International Brain Research Foundation Consult

Well, I guess a Timmy update is a little bit overdue.  But, before I get into that, I just want to say I loved visiting with Timmy tonight.  He's seemed kind of down the last couple of days, so it was great to be greeted with a smile tonight.  And then for some reason, he just kind of launched into doing all the stuff I've been teaching him, without me asking him to do it.  He started nodding his head yes and no.  Then he started opening his mouth and sticking his tongue out...  all this with no prompting from me.  We were both laughing so hard that I had to tell him to remember to breath, because he almost couldn't catch his breath.  Also, over the last week, he's been starting to bend his left leg at the knee on his own while we do range of motion.  We are also starting to see a bit more movement in trying to open and close his right hand.  Timmy's room mate's sister actually got him to reach for a ball today, which I've never seen him do before (lift his arm).  So Timmy's still making progress and I thank God and everyone's prayers for that.

So, onto the update:
Last Thurs, the 11th of Nov., Timmy was evaluated by a 2 person team sent by the International Brain Research Foundation.  They were great and treated Timmy like the human being we know he is.  The first test they ran measured his level of consciousness.  Timmy's level is at 98%.  What's this mean?  A normal level is 100%, so this means that Timmy is totally aware of everything going on around him.  Yes, most of us already knew this, but now this is proof.  They asked Timmy to do some things, which he was very cooperative with, within his ability to do them.  They also ran a couple of EEG's which we will get the results from within 10 days of the date of testing.  Dr Halper was awesome and encouraging.  He told us that he can't believe Timmy isn't getting any type of therapy at this time and that he is ripe for therapy.  And, how frustrating it must be for him to be aware and want to do things, but needs help getting there.  He encouraged us to get Timmy physical and speech therapy and that's what I'm working hardest at now.

So to start, I spoke with Timmy's Kaiser doctor that's assigned to him at the facility he's residing at now.  She knows that Timmy is currently on an "RNA" program, which needs no insurance authorization.  This means that IF the family is there to assist, we are SUPPOSED to be able to stand Timmy with the help of an RNA for about 15 minutes.  This hasn't really been happening and I told her.  I also told her that we'd like Timmy re-evaluated for Kaiser Vallejo.  We have been told in the past that the Vallejo facility is Kaiser's big rehab for brain injuries.  His doctor then told me that in order to go there, Timmy would have to be able to tolerate 3 hrs of PT a day.  I then asked his doctor how he was expected to get to that level when nothing is being done to help reach that point, especially when he's just laying around wasting away.  I also added that he hadn't had a neurological evaluation in over a year.  And I asked her for a wheelchair evaluation, as the one he's using now is borrowed from the facility and... well it's a piece of crap.  So, to make a long story short, Timmy has an appointment next Monday with a Kaiser doctor that's supposedly in charge of his physical therapy plan, who he's never seen before.  Then the first week in Dec., he has an appointment with his neurologist.  Still waiting to hear about the wheelchair eval... but I did tell her that I know people on Medi-cal that have wheelchairs and that I'd think a patient on Kaiser should be able to have one too.

So I learned a lot this week.  Monday was really tough emotionally for me for lots of reasons I won't get into, but part of it was because I wanted things to happen MY way NOW.  I wanted Timmy home before Christmas and I just want him with me all the time, because I felt nobody else was taking care of him and at least I could continue to encourage him and teach him.  For now, we've decided to give Kaiser a chance to increase Physical and Speech therapy.  We should also have the EEG and other test results back soon that will give us a better idea of where Timmy's brain is at, as well as suggestion for treatment from specialists from the IBRF (International Brain Research Foundation). 

In God's time. He's brought Timmy this far and I trust He will bring him even further.

Take care everyone. 

Dawn
(Timmy's mom)

De Fina's team is coming!

Yesterday afternoon my phone rang, but I didn't recognize the number, so i didn't answer. 5 seconds later the house phone rang with the same number and I got this feeling that the area code was New Jersey.  I jumped up and grabbed the phone and it was Dr. De Fina's assistant!  She called to let me know that the team will be here Thursday to evaluate Timmy.  We are getting everything ready, and we are so excited. This is what we have been waiting for.
I don't have all the details on exactly what they will be doing Thursday, but I do know that they will be bringing their equipment to map Timmy's brain out on the computer.  They will be looking at what is damaged, and how damaged it is.  We are excited because we haven't seen any scan since the accident, so it will be cool to be able to see FINALLY what is going on in that head of his! 
I will update everyone on Thursday after we talk to the team and they let us know whats up. Let's hope for the best!

Timmy wrote his name!

