 p.m. this evening they just announced another evacuation of over 1,000 people in our mid valley. A fire started from lightening over a week ago and we now have over 1200 fire fighters trying to keep up with it. We had strong winds today and are expecting more tonight. It is so smoky here and everyone is very worried. We have many friends that have had to leave their homes. The house Chris was doing a remodel on was also evacuated so he is out of work temporarily. We are quite a few miles south of the fire but we are watching what is happening very closely. Here is the website we are watching: www.blainecounty.org

Jess, Brandie, my mom and I took Jess to Boise on Tuesday night. We stayed with Jamie and Jahara and they took such good care of us. We had a van packed full of "stuff". It is not easy to take Jess out of his comfort zone. The first night he and I only got a couple hours of sleep. I don't know what I would have done without Brandie helping me to get Jess to all of our appointments. I sure appreciated her willingness to go with us.

We had an appointment with the Elks rehab doctor on Wednesday morning. She has not seen Jess for 3 years. She complemented us on how well Jess looked and on all of the things we were doing with him. We talked about stem cells, drugs and the brain stimulation at the Cleveland Clinic. She warned us not to go to China for stem cells but hopes like all of us that our country will realize the importance of doing more research here as soon as possible. She did think we should pursue the brain stimulation but warned there could be risks. (Jess is still on the list to be evaluated for the procedure.) She also told me to check into the University of Pittsburg because they seem to be on the cutting edge of new brain injury research.

We had an appointment later with an oral surgeon to see about having Jess' wisdom teeth removed. He was a wonderful doctor that I actually found on the internet. He had read all of the info I sent and said he was going to see if he could do the surgery up here at our hospital. I couldn't believe he was willing to travel almost 3 hours to remove Jess' wisdom teeth! There are wonderful people in this world. He said they would have to watch him carefully for aspiration so he thought it would be better for us to keep him in the hospital over night so they could watch him closely. The only problem now is they have evacuated everyone near the hospital because of the fire.

We also met the next day with all of the therapists at the Elks Rehab Hospital. They evaluated Jess. I was hoping they could give us some miracle to bring Jess back but they just said we were doing more than anyone they had seen in our situation. They did have some suggestions and a contact for me to someone in Montana that is very good with communication devices that might be able to help us find a better way to communicate with Jess. The doctor and therapists will get together next week to discuss recommendations for us and will conference call us sometime next week.

We also visted the place where we purchased Jess' wheelchair and ordered a new seat and some worn parts on his chair. I took the van in to have the wheelchair lift looked at and they made some minor adjustments. It was a very busy two days.

We have all been busy getting petitions signed for People Safe in Rollovers. If you have any petitions to get to Paula please send them to reach California before she leaves for Washington D.C. on September 4th. She was able to get a billboard company in Boise to put a billboard up in Jess' honor and I think we almost have the $1,500 to purchase the vinyl billboard. Thank you to everyone for participating in this critical event. Paula did an interview with a radio station regarding the issue of safer roofs on our vehicles. The link is here. It is eye opening!

School is suppose to start Monday but I have a feeling it will be postponed until the fires calm down. It will be Jess' last year to be around his peers. He lights up when he is around friends his age. I don't know what we will do after this year. One day at a time! Pray for our fire fighters and everyone's safety. Mother Nature is very angry at us I think. There is a lot of tragedy in our world right now. We need to help change the energy!

"Please help!"

Many of you received an email from me regarding a very important issue that came to our attention this week. It is in regards to roof crush in vehicles. The roof of the 2001 Ford Explorer Jess was hurt in crushed! It crushed down on my beautiful son's head at a speed of 12 miles an hour. We are living with the nightmare of that fact every moment of every day.

There is a lady by the name of Paula Lawler who started a non-profit organization. Please click on People Safe in Rollovers! She has a video of her address given at the Emergency World Summit on Roof Crush in Washington D.C. in July on this website. Please, in honor of Jess, listen to this video. Read her articles and educate yourself and tell everyone you know. None of us are safe in American made cars. Who will be next?
The manufacturers know we are in danger and they choose to ignore it. She needs petitions signed to take to Congress by the 27th. Help us stop putting the people we love in jeopardy!

