Kevin's Recovery Helping Kevin Mather on his road to recovery

December 2009 Update

Merry (almost) Christmas everyone! Life continues to be a bit challenging & exhausting. Next week Kev has a follow up appointment with his neurosurgeon. Please be praying that Tuesday will be the day we’ll receive the amazing news that the brace can finally come off! The brace is extremely uncomfortable & severely inhibits Kev’s upper body movement & breathing, so the thought of not having to wear it is very exciting! Initially having the brace off will be very challenging for Kev as he will need to re-learn his balance. Learning to balance from the beginning was extremely hard since his feeling ends at his waist. Trying to balance without being able to feel what you’re trying to balance on is incredibly difficult. Additionally, since he’s had to wear the brace for so long, the immobilization has caused much of his core/abs/back muscles to atrophy.

Kev’s driving test with hand controls is on Wednesday, so please be praying that that goes well. Once the brace comes off & the driving test is successfully completed we’ll likely start looking for a car for Kev.

Please continue to pray for Kev’s healing – he still has a lot of pain in his back, neck, shoulders, elbows & wrists. Since these joints were never intended to be weight bearing, the constant daily strain of transferring to & from various surfaces, pushing his chair & doing pressure reliefs is pretty rough.

Throughout this entire process it has been very difficult learning what life will look like as a person living with a spinal cord injury. However, we have had a great amount of support along the way. While Kev was in the hospital, it was clear that not everyone who suffers a spinal cord injury has such a great support system. One organization we felt truly helps make a difference is Triumph Foundation. If you would like to minister to others in our situation, you can visit:    www.triumph-foundation.org.

Thanks for continuing to pray!