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

New Discharge date

Kevin and Tiffany had a meeting with their doctors today and they have decided to move Kevin’s discharge date back 2 weeks to September 16th.  This will give his knee puncture some more time to heal and allow them to get more things in order before leaving the hospital.  This also means that they will need meals through this date.  If you desire to serve them in this way sign up by going to the Get Involved tab and go to meals and follow the instructions.  They want to thank all those that have already blessed them with the wonderful meals they have received.  It has been so nice for them to have one less thing to worry about.  Katie Kollenkark is the new contact person for meals please contact her or the site administrator if you have any questions regarding meals.

Happy Birthday, Kevin!

Also as a reminder…please no visitors tonight as Kevin’s family will be at the hospital to celebrate his birthday with him.

Thank you!

Post from Tiffany

Visit Update

Sorry for the late notice, but Kevin and Tiffany have a couple important things that they need to take care of this week so they are asking for no visitors tonight August 19^th and Friday August 21^st.  The lone exception is for the families assigned to meals; please conitnue to bring the meals  for the Mathers on those two days. 

Thank you for understanding and your cooperation.

Room Change

Kevin has been moved to room 3305. If you are planning on visiting please still check in with security in the lobby and get a security badge.  A more detailed update to come.

Visiting on Sunday 8/16

For anyone planning on visiting Kevin and Tiffany tomorrow 8/16 they will not be at the hospital until the late afternoon.   They are going to go to church and then hopefully enjoy lunch and fellowship with their community group. So early evening would be the best time to visit tomorrow.  Kevin and Tiffany continue to be blessed by the visitors that come and encourage them so keep it up!

Update from Tiffany

It was a huge blessing for us to be able to go to church last Sunday.  While our outing wasn’t extremely long, it was nice to be able to get out in the “real world” for a little while and experience some kind of normalcy.  It was amazing to see all of the people who have been faithfully praying for and supporting us through this process.  We continue to stand in awe of the countless ways God has used all of you.

Today was an exciting day for Kev as he got to begin driver’s training with hand controls.  It was definitely a new and somewhat scary experience, yet it was nice to get outside and feel a bit of freedom.  We were also able to talk to one of the representatives from one of the several wheelchair vendors.  He was extremely helpful and was able to answer several of our questions.  Kev is hoping to order his own chair soon and is definitely looking forward to having a chair that is customized to his body and fits properly.

Kev continues to make progress daily.  We of course wish that there was drastic progress to report each day, but it is definitely a slow process.  Kev’s shoulder blade is seeming to be healing as he’s not having as much pain as he was having earlier on, and is starting to be able to do more weight bearing exercise with it.

Our current prayer requests are:

1.  Please pray for Kevin’s stomach – the several week courses of IV antibiotics have definitely taken their toll.  It makes it very tough for Kev to get through all of his therapies when he isn’t feeling well.

2.  Please continue to pray for Kev’s puncture wound on his left knee.  This is of course the reason he is on all of the antibiotics.  We have been advised that he will be on the antibiotics until the knee heals completely, so we’re definitely praying that it will be healed by the time we come home.

3.  Of course please continue to pray for a full recovery and that the Lord  would regenerate his spinal cord, nerves, muscles, etc that have been affected.

4.  Please pray against discouragement.  There are definitely ups and downs throughout this process, but we have a long road ahead of  us and there are countless things to adapt to.

Thanks again for the endless love, prayer, support, donations, condo repairs, meals, etc.  We seriously can’t come close to expressing how thankful we are for all you guys have done.  At one point I attempted “thank you notes” and didn’t even know where to begin.

We’re hoping to be at church again this Sunday depending on how Kev is feeling, so we’ll look forward to seeing several of you then,

Kev and Tiff

First Outing

As Kevin continues  his physical therapy he is learning more and more things that are enabling him to be more independent.  Yesterday he mastered transferring in and out of a car.  Although this was a strange experience at first  he was very eager to do this because it allows him to go places.  And the first place he wanted to go to was church.  He was able to go to church this morning and was greatly encouraged by the message and all the people he was able to see and talk to.  He hopes to go again next week if everything goes as planned.  

This week he hopes to order his own wheelchair!  Up until now he has been using one loaned to him from the hospital.  Although it may seem like a small decision there is a lot to consider when looking at a chair so please pray that he will find one that fits him perfectly and will work for him.  He will also be doing a “field trip” of sorts this week to Claim Jumper this will help him put into practice different things he has been learning in rehabilitation and what it looks like to do more on his own.  Also he will be starting driver’s education on how to drive with hand controls this week at some point.  Please pray that he will catch on quickly and won’t get frustrated as he will be relearning a completely different way to drive.  

Kevin and Tiffany again are thankful for everyone’s love and support.  A special thank you to those that came out and worked on the condo on Saturday.  And they always enjoy people visiting and have been encouraged by all those that take the time to come by.

Pictures of Kevin

Kevin and Tiffany wanted to thank everyone who has come down to visit them over the last month. 

Here are a few pictures of Kevin with friends and family and doing physical therapy.

Cousin’s Visit

Community Group Visit

Family

More Friends and Family

Physical Therapy

OUTSIDE!!!

God’s Faithfulness

It has been amazing to look back on the past month and see God’s faithfulness.  Remembering the initial phone call, rushing to USC, arriving at the ER not knowing Kev’s status, first seeing him before surgery – covered in blood and in shock -  shaking uncontrollably, then waiting and praying throughout the 12 hour surgery, it’s incredible to see the countless ways the Lord has sovereignely orchestrated so many things.

While there are still so many unknowns in our lives now, it’s just a huge blessing to know that I can walk through them with Kev.  It is such a miracle that he is even alive, has full brain function, is able to speak and has use of his upper body.  We are of course praying for full healing and restoration of his lower body, but have been astounded by what God has already done.   We truly can’t thank everyone enough for the numerous ways you have sacrificially given of your time and resources to bless and support us.  Words don’t even come close to expressing how thankful and overwhelmed we are by everyone’s kindness, generosity, and willingness to help in any possible way.   

Even though we clearly have a long road ahead, we have definitely begun to learn that God’s grace is enough and His strength is perfected in our weakness.   Thank you again for your continued prayers – it is truly amazing knowing that every day there are countless people lifting Kev up in prayer.  We serve a powerful God and it will be interesting to see what He has in store for us.    

- Tiff