A couple great projects for anyone to contribute!

Hello once more!

I spoke with a good friend's mom who gave me a few great ideas. Her son, when he was 11, was hit by a car at 40mph while riding his bike, no helmet, hit headfirst on the windshield then several feet/yards AWAY on the pavement headfirst AGAIN. She was told her son will NOT survive... but after a long grueling year, tons of support and many prayers, he did and fully recovered his memory! He was in a coma like my brother was. While some of you might not understand, she shed some light on trying to understand my brother's condition a bit more.

She gave a great analogy – she said think of it this way – he is breathing on his own AND he has opened his eyes after ONE month – which are very good signs. Also his body is healing well. She said, it’s like a BIG DARK HOUSE, a light will come on in ONE room of the house, when it does, Drew will pick this up and put it into his brain (like a file box). Like breathing on his own – light one, opening his eyes – light two, moving his arms more – light 3?? And so forth! How long it will take him to fully recover… is different for everyone.

She said she was with her son EVERYDAY for three full months. Talking to him… (hearing) when he woke up – she start bringing in all his favorite things – video games, toys, etc… to stimulate his mind. Even if he couldn’t do ANYTHING, she or others would do it themselves and let him “watch.” I will share this information with mom – if you guys have ideas, give them to the coordinator of the project (to be named in the end of this posting). I hate being left in the dark, just like some of you! I am looking forward to my SHORT visit on Oct 1st to see him and will share more news with you then!

So the idea: for those who know Drew well, for those who are too far to visit in person, I have TWO ideas: ONE) Let’s create videos – use your camera – use the video on it – be creative! Talk about anything – start off saying “Hey Drew – this is (name) – how are you doing? I am really looking forward to you recovering so we can do this and that… like we talked about… “ Then talk what you have been doing in your life… then talk about memories you both have together in detail…. Take as long you want!

TWO) Make a slideshow of pictures of ANY pictures you have of activities you did with Drew: TI Camps, MDO Camps – use ALL pictures, before you start the slide show – Label the slide before the new set of pictures, i.e. “Christmas party 2002 at (name) house”… show pictures of everything during that party… then new slide “TI Camp 2003,” and so forth!

I know this might be a bit time consuming – but it will be worth it. It will STIMULATE Drew’s mind – I will gather up these DVDs when I am back in the states around Oct 1st for a short trip (24 hours!) and again around Oct 14th or so. I will put the DVDS in a DVD case and hand them to the nurse with Drew’s portable DVD player and ask that the DVDs be played when he is awake in order – to take turns with everyone’s DVDs! Heck, if any of you decide to visit – play them for him!

Craig Aslin, bless his heart, will coordinate this project for me. Please email him at craslin636@yahoo.com for mom’s address to send the DVDs to! Any questions, ask him!

Hugs,

Alex