Category Archives : Uncategorized

I changed my mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjodU053gEk

Hello everybody!  I had another great day at Kennedy – here are some more videos.  I don’t think I’ll be doing a personalized message tonight, so sorry about that if you actually care! : )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l82lqoi0xx4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w-dEENfF_E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8I0AaP_Jzk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voVQ0E5uwaE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNWonVbXz8A

Below are links to various videos from my first day back at Kennedy Krieger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vieCjUiPomw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BZ3EmnUUbQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Phpk_2mCo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnr4Rp5rB50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-1goH-fEz8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXoaSLL5X8w

Greetings All,

Just wanted to say hi as Aaron & family make final preparations to head to Kennedy/Krieger for our 2 week stay. Diane & Aunt Den are here helping Aaron to pack while Gina & I pack foods & other necessities.
Aaron, Gina & I hope to be on the road by 3:30. We will be with Aaron for the first part of the stay. Diane and Aunt Den will be down mid-week through the weekend into next week and Gina & I will return for the end of the visit. Same schedule as last time only over 2 weeks instead of 1. Leslie will be down on Thursday night so that she can go with Aaron for rehab on Friday. The two of them are planning a trip to the Inner Harbor Aquarium on Saturday. We (Aaron, Diane, Gina & Woody) hope to do a better job of keeping you updated throughout the stay.
Please keep us all in prayer for safety during travel & physical, emotional, & spiritual strength.

Thank you all for caring so much about Aaron.

We love you. 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITMbzHzE26g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnvvRvgjd3M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtEYnXIyaJs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFzoKQkqP40

On Saturday, May 8th at the Middletown Church of God there will be an event that includes a chicken barbeque, a car wash, a flea market, a Corn Hole Tournament, and music by the band “Driving Vegas”. All of the proceeds will be going to Aaron’s Journey.

The car wash, food stand, and flea market will kick off at 9:00 a.m. The Chicken Barbeque and Corn Hole Tournament will start at 10:00 a.m. Registration for the tournament will be $10 for a team of two. Tickets for the chicken barbeque are $7, which includes 1/2 chicken, baked potato, and applesauce, and are on sale now by calling the church office at 944-9608 (corrected!). You can rent a flea market table for $15.00 or bring your donated items to the church and they will sell it for you with all of the proceeds going to Aaron’s Journey. The band will start playing at 11 a.m.

Baked good are needed to be sold at the event. Anyone wishing to donate baked goods can drop them off at the church starting at 8:00 am.

If you would like to donate items to be sold at the Flea Market, your donations may be dropped off at the church office on Wednesdays from 5:45 to 7:30 PM or Sundays from 8:00 AM to noon. Items may also be dropped off at the church office garage Monday through Friday, from 8:15 AM to 4:00 PM. (Please try to avoid lunch time, however, as there may be nobody there to assist you.)

Location: Middletown Church of God, 235 W High St, Middletown, PA
Contact: If you have any questions, please contact Jill Habig at 717-566-2646. To purchase a chicken barbeque ticket or a flea market table, please call the church at 717-944-9608.

Hello Everyone. I know we always say this but… sorry it’s been soooo long since we have given an update.

We went to Philadelphia today so Aaron could get an x-ray of his neck. He was having quite a bit of pain in his neck last week and his physician at Kennedy wanted his neurologist to check it out and confirm that he is able to participate in rehab in May. We got the results almost immediately today. His neck has healed nicely and his pain is not from loose hardware or any areas that might not have healed. Because the pain is intermittment (he can go weeks without pain), we believe that it is probably caused by certain positions or not changing position often enough. We will be keeping a close eye on that as Aaron seems a bit resistent to pain meds and can’t get much relief when it comes.

We are very excited about getting back to rehab at Kennedy Kreiger beginning May 3rd. Aaron will be there for 2 weeks and hopes to get in the pool this time. We have been stimming his muscles faithfully since his last visit to Kennedy and have high hopes that he will make even greater progress than his last visit. Since his last visit he has been able to move his thumbs, most of his fingers, turn his feet inward when lying down, and move his right knee inward when seated. These are all small movements and he can’t do it with 100% consistency yet, but they are assuredly intentional movement.

