Still Going Great!

Josh has been going pretty faithfully to therapy this summer. He is making great progress. He has been continuing to work hard on his walking with the leg braces and walker. He starts out walking with the legs straight, then one knee in unlocked so that it will bend at the appropriate times. It will support Josh by staying straight when his weight is over it properly. That has been the toughest part for Josh. He has to get the "feel" of the proper weight shift on the leg that is "unlocked" so that it will support him. Just in the last week or so they have unlocked both legs at the same time for a short period. By the time he finishes up with that his arms and hands (gripping the handles of walker) are so tired from supporting his whole body. On Monday he did a super job crawling. He went a long distance in a short amount of time.

The Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan (RIM) opened this branch at Champion Sports in Rockford last December. Josh started there in February. Josh was one of their first clients. They started out with just a few therapists and equipment, and have now grown tremendously in both areas. Josh is using new pieces of equipment all the time. And the people are coming from all over the country. Some have come from Florida and several from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The word is getting out! This is THE PLACE to come for the "cutting-edge" therapy for those with spinal cord injuries. Even people of notoriety (from this area) have come for therapy.

Several have traveled outside the US for stem cell surgery and many of the patients have been in the newspaper or on TV because of the great public interest in their progress. Some made the news because they were able to "walk" across the platform to get their school diplomas. Josh will be in the Grand Rapids Magazine (local magazine) soon. A reporter for the magazine came to one of Josh's basketball practices and wanted to do an article about disabled sports players. They may have interviewed others on the team, but they talked quite a bit with Josh and I and even came to Josh's therapy to take pictures. We'll let you know when it comes out.

School starts soon. Please pray that Josh will buckle down and GET IT DONE! He is not into academics and he has a few extra credits to make up in order to graduate next Spring.