Sorry it has been a while since the last update.  The pancake breakfast was on Sunday.  It went well, and we had a lot of fun!
A couple days ago Caitlin went to visit Timmy and she had a whiteboard that she brought and she asked him to write his name.  She put a pen in his hand and he did a line down, then she moved the white board and he did a line across so it formed a 'T'! He did this until he wrote Tim.  He got so excited!!!
Tonight when my mom and I was with him we put a pen in his hand and he wrote Tim, then I was joking and asked him to write a funny word, and he started to, he wrote a 'B' and was so excited, he had a huge smile on his face! He was so proud, he answered 'no' when asked if he knew he could do that, and he was so happy that he did it!  We are going to buy him a whiteboard and work on this a lot more with him.
This was our first time seeing him since the Giants beat the Braves to go on in the Playoffs, and right when we said "hey Tim, did the Giants win?" He got a huge smile on his face.  He was so happy today! He was laughing, and joking around a lot.  I love when he is happy.
He likes to do staring contests, and when you say "okay Timmy, 1, 2, 3!" he will close his eyes until you get to 3 then just stare at you and get a smile on his face.  Today when I was playing with him I opened my mouth and went "aahhh" and he opened his mouth big like he was trying to copy me. He is doing so much more than the doctors thought he would.  I love how far he has come.

Fundraiser #1- Car Wash

Today was the kick off to our Month of Fundraising.  We had a car wash at King's Paint in Capitola; it was a success!  The day started out foggy and cold, but it turned out it was actually better to wash the cars in that weather since the soap didn't dry right away.  It got warmer throughout the day, and we had a lot of people who wanted to help us by donating :)  It was a lot of fun, and it was a really good feeling knowing that we were spreading the word about Timmy to people who hadn't heard about what happened to him yet.

We are thinking about maybe making it a monthly thing since we had so much fun doing it.

Now for a little update on Timmy.  While we were out washing cars to raise money for him, he was at his facility with our Mom watching the 49ers and Giants games.  When my mom would tell him the Giants were going to win today so that they would be the champs, he would look at the 'no' card.  After they won my mom grabbed his arm and was like "Timmy, Timmy they won!!" she says that he started laughing a lot at that point, and smiling.  After that, he thought everything was funny!  When my mom told him she was going to go home and wash his pillow, he started cracking up, laughing harder than she has heard him in a long time.  We think that he kept saying they wouldn't win because he didn't want to jinx them ;)

Fundraisers

It's almost October!  Our month of fundraising is just around the corner.  Things are coming along, and we have been working hard at getting these together so we can raise the money for Dr. De Fina to treat Timmy.

The first weekend of October is our first fundraiser.  It will be a car wash at King's paint located at 2851 41st Ave.  We will be there from 10 AM - 3 PM

On October 10th we will be having a Pancake Breakfast at the Boulder Creek Firehouse from 8 AM- 12 PM

October 27th we will be having a Benefit Concert at the Calvary Church in Los Gatos.  Doors open at 6:00, show starts at 6:30.  Tickets are available now here: http://www.hope-culture.com/ if you click on 'tour' you can purchase via Pay Pal.  I suggest purchasing them ahead of time since they are cheaper :)  For more information on the concert you can go here.

Today Timmy did something pretty cool!  I am putting in a video to show you.  He is just learning to do this again and thought it was really funny!

Giants Game

Today we went to the Giants game! It was so awesome!!  We arrived at the park and we went to the Executive Office to meet up with Nick (the guy who got us the tickets) and he had passes for us to go on the field for batting practice.  We arrived a little late, so we caught the end of it, but we were on the field, which was way cool!  We mostly were on the field with the Brewers, and their bench coach came over and said Hi to Timmy; Timmy got a smile on his face, and knew who he was.  He told Timmy that we were all decked out in Giants gear, so maybe they would give us 1 today.  We also went over and Nick had Casey McGehee come over and say Hi to Timmy (he went to Soquel High) Timmy really liked that, he got a HUGE smile on his face, and he signed a ball for him.
After practice we went to our seats, which were awesome!! We were behind home plate, but towards first base, so when we looked out we were able to see both really good.  It was awesome, I think Timmy is their good luck charm because in the first inning they scored a Grand Slam!  It was so exciting, and Timmy watched the whole time.  They ended up winning 9-2.
I can't wait until Timmy gets to come home and we can do things like this more often.  He was so excited!  He is such a loyal fan :)  Here are some pictures from the game:

All of us on the field:

Outside, waiting to go to Batting practice:

Our view from our seats :)



Thank you SF Giants for inviting us to the game, and allowing us to come on the field for batting practice!

