Timmy Update

It's been a trying few weeks, but we are long overdue for an update... so here I go.

For those that didn't hear, we lost the home we rented to a fire at the first of this month.  We are still looking for a place to rent for Timmy, his sister Jessie and me.  Here is a link to the story The Press Banner published if you haven't heard.  They did a pretty accurate job.  http://www.pressbanner.com/view/full_story/15444547/article-Fire-burns-Boulder-Creek-home-?

Many friends and family have asked what happened with the International Brain Research Foundation and since I'm still not sure, I figure it's only fair to share what I know.  It's been about a year since Dr Halper and his team came to evaluate Timmy.  The articles we read were promising and we'd hoped they'd be able to help Timmy. We believed that they were willing to treat Timmy and we had high hopes that they would.  After a brief telephone summary of Timmy's test results, we were told that a man from the financial dept would contact us regarding  the cost. We waited to do any more fundraising at that time, because we wanted to be sure they were going to treat, what the treatment plan would be and the cost.  After many frustrating months of not getting those answers, I bypassed Dr Halper and wrote Dr De Fina, telling him that Timmy was back in the news again and that past supporters may be wondering what became of his team helping us.  Within days, a woman named Brittany contacted me by email and telephone.  We connected and she seemed genuinely concerned and wanted to help.  She promised to talk with Dr De Fina and get back to us the following week.  Well, this was 3 weeks ago and I feel like we've been forgotten once again.  We have invested $10,000 for the evaluation to get started and now I'm wondering if we should write them off as money not so well spent.  I know they've helped many, but I'm not sure why Timmy isn't as important to them.

So, now I'll tell you where Timmy is progress-wise now that he's been home for 10 months.  He's been receiving occupational and physical therapy at Dominican outpatient neuro rehab.  Everyone there is wonderful and with their help, we've seen Timmy progress.  Timmy has more use of his left hand and arm and a couple of months ago, we noticed he could kick his left leg while in a sitting position.  Today at therapy, he was doing pretty awesome lifting his arm with some weight attached and then we found out he could do something new.  He can kick with his RIGHT leg and kicked several times on command.  I love when something like this happens, as it gives us hope that he IS getting better and will continue to accomplish more.  We ended therapy with him "shooting" hoops into a makeshift "basket".  You can tell he has good sensory skills, as he would reach into his lap without looking and find the "ball" pretty much right away without looking.  And then he'd shoot.  Laughing a bunch of course, as usual,

This past Tues, we decided to venture into a new type of treatment for Timmy.  We had a consult with a Cranial Chiropractor.  We've only had a consult so far, but he thinks he can help Timmy with at least a couple of things.  I've always noticed that the left temporal area of his face didn't look right since the accident.  The doctor picked up on that right away and thinks his jaw may be locking and that there is still some compression in that region.  He says he can fix that.  His treatments will also help to improve the blood flow to Timmy's brain and that can't hurt.  And he will also offer nutritional supplements we probably should have been trying all along, like fish oil and specific B vitamins.  It's all worth a try and this man has had some pretty wonderful results treating patients with all different kinds of complaints. 

I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but we've had a speech pathologist out to evaluate Timmy.  This was just a few days before the fire.  She is going to set up a vendor to try Timmy with a computer that he can "talk" through by pushing a button as it lights up on the word, picture or phrase that he wants to use.  She's ready to come out with the vendor, but we've decided to wait until we get set up in a new home.  It'll just be easier that way.

And last but not least, Linda Lovelace from Valley Churches, has submitted our story to the San Jose Mercury for their holiday wish list.  We just found out that our family was one of those selected and soon, a reporter will be contacting us to write up our story.  So that's exciting and we are looking forward to that.

So thanks to everyone who is still keeping up with Timmy and God bless all of us.

Dawn
Timmy's mom

We love having Timmy home

Time to update those that who still follow Timmy and share the few good things that have happened since he came home at the end of January.

His family feels he's adjusted really well to being home. He smiles all the time and laughs just about as much. I wish you could look into his eyes, there is just so much life and softness in them now and he still has those long dark lashes he was born with, so his eyes are beautiful. He's never without his family anymore, his family is here with him always now and that's the way it should be. We don't use "yes" and "no" cards anymore for communication, he's really good at nodding his head yes and no. So, communication has greatly improved. And since he's come home, he's off 2 medications. He is no longer getting daily Lovenox injections to prevent blood clots and takes a baby aspirin each day instead. And he no longer takes blood pressure medicine for his fast heart rate, he doesn't need it anymore. His blood pressure and heart rate stay in a normal range. It's awesome :) And today, he started his first day of neuro physical therapy at Dominican Rehab.

Today was Timmy's first day of physical therapy with Dominican. Timmy was cooperative and smiley and even kept scrunching his nose at his therapist, like he does to others in his family. She measured his muscle tone, went through range of motion with him to see how his body responded and had him do things we hadn't tried yet, like having him try to raise his hips and raise his head while laying on his back. He did well, especially with the head raising. She then sat him at the edge of the table, with his feet on the floor. She showed us how to put a sheet low around his waist, and pull towards the person sitting in front of him, which helped to stretch his lower back. Timmy really liked that. And when it was time to put him back in his wheelchair, instead of transferring him with the lift, she kept him in a seated position and scooted him across a board from the table to his chair. She explained doing it like that helped to send signals to his brain. We are pretty happy with the treatment he received so far and are looking forward to better things to come for Timmy. Weds he will be evaluated by an occupational therapist and we are being told he's really good. So, starting this week, he will be having 3 days of therapy per week, so he'll be getting into a routine. We will also be getting a referral to see a physiatrist. And that will be nice since I consider the one he saw a total of 1 time at Kaiser was crap.

So those that still look for updates on Timmy, thank you for continuing to think about him. I know he's still in people's prayers and I thank you for that. Prayers, Timmy's family and friends believing and Timmy's will to live is what got us this far. I hope that every future update I do, will contain progress made by Timmy. So keep rooting for us, we love you and appreciate it.

Dawn
Timmy's mom.

Home at last

I know that it has been a long time since the last update so there is a lot to report. In February, Timmy came home from the facility that he has been staying at for over a year and a half. He is now living back in Boulder Creek at his family home with his mom (Dawn) and sister (Jessie), and is being taken care of by Isaac, his brother, and the rest of the family. In the short time that Timmy has been home he has shown great improvement in his condition. Timmy is gaining more and more control over his left arm and is now able to lift it a matter of inches to give hand shakes or high-fives. He has mastered the remote control, channel surfing during commercials and checking out all the sports channels along the way. We recently brought out the Super Nintendo and Timmy plays Ms. Pac Man and Mario Kart with a huge smile on his face. Timmy is now nodding and shaking his head a lot better, making it a lot easier for his family to learn how to communicate better with him. He has even started to have small movements with his right wrist, which was something that the Doctors said could never be possible. Timmy is also eating more real foods and able to try new things all the time.

Timmy loves to laugh at and spend time with his son Colin, and niece and nephews. He still has the same sense of humor, and laughs at old jokes and stories that he likes. We just got Timmy’s new wheelchair, and we are finally able to start taking him more places and allowing him to have his life back. This last Sunday he was even able to attend church with his mom. Timmy has come so far and still has such a far way to go. We are still working on fundraising efforts to try and get Timmy the treatment that could aid in his recovery. If anyone has any fundraising suggestions or would like to help please contact Caitlin Hatch through facebook at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1638729351.