Great Progress!

Sam has passed a new milestone. If you take time to check out this video you will see him actually walking in a pool of water. He has 5 pound ankle weights on each leg to keep his legs from floating up. He is picking them up using his abs, hip flexers, and some thigh,moving them forward against the water, and dropping his foot back down. He can tell when it hits the pool bottom. He has also been able to do some flexing of his thigh and can feel some sensations in his right calf. He is quite proud of this accomplishment and continues to work very hard at therapy. After a few months of little to no changes, he has had some significant changes over the last month.

There is still a long way to go and much work ahead, but at least we are seeing some progress. Sam continues to have a positive attitude.

We also have some video of some horseback therapy he has been doing on Mondays. This has a positive effect on his trunk control.

Sam has also passed his last drivers test and will get his license on May 31. We put hand controls in my Honda Pilot and he LOVES driving it. He is able to hop in the front seat, break down his chair and put it in the passenger seat or even behind him if needed. We continue to be impressed with all he is able to do. Now we are working to find him some more work for the summer.

Thank you for your continued prayers for Sam. Now check out the videos below.

Click here to see the videos.

Videos of Sam walking and crawling

Merry Christmas! I guess it is time for an update! Sam has been working hard at his rehab over the summer, fall, and winter. He continues to be in excellent shape. The videos below show some of the progress Sam has made over the summer. The video of him crawling was taken at the end of a long climb up the handicap ramp from the gym floor. The one walking shows him with his special knee joints unlocked. That allows him to have a more "normal" gait to his walk. We were very proud of Sam when he decided to use his braces and "walk" for his 8th grade graduation this spring.

Sam started High School at Grand Rapids Christian and that seems to be going well. In some recent testing, he has had some very cool progress. He now has deep pressure sensation down to his hip flexors. He can't feel a pinprick on his skin, but if you put pressure on his hips, he can feel that deeper inside. His ability to tell what position his leg is in or which way his foot is pointing(after someone moves it) has also improved dramatically. He also continues to improve in his trunk and ab control.

Sam just got measured today for something called Wearable Therapy. He will get some underarmour type shirt and shorts that have special electronic stimulation connections inside. This will allow him to stimulate his muscles, build them up, and greatly increase his circulation while at home. Better muscle mass and circulation are important ingredients in both future health and in making the most of future improvements as some of his nerves continue to slowly connect.

We continue to value your prayers for him. He is amazing and continues to positively impact those around him. He also helps us keep our own trials in perspective.

We've put up some videos of Sam practicing both walking and crawling. His progress is looking awesome. And yes, he is almost 6 feet tall now!

Click here to see the videos.

Spring update

Sorry it has been so long... but life has been very busy. Sam is currently at Champion Sports in Rockford doing his rehab. We are very thankful that Rehab Institute of Michigan opened an office here in West Michigan. Sam is still there doing rehab Monday, Wed and Fri afternoons. He is using his new braces to "walk" around the track a few times a week. These braces allow the therapist to unlock one knee at a time allowing Sam to walk with a more normal flow.

We reviewed an MRI done at the 6 month point and it showed some "filling in" of the spinal cord. Sam has some sensations coming and going and seems able to do some occasional pushing with his legs. Again, things are very slow in the spinal world and Sam is on par with others who had this procedure. Most of his newer abilities have been noticed in his therapy sessions in the swimming pool (which relieves much of his body weight). Most of the changes in other patients begin occurring after 1 year. Of course we want to see everything faster... but we need to have patience.

As soon as they get posted, you will see a 3 pictures of Sam. One is him standing in his new leg braces, another is him riding his hand controlled Honda Pilot in Kentucky during spring break (it is his favorite thing to do), and the last one is him with his sled hockey team's trophy 2nd place win at Nationals in Philadelphia PA last weekend. The team played well and Sam even had a goal! Mary Free Bed has been outstanding in providing support for these teams.

Thank you for your continued prayers and words of encouragement. Sam is becoming a fine young man. He graduates from 8th grade and will soon be moving on to High School this fall. I am sure this will test him as he meets many new people that will not have known him before his accident.

Here are some recent pictures:

Sam goes West...