Aaron has to work long and hard to get a little gain, so please continue to pray for and encourage him. It really is important and means so much to all of us. 🙂

For the month of April, 15% of all Pampered Chef purchases made through Tasha Cochran will be donated to Aaron’s Journey. To make your purchases you can either contact Tasha or shop online (see details below). If you don’t need any Pampered Chef items for yourself but would still like to participate in this fundraiser, you may purchase items to be included in a raffle (stay tuned for more details on the raffle). If you purchase for the raffle online, please let Tasha know so that when it arrives she can add it to the raffle items. All of the commission that Tasha makes on these purchases will be used to purchase Pampered Chef “favorites” that will be added to the items to be raffled. All money and orders are due by April 30th, 2010.

To order online, go to www.pamperedchef.biz/tasha05. Select “Shop online” at the top of the website. Type “Aaron’s Journey” where it asks for Host/Organization.

For questions, catalogs, or to order directly from Tasha you can call her at 717-982-1685, or email her at tacochran5@yahoo.com.

Want to buy more, but the wallet says “Not Today”? Book a catalog show or home cooking show of your own to be held within the next 6 months and Aaron will get $10 for your booking and you will earn free and discounted product.

Here is some additional information on a few Pampered Chef specials:
Mother’s Day Specials
Free Microfiber Towel

The Golf Benefit has been rescheduled…

On August 14th a benefit will be held at the Par Line Golf Course in Elizabethtown, with the proceeds going to Aaron’s Journey. In addition to a round of golf, this event includes a steak dinner, a 50/50 raffle, “Flight Prizes,” and “Pot Of Gold.” To be honest, I’m not sure what all of that means, but the avid golfers out there probably will and it certainly sounds interesting, so hold the date. Tee time is 1:00 p.m. and you’ll be playing in groups of four. If you are a single golfer they will happily pair you with a group of four.

I remember when this golf course was just a muddy field back in the early 80’s because I lived just around the corner from it when it was being built. I’m sure the trees have grown quite a bit since then. Here’s the layout of the course:

Par Line Golf Course layout

• Registration Form for participants
• Donation Form for sponsors

If you have questions or have trouble opening the forms, please contact Ann at 717-379-8915 or email awenders@gmail.com, or Pete at 717-367-2482 or email pndsnyder@embarqmail.com

……..well HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you!

Showing my age with some lyrics from an old Beatles’s song. That’s right, today is Aaron’s birthday. He wanted to keep it low key so just a few visits from friends and family.
Aaron we love you and know that the coming year holds more amazing steps as you continue your journey. We thank God for your recovery so far and trust Him for what is yet to come.

Please join us as we continue to pray for God’s healing touch in Aaron’s life.

Greetings All,

Sorry for the long time between posts. I could make up some lame excuses but they would be just that …. lame , so I won’t bother.

The countdown (37 days) continues until we return to Kennedy Krieger. Aaron continues his rehab at home as well as at Hershey in preparation. As a result he is as strong physically as he has been since August. Aaron’s breathing also gets stronger each day. The ventilator and trach seem like such a long time ago. It is hard to believe that it has only been 7 weeks since they were “tossed to the weeds.”

Aaron and I have been following the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, although neither one of us see the second half of the late games. We’re a couple of light weights. 🙂 My bracket is shot as I had Kansas winning it all. Aaron is doing a little better. He has Duke winning it all which will make his Pappaw Wood happy. 🙂

Finally we want to thank Judy Roberts & Tim Strube for organizing the Basket Bingo fundraiser. Also thanks to all who helped including the Elizabethtown boys basketball family, past and present. Gina and I were unable to attend but the 3Ds (Aaron’s mom Diane, Aunt Den, & Aunt Deb), Mamaw Wood,  Aunt Barb & Aunt Diane, and his sister Alexis were there. They as well as everyone else that we talked to who attended had nothing but rave reviews. It was well organized and everyone had lots of fun.

Yesterday and today Aaron had physical therapy at Hershey Med. Ctr.  Gina took him yesterday, I took him today.   He was in the stander yesterday, had a little bit of difficulty keeping his blood pressure up; but overall it was a good session.  He did discover yesterday that when he has a really strong muscle spasm, one that makes his hands stand up, he is able to move his index finger…..on both hands!    Awesome stuff!  (Today, during a spasm, he was able to move his middle finger on one of his hands as well.  Only saw that once, so we’ll keep looking for that!!)