Dr. De Fina Consult

As most of you know, today was the phone consult with Dr. De Fina.  Mom says he was easy to talk to, and let them do a lot of the talking.  He was very interested in what they had to say about Timmy.  He shared the same hopes and concerns for Timmy, which is nice since most doctors we have talked to haven't been very hopeful.
We have agreed to have a team sent out to run tests and evaluate Timmy.  There is a lot of terminology we couldn't write down fast enough, but there are several tests he has decided to run.  It will take several hours, and we will have to kidnap Timmy and bring him home for the day since his insurance is weird. The team will come, and then we will have another phone consult once they go back and discuss everything.  We are just excited to finally know what's going on inside of Timmy's head since he hasn't had any scans or tests done since about a month after his accident.
When my mom asked him what his opinion was based on what he has seen so far with Timmy's records, he said "Yes, it was a very severe injury, but they have helped worse" :)
Today we also found out that we get to go on the field for batting practice at the Giants game this Sunday!  When mom told Timmy he got a big huge smile on his face!  We are so excited for this Sunday, it's going to be so much fun! We will make sure to take a lot of pictures and post them on the site.

Colin's 3rd Birthday

Colin turned 3 today!
It was a really great day.  The party was at the park that's within a 10 minute walking distance from Timmy's facility, so he got to come.  It was really cute.  Last week my mom was visiting him and asking him if he wanted to pick out a present on toyrus.com and he looked at his 'yes' card.  He wanted to pick out a game so that he could play with Colin, so he picked out 'Hungry Hungry Hippos.'  He also got Colin The Muppet Movie, so they can watch it together too.  Timmy was very specific, he wanted that game, and the wrapping paper to be green, so of course my mom went and got those things, and she brought it back to the facility so Timmy could help wrap it.  When they were doing the card Timmy had a huge smile on his face when the pen was in his hand ( his left since his right hand isn't as controlable as his left) when asked to do a 3 on the card he got a huge smile and started laughing because he was trying so hard and did a little of a backwards 'c' :)
Today when we got to the park I had the present and I told Timmy , in his ear since it was a secret, that I had the present and Colin was going to open it.  He started to smile and laugh.  It was so cute how excited he was that he got Colin a present.  Last year was tough since he wasn't able to leave the facility yet, so he had to miss it.  This year was really fun since he got to be there. He even got a taste of some frosting from the 'Caillou' cake.
Yesterday the anonymous donor dropped off the $10,000 donation! We now have enough for the deposit for Dr. De Fina, but we still need to raise $75,000 so please spread the word about the fundraisers coming up.  One is this Tuesday at the Los Gatos Pizza My Heart between 4&9 pm if you go in and say Hope Culture sent you, 30% of the proceeds will go to Timmy and Hope Culture to help put on the Benefit concert on October 27th at the Rio Theatre, which will be amazing! The bands are all really good!  The bracelts are for sale on the right side of the page.  If you live close to us, we can arrange a time to drop it off ( just email me friendsoftimmyhatch@hotmail.com), but if you would rather order through Pay Pal, I will send it to you :)
Thank you everyone who keeps Timmy in their thoughts and prayers, who spread the word for us, and who read our updates.  It means so much to us!  We tell Timmy all the time that he has thousands of people praying for him.  Thank you!

October Events!

We have 3 of the 4 events booked for October (we are working on the fourth.)  We need volunteers for all of the events, so if you can help out, please contact us at friendsoftimmyhatch@hotmail.com You can go here for the official event site.

The events are as follows: Sunday, October 3rd from 10 AM - 3 PM there will be a car wash at King's Paint located in Aptos.  Sunday, October 10th from 8AM- 12PM a pancake breakfast at the Boulder Creek Firehouse.  Wednesday, October 27th at 7 PM Hope Culture Presents: A Benefit Concert for Timmy Hatch, the line up for bands are: I am Empire, The Material, Blood and Water, The Taxi Project, and My Jeremiah.

The event that we haven't booked yet is still in the works, we are thinking about a movie night at the Scotts Valley Cinema, but I need to talk to them some more, so if you have any ideas, please do share in case it falls through.  Thank you everyone!

Remember, if you want to volunteer, which we need A LOT OF, please email us at friendsoftimmyhatch@hotmail.com

Thank you!

Pizza My Heart

The guy, Connor, who is putting on the benefit concert for Timmy in October has set up a day where you can go into Pizza My Heart in Los Gatos and 30% of the proceeds will go to Timmy and Hope Culture to help put on the event.  You can click here for the flyer.  I am so happy that this guy is helping us out, he is doing a lot for us, and it's out of the goodness of his heart.  Please spread the word. 
Timmy was in the Santa Cruz Sentinel today!  I am very happy about the article, the guy did a really great job!  The link is on the right side of the page under 'Newspaper Articles'.
Thank you EVERYONE who is helping us out.  We could not be doing this without.  It's so wonderful to see so many people helping to give my brother is life back.  Thank you!!