We had 3 good things occur in December. Sam was evaluated by Dr. Lima from Portugal during his visit to RIM at Wayne State University in Detroit (where Sam had Therapy). They were very impressed with his crawling ability and especially his new ability to crawl backwards. They did test his thighs and calves and although he could feel the prick in both calves (which may be new) there were no new muscles firing down in his legs. Dr. Lima said he would be very suprised if he had changes down there already and would not anticipate muscles firing down there for quite some time yet. Sam continues to improve use of his lower abs as there appears to be more new muscle activity there.

After that session we took off to Brekenridge Colorado for the Hartford Disabled Ski Classic where members of disabled USA ski team were present doing time trials for the upcoming olympics as well as teaching / inspiring other people with disabilities to ski. Sam had 2 instructors assigned to him each day to teach him how to downhill ski independently. He progressed far enough to go unassisted all they way down the mountain on a blue run. There were 700 disabled people attending including 300+ from the wounded warriors (www.woundedwarriors.org) which were military men and women who were disabled in Iraq and Afghanistan. That was a great experience for him. See the pictures!





The 3rd cool thing was that Sam started rehab in RIM's new center in Rockford. Wow, what are we going to do with the extra 15 hours a week? We won't be getting up at 5:30 anymore that's for sure. That has been going well and Sam seems to be adjusting to the new setting and people. He misses the staff in Detroit.

That's the latest. We are blessed to continue seeing slow improvement. Thanks again for thinking of Sam by viewing his site.

He keeps on Truckin'

We have had a good couple of weeks concerning Sam. He is crawling better and faster every time. He can to over 1/16th of a mile without a rest stop and then get into a adult "walker" and using leg braces go around the track another time placing one foot in front ot the other. He is doing amazing!

Some other good news is that RIM (Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan) has signed a lease with Champion Sports in Rockford. They have moved the equipment in and we will be able to start his Rehab there in December. That is great news for the people from the west side of Michigan who currently travel to Detroit a few times a week. That alone will save us 15 hours of driving a week!

Next week Dr. Lima from Portugal will be at RIM and will meet with Sam and some of his other patients. We will get to hear about some of his other patients from aound the world and be able to ask some other patients how they are improving.

Sam's attitude remains strong and he is working very hard. He continues to amaze many with his progress and determination. We continue to treasure your prayers and notes of encouragement.

Pictures from October

Here's latest batch of pictures from Sam's physical therapy. Lookin' great!


(Above) Sam crawling on the track.


(Above) Sam on a treadmill. They move his legs to help his brain and muscles relearn the walking motions.


(Above) This is a special machine that periodically varies the timing of each leg in relationship to the other as well as his hands causing the brain to send out signals to try to get things back into sync.

Sam is crawling!

Hello again. I know many of you have been anxious to find out how the rehab is going and if Sam is seeing any progress. It has been about 2 ½ months since Sam had surgery in Portugal and 7 weeks since rehab in Detroit started. We were anticipating on seeing some of the first changes occurring sometime after Thanksgiving towards Christmas. It appears to us that some changes are just beginning to happen. NOTE: THIS is only our observation and discussion with his therapists… We have not yet completed any official tests with the Doctor yet.

Sam is defiantly gaining strength in his abs. His ab muscles are getting stronger and he is able to now use his lower abs to help bring his leg towards his chest. One way he is working his abs out is on a “total gym” like the kind sold on the info-commercials. He has greatly improved his trunk control. The second new development is that his “glutes” or butt muscles have started to make some connection with his brain. Earlier testing showed that he had absolutely nothing there. So what does that mean? Well, 2 ½ weeks ago they placed Sam on his hands and knees. He balanced for a little bit then would flop over.
Early on in Detroit, they tried to get him to make some kind of crawling motion forward but nothing happened. The next week they noticed some fast improvements in his abs, and put him on his hands and knees again. This time he not only balanced much much better, he was able to pull (with much effort) each leg forward. He did it a few times then collapsed. 3 days later, he was crawling forward the length of a mat (about 15 feet) unassisted and was able to “kick” his leg back (with weight taken off of his foot) and crawl backwards. Another 5 days later he was crawling unassisted back and forth from one end of the mat to the other 9 times in a row. We are very impressed and excited. Now, as to what extent is due to his intensive rehab and what is due to surgery we have not done official testing to be clear. It appears to us that it is a mixture of each. Either way, it is great to see some new functionality in Sam. We tried the hands and knees / crawling position thing last year, before surgery, and again after surgery all with the same results until a couple of weeks ago.