Today at physical therapy Aaron didn’t get to stand up in the stander;  but that’s OK, because he experienced something very exciting and encouraging….he was lying on his back on a mat and the therapist was having him try to move different muscles in his legs and feet and he was able to move both of his feet outward toward the walls, then back in again.   A couple of times!   The therapist was impressed;  I (and his Aunt Deb who joined us today) was overwhelmed with excitement and emotion and even Aaron let go over some of his reservation and was excited!     (Aaron is afraid to be overly optomistic, so to get him to say he’s excited ,or to show it, is a major undertaking.   But it happened today!)

Aaron continues to work hard on his therapy and we are seeing the fruits of his efforts.    These movements he’s been experiencing really fuel his desire to work even harder.  Please continue to pray for him and stay tuned to the blog for further updates on his progress!    With our prayers and Aaron’s determination, great things have happened and will continue to do so!

I had hoped Aaron might let his “faithful readers” know this, but he hasn’t.  Aaron, I hope you don’t mind me giving this information, but I feel it’s become necessary in that people are still making reference (understandably) to Jaime and Tory.   Aaron and Jaime are no longer together.   Some of you may have figured this out due to pictures of Jaime being removed from those that appear across the top of the blog page. 

So now Aaron is moving on (and doing very well at that, I might add).  He can now focus harder on “rehabbing” and gettting stronger.  All things happen for a reason….and it’s not for us to understand!   Enough said.

What a fantastic week! It was everything we who were there with Aaron (Woody, Gina, Diane, & Denise) were hoping for and more. Aaron was surrounded with so much hope, energy, and positive attitudes from everyone he was in contact with this week; it was truly refreshing and energizing for all of us. His therapists, Kristen and Erin are obviously well qualified and take Aaron and his goal to someday walk very seriously. We didn’t have to listen to any speeches about the high level of Aaron’s injury and never heard the words can’t or won’t. Aaron worked very hard for 5 hours every day and can’t wait to get back there for 2 weeks beginning May 3rd. We were all very pleased to meet Dr. John McDonald (see pic below), the director of the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury at Kennedy Krieger. He stopped and talked with Aaron a few times during the week and talked with him about his progress, both present and what he believes he can accomplish in the future. He also took time to work with Aaron on moving his hands and fingers. Much of the week was spent using electrical stimulation on various muscle groups, riding the bike using E-Stim, and standing up in the stander/glider. By the end of the week he was able to move the “arm skate” (in the video on a previous blog) with his triceps and biceps on his own without E-stim! Yesterday he showed us how he can move his left thumb and today he was moving his right thumb. Not big sweeping movements, but definately controlled movement! We will be getting an E-stim unit for use at home soon, eventually a stander, and then a stim bike so that Aaron can work hard every day, not just at Kennedy. 🙂

There were 3 little girls  at rehab all week that  had a princess party on Friday and Aaron was invited;  he got a necklace and we got to eat some cupcakes (see pic below). 🙂 I’m guessing  that they were aged 2 to 4 and it was just amazing how focused and hard working they were. They really touched our hearts. 🙂

We arrived home on Friday evening, all of us pretty well beat! Thanks again Diane for staying the night so we could sleep. Only one nights rest and you were on night duty again. You’re a sweetheart! 🙂

working on biceps & triceps video

The above video is fairly large and will take a minute or two to load.

Here are a few pictures of Aaron’s day at Kennedy Krieger on Monday and the Friday before at home. Aaron is having a great week at Kennedy. They are as aggressive as we had hoped and Aaron is working hard. They have been using Electrical Stimulation on his muscles to make him move and to re-teach his body that it can move by stimulating peripheral nerve responses. His therapists as well as Dr. McDonald (the director at Kennedy) told Aaron that his response to E-stim is classic textbook, and if they were going to grade his response to it, it would be an A+!!!! Hopefully we will have some more pics soon!

Woody & Aaron at home

With Kitty B

Aaron & Kristen

Aaron, Erin (behind Aaron), Amy (teal shirt), Rachel (white shirt)

SKATE VIDEO

You can click on the above link to watch video of Aaron. The video is sideways, but I can’t figure out how to fix it yet. It’s still fun to watch. Aaron’s arm is moving with the “skate” with the help of E-Stim. When he did it the first time he lifted the entire skate off the table, hence the 5 lb weight on top of his arm in this video. 🙂