Welcome
I Know I Can’t Believe It…
By Vinny Distefano
If someone had told me that I would be beginning the third year of this newsletter, and still having to catch up on newsletters from 2002, I would have said no way. I have seen a great deal of the East coast this business season. I’ve been able to travel and meet a number of doctors…from neuro-surgeons to physiologists. I’ve heard the words, “donor cycles” instead of motorcycles from some of them. But I’ve also been able to learn from them about the injury that Angie sustained. There have been cases where people have recovered, unexpectedly. At least unexpectedly on the doctors. While I understand where they’re coming from, it seems they don’t understand where we’ve been and where we’re going.
In case you’ve not seen the news lately, actor Christopher Reeve, who was paralyzed seven years ago, with no chance of a recovery, his doctors words not his, is now able to move one of his fingers…on command! He admits that he has access to a number of therapies not available to us “normal” folks. Pathways in his brain have been able to awaken or reroute themselves through these physical therapies. He’s not sure which, but he does have people looking into it to find the answers. He is also leading the fight to have stem cell research advanced in the United States. We will be left far behind by the time the Bush administration comes around or is put out of office. The narrow-minded thinking of these politicians only changes if they, themselves, have something to gain. How fast do you think a program would get started if, God forbid, a high ranking politician’s daughter or son or was hurt in an accident and left with only their eyes to move and communicate? I can bet you wouldn’t have to wait long. And our friend Heidi Von Beltz, has been working hard to walk again after her accident in 1980. These people are only the beginning of a long road and struggle against the established medical and political communities. I don’t know what it’s going to take to wake up these folks to see there is much more at stake here than their careers and reputations. Think of finding cures for paralysis or brains that could be retrained. Think of the money spent helping these people. Now think of the money being spent, today, to maintain these people in nursing homes or having to have full time care at their homes.
According to the CDC, …”an estimated 5.3 million Americans, a little more than 2 percent of the U.S. population, currently live with disabilities from traumatic brain injuries.” It goes on to say, “The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, a division of the CDC and the Brain Injury Association, plans to use the data to assess the availability of proper medical, social and support services across the country. And that was in a 1999 report! Where’s the support? I think I’ve been to the end of the Internet, and I haven’t found it. For full CDC Report click here
A New Day…A New Year
On the Angie front, Barbara and Ron and the family have been working very hard. Angie has had a physical test to make sure she can swallow, and passed. This means she can and is being feed orally, at home and in the nursing home. Right now it’s puddings and a drop or two of soda. But remember, this was not possible, or at least that’s what we were told. Angie is an amazing person. Words like “can’t” just seem to piss her off. She believed that nothing was impossible. I knew I could push her buttons if I told her she just couldn’t do something. That thought is still in her mind and working its magic. She’s probably getting herself geared up for a big “I told you so!” We’ve also topped the 2000 hits on Angie’s web site. All of it by word of mouth or handing out cards. This year we’ll be moving faster to get the word out about the Foundation. It has been a much more formidable task than I had originally anticipated. But like Angie, I won’t give up. I have collected info on bio-feedback, alpha brain waves, their function, and how to train the brain and use them, We will see all of this helping Angie and others by the end of the year, I promise. And don't forget January 14...Angie will be 28 on that day. Visit her guestbook and send her a Happy Birthday.
Happy Birthday, Sweety!
As always, my prayer is that one day Angie will answer you and thank everyone herself.
Till next time, be safe…Hugs and Prayers