I have prayed for an avenue to help me alert the public of this issue and I finally found it. Will you help us? Joey has put the petition under Downloads on the right side of this website. Print it and get as many signatures as you can. We are also working on purchasing a billboard in Jess's honor to be placed in Boise. There is a flyer explaining how People Safe in Rollover's has partnered with a billboard company to get this message across the world. If you want to donate to the cause there is information on People Safe in Rollovers.

During the time I had shut down this website we were going through a very emotional lawsuit against Ford. It took over two years to get to the court room. We wanted desparately to make Ford admit responsibility for the roof caving in on Jess. We could not get across to the jury or judge the facts that Paula states on her website. We lost our lawsuit against Ford but we have not lost the battle to help right a wrong. We need your help!

Cleveland Clinic??

Friday was an amazing day! After watching that video and reading the stories about the man in a minimally consious state who was helped by Dr. Ali Rezai at the Cleveland Clinic, I began my search to get in touch with him. I was able to leave my name with the Research Department and thought it would probably be months before they contacted me. I knew they would be overwhelmed with calls. Luckily, I also emailed the neuro department. Amazingly, I received a phone call from his assistant on Friday. She asked me numerous questions and at the end of the conversation she said, "Well, Jess made it through Round 2". We are still very much in the preliminary phase but they are sending me a packet of information and forms to fill out. They are only accepting 11 more candidates. They will need a lot of medical history but if they feel he meets the criteria we will go to Cleveland for an evaluation. Mom and I hugged and cried and thought...maybe we will get a miracle. The family has been discussing if he did get accepted how we all feel about it. We will just have to see if we make it through Round 3.

Not long after that phone call, I got another call from the Elks Rehab in Boise. After a half an hour of questions, the social worker said he thought they could get Jess in for an evaluation with their team of outpatient therapists within the next couple of weeks. They will be able to let us know if we are on the right track with all of our therapies.

I also came up with a great idea to have Curtie, Jess' best friend come over one hour a day and work with Jess on the computer. He is very smart and knowledgeable with computers and he and Jess have been friends forever. He met with Tracy, our speech therapist, and they worked out a plan for a daily session with Jess to work on a special program called Boardmaker. Curtie sets up a way for Jess to hit a switch to scan through options of things he would like to do. He not only can see the option but he also hears what choices he can make. It's a great way to stimulate his processing and also gives him a way to talk back. With practice I think Curtie is going to make a huge difference. Thanks Curt!

So, after a few weeks of frustration and dead ends all of a sudden we have some wonderful options. I did say, I would have good news soon...you put it out there, set the motion and look what happens. My concentration for the last month has been "where or what do we do next" to the powers above. Why don't I remember...you just have to ask!

An interesting day!

What an incredibly interesting day we have had. For all of you who did not see Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News check this video out. (You have to wait for the video to go through a short advertisement.) Thank you to everyone who alerted us about the news cast. We were watching it so we got a first hand view. I have already contacted the doctor at the Cleveland Clinic and also have my sister-in-law, Jenn, finding out more info at the clinic tomorrow since she is in Cleveland. Yeah, Jenn!

At the same time I was frantically trying to find out more info regarding that news cast, another news blast came on stating a bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis had collapsed. Chris and I were both trying to find Joey and could only get "the circuits are all busy". I was breathing in "Joey and Angie are safe" and breathing out "pure fear". We finally got a phone call from Joey saying they were all safe. Let's all send lots of prayers to all of those involved in the accident.

Early this morning our good friend, Barbara, called to let me know that Dick Hoyt from Team Hoyt was speaking in Boise. He is the amazing man that does all of the triathalons with his son who has Cerebral Palsy. I saw him and his son on Oprah. I really wanted to go to Boise but it was too late to make plans. Barbara had emailed Team Hoyt to find out more about the communication device Rick (the son) uses. I have angels everywhere. Anyway, they emailed her back with a connection to the doctor who is in Boston and is the guru of communication devices. He emailed us both very quickly. I will sit down tomorrow and hopefully have another option to help my beautiful boy talk to me.

Oh my, how things come in and out of our lives in many directions. All of this happened in the midst of feeding, bathing, dinner and 7 hours of work today. Whew! I am going to bed....good night!