Trip to the....

Today we went to the Pumpkin patch to get our pumpkins for carving later this week. Before Luke was hurt, he LOVED to carve pumpkins. He would spend hours cleaning the pumpkin out just perfect, then would carve away to his heart's content. So, a few days ago I asked him if he wanted to carve a pumpkin this year. He got a big grin on his face and gave me a big thumbs up sign. Today we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins. In the picture above you can see, the Luke moment of the day. I was helping Lynsey find a pumpkin when we looked over, and there was Luke reaching for a pumpkin!! I will get pictures later this week of the Gladiator's pumpkin carved. Thanks for checking in...believe!

Remember....to watch "The Doctors," tomorrow for info on umbilical cord stem cell therapy and banking cord blood if you are interested. If you are in AZ, it is on at 2pm on channel 3.

Play Ball!

A friend sent me an email about the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who are now playing the World Series, she said it reminded her of Luke. In 2007 they were the worst baseball team in the American league, written off as perennial losers, and thought to have zero chance of playing in the 2008 World Series. In 2007, Luke was written off by many doctors as having little chance of any meaningful recovery from his injury. Well if you have followed Tampa Bay in the last few weeks, you know they made it to the AL finals, set against the reining champs from 2007, the Boston Red Sox. In one of the most amazing come-backs in playoff history, Boston got hot and won game five 8-7. Worse yet, Boston won the next game and tied the series 3-3. In those extremely tense and frantic moments, the beliefs, confidence, focus, and poise of Tampa were tested to the limits. And that test continued throughout the final game before Tampa finally won. We have certainly had moments where our beliefs, focus, and confidence have been tested beyond any limits you could ever imagine. Tampa Bay, however, did not give up, they keep believing, fighting, and swinging--- even when their confidence has been shaken and all momentum has stalled. This is exactly what we have done, when those doctors told us Luke would never do anything, we would not believe it. We have and will keep believing, fighting, and pressing forward forever, because you can never give up! We will continue to step up to the plate, just as the Devil Rays did to get to where they are, and keep on swinging! On that note, Luke is scheduled to get his second stem cell treatment on November 4th. Please fire up all of your prayer warriors for Luke on that day, for a successful treatment, and amazing results. Now the Luke story of the day, Mike turned on the World Series game tonight, when the National anthem came on, we looked down at Luke and he had his hand on his heart...how precious is that, I am pretty sure we haven't seen nothing yet from this Gladiator...a grand slam is coming! Believe!

Cord Blood

First let me say, I am not a political person or one to try and argue a point. However, I do want to spread the word about this program to anyone that may be expecting, my sister passed it along to me. It is a show coming up next week on saving a baby's cord blood. Many doctors will tell you not to do it because the odds are so small you will ever need it, however, TRUST ME, when you are in the position where you could possibly use it you would give ANYTHING to have it. We have already signed up to bank our new arrival's cord blood, and when I spoke with the rep at CBR he told me in 2000 when Luke was born, there were only 8 known conditions for which the cord blood could be used, however today there are over 80!!! So in eight years time, a ten fold increase in the possibilities of healing....imagine the possibilities the future holds. So, please spread the word to anyone you know who may be expecting or anticipates having kids someday. I promise, if they are ever in our shoes, they will be forever thankful!

This coming Monday, October 27th, The Doctors, the new medical talk show created by the producers of Dr. Phil, will feature two CBR families-the Hextells and the Barbers- whose lives have been significantly changed by the decision to bank their baby's cord blood stem cells.
During the interview, the parents of Dallas Hextell and Hannah Barber , who were both diagnosed with a form of brain injury share their perspectives on the importance of cord blood banking education. The show's celebrity host, Dr. Travis Stork, as well as resident Ob/Gyn expert Dr. Lisa Masterson, lead the discussion about how a child's own cord blood stem cells are being used in regenerative therapies designed to help heal injuries to the brain. As you know from many of our CBR Moms conference calls, there are many new developments for the use of cord blood stem cells in regenerative medicine. This show will be a great educational tool not only for you, but for all of those who are looking to learn more about cord blood banking!

Luke continues to do good....thanks so much for continuing to pray for his continued healing and recovery. Believe!!

Thank you!

First and foremost a HUGE, HUGE thanks once again to East Valley Sol (www.evsol.org) and to everyone that came out to the fundraiser last month. We received word yesterday that $12,000 was raised for Luke (and the same for Santana.) Is that awesome or what???? Thank you! Thank you! So, with that along with the money raised from the D-Backs game and other donations we have the $14,000 needed to do another Stem cell treatment. We have set a date to go back on Nov. 4th! Thank you to everyone that has helped us so much!! Please know you have played such an important part in the healing of our gladiator; I pray you will be blessed many times over for your generosity.

Luke has had a busy week. Mike took the kids with his family up to Greer this weekend while I had a scrapbooking event. They had a great time even though the weather didn't cooperate as much as they had hoped. Monday we took a walk down to the neighborhood park. Luke loved being there and going on the swings and slide. Then last night we got out the T-ball set....I tell you, the kid amazes me so much! In his first 5 swings he hit the ball off the tee with his first swing every single time. I think he played for over a half an hour just hitting the ball. Then it was time to get out the Barbie jeep...the first time around he started out good, then wasn't so sure. However, after we ate dinner, his cousins came over to get it in it with him and he loved it!!! Him and Tyler just took off down the road, Luke of course kept wanting to steer it off road to do some four-wheeling. The funny thing is, when Mike first put Luke in, he reached right down to where the gear shift is. The kid remembers everything!!! Don't worry we are not going to make him ride in a pink Barbie jeep...Mike is going to give it a custom paint job:) We just figured why spend $400 when we have one already. This week we have also started the new NACD program. I am really liking the program they gave us this time, it has a lot of school-like activities for Luke which I think is good. Yesterday was our first day back to work with it, please pray that Luke will get better every day with it because it sure beats driving to therapy. Thanks again so much for everything!! Believe!

Pictures

Luke playing T-Ball. We were amazed at good his seeing was, especially his depth perception at hitting the ball off the tee. One thing is for sure, he still has game...now if we could just get him running the bases....all in His time, I know! Believe! Super Luke! We really did try hard to get a smile...they were hard to get! In fact, he was a little annoyed, we even got a few of his pinching Lynsey and one of him pointing at me.
Lynsey and Luke in their Halloween costumes!
Lynsey loved this pose.
With their cousins.

Something New!

It seems like it has been awhile since I have had something new to report on our gladiator...but guess what...today I do! It actually happened for the first time on Tuesday, but I wanted to make sure he kept doing it and he has. We took lunch to Mike at the shop after oxygen on Tuesday, so we were eating lunch when Luke pointed to Mike's drink. Now keep in mind this is a large size drink with a normal size straw. Up until now, Luke had drank from a straw that was about 4" long and in a cup that was made to hold about 3 ozs of liquid. So Mike gives Luke the drink and guess what....he drank from the straw. There are many amazing parts to this because first of all he got the pop to come up, then he swallowed the liquid...which is huge!! Here is the most amazing thing to me though, Luke has not been practicing this, he has not been working on it in therapy, something in his brain just clicked and now he can drink from a normal size straw and swallow thin liquids...something he has not done in a really long time! Praise God for this latest step forward and pray it is the start of many new things to come. So, the next time you drink from a straw think of Luke and his new thing, but then also stop and pay attention to everything your brain tells your body to do to drink from that straw and how many muscles are used...I think you will be amazed. Believe!