Help Wanted

HELP WANTED

This is a want ad, of sorts. We’ve got such a great little staff taking care of Brooke now that he’s at home that the word is getting out, and we’re beginning to get requests from other folks who want to know how we’ve done it. For example, there’s a young man named Chris Leeuw who’ll be coming from out of state to do rehab at Neuroworx here, where Brooke is now also beginning outpatient physical therapy. Chris is 28, a reporter for a television station in Ft. Wayne, Indiana and more recently a consultant for ChaCa Search, Inc., a new business venture where 20-30 thousand human guides throughout the country answer any question through a text message.

Chris was injured in a freak swimming accident in southern Indiana on a kayak excursion last August 8, 2010 and suffered a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down. He has been in acute rehab for about 2 months and then in sub-acute rehab for 4 months and has gained remarkable movement and strength in all limbs. However, he has a long way to go for ultimate function and self-dependence. He is coming with his mother, Monice on February 16, and will be looking for someone to help them for several hours in the mornings, 7-10 am, and again in the evenings., 7-10 pm. He is able now to feed himself and walk with a walker, usually needs just one cathing at the end of the day to completely void the bladder, and also needs help with suppository and bowel program and with showering. I f anyone has experience with ranging muscles in arms and legs, that would be valuable, but not necessary.

Chris and Monice will be staying in an apartment owned by Neurowork in Rose Park, just off the freeway so it’s easy to get to rehab. You can contact them at mleeuw@aol.com, copy to me at battin@utah.edu if you will; more details of his life and journey can be found at the website:

click "visit", password is "chrisleeuw"

Not long after, there’ll be someone coming in to Neuroworx all the way from South Africa; he’ll also need help. Brooke and I will try to be something of a clearing-house for folks who are available and have some experience with spinal cord injury; we’ll pass on any information you send us to Dale Hull MD at Neuroworx. And Katie Beard, would you let us know how to reach you; PeekYou’s Pople Search says it has 349 people named Katie Beard, and though Brooke and I both remember you very well indeed, we don’t know which one of the 349 you’d be.

You can probably guess from this account of our own staff that things are going generally very well, but have been very very busy. More news soon.