Sam’s schedule is still tough. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday he is up at 5:30am, out the door at 6am, beginning rehab at 9am, completing rehab at Noon, and then home at 3pm. He is a trooper at rehab. Kris, Randy, and his Grandparents have joyfully taken him each day. He can walk around the entire track with his leg braces and walker using his abs (and possibly hip flexors) one leg at a time. He has outgrown his leg braces and we are currently battling with Priority Health to get some new adjustable ones.

The drive to Detroit is much more fun when you anticipate new developments each time he goes.

I am not a Doctor, and I don’t even play one on TV, but I do see some really cool improvements in Sam over the last couple of weeks. He is working very hard and has maintained his positive attitude. He also gets to see some who have had the same surgery before him doing things that he hopes to be doing in the future.

We will try to get some rehab pictures out on the web soon.

The Hunt.

Sam spent the labor day weekend as a guest of Legends Ranch www.legendsranch.com for their 2005 Special Youth Challenge Hunt. Sam was sponsored by the wheelin' sportsman organization www.wheelinsportsmen.org. He spent 4 days with 8 other kids from around the country learning how to better hunt, fish, and spend time in the outdoors while in a wheelchair. This was an awesome experience for Sam (and Dad). After doing some target shooting, Sam went out on his first hunt and dropped a 7 point Buck at about 80 yards. The weekend culminated with an outstanding church service Sunday where many challenged folks shared their testimony as well as how great life can be when you find purpose even in your challenge. The generosity of the volunteers, corporate sponsors, and staff was outstanding. They have a huge heart for kids. If an article gets printed, I will post a link.

Rehab is going well. No changes yet (and none are expected yet)... but everyone is asking. I keep having to remind people that this is not a cure, but it should be small steps in the right direction. Sam continues to have an outstanding attitude even with school starting!


(Above) Sam with his 7 point buck(!), his guide Darrin (left) and sponsor
Mark Velthouse (right), from the wheelin' sportsman.


(Above) Catching some fish.


(Above) Legands Ranch, as seen from the lake.

Ready to Rehab! And some clarifications

First the article in the Forest Hills Advance:
It’s kind of weird to read an article on your own family, but we’re so proud of Sam and thought the article was great. Overall, there was a lot of good information concerning Sam and the procedure he is undergoing but there were a few things we thought we’d better clarify:
- People are moving their legs and taking steps as stated, but to date no one is walking unassisted. Though Dr. Lima told us that some who had the surgery 2 – 3 yrs ago are very close.
- I would not say definitively that Sam is the “most promising candidate for the surgery to date”. From an age perspective combined with access to the excellent rehab program at RIM in Detroit that may be true. But there are others (especially those who don’t have use of their arms) who have much more to gain by realizing the potential benefits of this surgery.
- At one point the article said that we were hoping that Sam would be walking by Christmas. While we’d all jump up and down if that were true, we are actually hoping for Sam to begin noticing changes in feeling or possible movements by Christmas. The stem cells that were taken from his nose and placed in his spine take 3 - 6 months to make enough repairs for Sam to begin noticing something. From then on, each month should be slow improvement.
Will Sam walk again? Only God knows. This is so new yet. We are more optimistic than before based on hearing some good news from earlier patients, but we also know that 2 – 3 years is more realistic… and even then there is absolutely no guarantee that he will walk. We pray that he will, but will be thankful for any improvements short of that.

Now REHAB.
Sam and Kris go to RIM (Rehab Institute of Michigan) in Detroit on Thursday for an evaluation with Dr. Hinderer. They will stay the night and start rehab Friday morning at 9am. Then it will me Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to Detroit and back for the 3 hour sessions.

We bring updates as they occur.

Home Sweet Home

We finally made it home with the help of some awesome staff of Northwest Airlines from Amsterdam to Detroit (flight 39). They worked hard to make it a special flight for Sam. We can't say enough about the great crew. Thanks!

