Just Released

Greetings from Lisbon Portugal. It is Monday morning and we are back at the hospital after a great weekend away. Sam got released for the weekend so we could sleep in the cooler hotel. The hot weather broke today and it should only be in the upper 80’s. With the fairly low humidity, that is not too shabby.

We just finished meeting with Dr. Lima. We removed ½ of Sam’s staples and then spent about ½ hour talking about potentials, the clear benefits and results of using your own stem cells (vs. embryonic), what he has already seen in other patients (feelings, movement, taking steps, almost walking, bladder control, and many other things never seen before in people with Spinal Cord Injuries). We talked about other procedures around the world. We are encouraged. And yet, for my own sanity, need to remain reserved in my expectations so that we can be pleasantly surprised if and when things do start changing. He said Sam’s youth will continue to be a big help towards recovery. His Olfactory mucosa contains millions of stem cells and because of his age, he has many more of them to do the work vs an adult. He said my Olfactory mucosa would not do the trick anymore. He again stressed the need for continued rehabilitation as stimulating the stem cells and growing nerves is very important as well as the re-training of the brain.

Sorry about the bad info about the Discovery Channel airing of this procedure. Apparently Discover Channel rescheduled it for this Wednesday at 8:30pm. It is hard for me to verify from Portugal, but check your local listings.

Luke made it home ok Sunday. It was his first international trek alone. We accidentally left Sam’s wheelchair tool kit in Luke’s backpack… not a good move. US customs in Detroit was not impressed with a muscular young teen arriving from a foreign country carrying tools that could be used as weapons into an airplane. They pulled him aside and “drilled” him for quite some time. He said that were NOT very nice. After convincing them that the tools were for his brother’s wheelchair who happens to be in another country, they placed the tools in a little box and checked it with the rest of his luggage. He then had to go back through the security line. The second time through, he set off the metal detector (it did not go off the first time through) and a different group of security pulled him aside and drilled him again, made him remove shoes, some clothing, etc… and finally let him through. I told Luke that it should make him feel good that they are doing their jobs well. It was very different than going into Portugal where they just looked at your passport picture and let you walk in with your luggage.

Anyway Sam is recovering very well. We went to the Lisbon Oceanarium over the weekend. It is the largest of its kind in Europe. Sam loved it (partly because he loves critters and also because it was a break from the heat). The hotel was cool, but with only 3 english speaking channels and 2 of the them being news (Europe’s Sky News and BBC World), Sam got tired of the TV. The only other English channel was MTV. Yes, I am really proud that MTV was chosen to represent the United States people and culture to people of Lisbon. It sure makes us all looks ridiculous. It is a good thing they are a very friendly and accepting culture. The genuinely seem to like us folks from the States.

This will be the last update we will make until we are home. It will be very tough to get a decent internet connection so we will just spend the last few days stress free trying to allow Sam some fun now that he can get around again.

Again, this would not be possible without the prayers and generosity of family and friends. We trust you will be able to share in the joy of Sam’s first steps someday in the next couple of years. We have seen what is possible, and with God’s blessing it is our prayer that Sam will do all that and more.

With love and appreciation,
Randy, Kris, Luke, and Samuel.