With all that behind us, if feels like this stage was a great success... but only 1 step on this road to improvement. Now the rehab starts. We are pleased with how Sam is recovering. On Friday I get to pull the rest of the staples out of Sam's back. Sounds fun to me, but Kris wants nothing to do with that. I keep telling Sam I am sharpening up the pliers and hammer. He just laughs.

Sam can't smell much or really taste much yet. That will take awhile to return. Maybe if I had that problem, I could loose weight easier!

Thanks again for keeping up with our adventures. The emails and comments help keep us motivated.

Thanks,
Randy, Kris, Luke, and Samuel.

Portugal Picture Portfolio!

Six new pictures from Portugal. Looking great!


(Above) Our first out of the hospital meal celebrating successful surgeries.


(Above) The family out sightseeing.


(Above) Sam gets a daypass for a Big mac (or Pitamac, as they call it)


(Above) Escaping the heat at the ocean.


(Above) Visiting Lisbon's Oceanarium.


(Above) Saying goodbye to the Hospital.

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.

out of the hospital

It is Saturday morning and Luke will be flying out sometime after 2am to get home for football camp. Sam was taken off his last IV Late Thursday evening (2 days early). He was very very pleased about that! Sam has been released to stay at the hotel until Monday when he needs to meet with the team again and receive a final discharge. Everything looks very good. It is still over 100 degrees during the day and the nights are very hot also. Sam really appreciates being able to sleep at the hotel which does have air-conditioning.

Unless I can move some flights up, we will be doing some sightseeing Tues, Wed, & Thursday. We are all getting anxious to get back home. We noticed a couple weird things here.

We will do a last update after we meet with the team on Monday.

Thanks again for your prayers. Knowing that many of you were praying for us made the speed bumps we hit along the way easier to navigate.

Randy, Kris, Luke and Sam.

Thursday Morning

It is Thursday am and Sam just finished is 2nd real good night of sleep. What a gift that is. The nights before that ranged from horrible to lousy. We learned that giving Sam a sleeping pill jazzes him up and keeps him going until 4am. The next night without a pill he slept over 12 hours (I still don’t think that beats Luke’s sleeping record).

Sam has improved greatly over the last 2 days. He has regained a lot of his strength and is able to get around pretty good now. Yesterday I was able to pick him up and lift him without too much pain (pain for Sam that is). That is quite important since things are not very accessible around here. If you were from Lisbon and were in a wheelchair, I believe you would have to move (or hang out by one of the new malls). I don’t believe that it is intentional at all, rather almost everything is old and constructed before wheels were invented (ok that may be a slight exaggeration). There is a lot of cool history here. This country is proud of its heritage of great explorers. They have at least one huge monument dedicated to the explorers and the whole patio that it sits on is a large map of the world complete with dates they their “discovers” landed at different islands and continents.

They have an “oceanarium” here that Sam wants to go to and see the sharks and such. It is located in the EXPO 98 area where the world’s fair was held in 1998. 2 days ago we took Sam to the mall there for his first outing. He wanted KFC to eat. Since Sam can now be lifted, we can take the train over to the ocean (between his anti-biotic IV’s) and do some sightseeing. To access the public trains, we need to climb those stairs that you saw on the pictures last week and go back down them to get to the train station. I am not sure what it is like at the destination, but Luke needs to get his weightlifting in anyway before football camp next week. The ocean sounds really good since it has been and will be 100+ degrees until Monday or Tuesday. No air-conditioning in the hospital rooms... that makes it tough sleeping.

As always, we want to thank you for your prayers and support. It means a lot to us knowing that there are so many people praying an ocean away for Sam. Sam should begin feeling changes in about 3-4 months. Sam was officially number 64 (they only do 4 of these procedures a month) and also officially the youngest person to have had this surgery. Sam’s friend Eric is recovering nicely also. His injury was in his neck. Anyone who has had neck pain knows that it is tough to avoid. He is finally sleeping better also and will be joining us on our ocean trek today. I keep getting emails asking for more pictures so more will be coming shortly.

Thanks again!
Randy, Kris, Luke and Sam.