Stem Cells

Tomorrow is the big day we leave for Stem Cell therapy!! Luke gets his injection of umbilical cord stem cells via IV on Thursday! Please pray for safe travels, and GREAT, AMAZING results from these cells. Thanks for your prayers...they are greatly appreciated! Will update after his injection on Thursday.

Happy Fall!

Happy first day of Fall...although here in AZ it sure doesn't feel like fall yet! Luke continues to do good in his therapies. Yesterday one of his therapists at the Neuro Institute made the bold prediction that Luke would be walking with a walker by Christmas. Now, I have had myself disappointed way too many times by predictions, but this kid has been working Hard....so you never know.

This post is mainly to ask for prayers next Thursday, October 1st. We are taking Luke for his third round of stem cells. Pray for great results from this treatment! Thanks for sticking with us on this journey and for spreading the word for lots of prayers on the 1st!

I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray.

Psalm 17:6 NLT

East Valley Sol!

Last year at this time, East Valley Sol, had a fundraiser for Luke to raise money for Stem Cell Therapy. We are SO thankful for them!!! This year is Fiesta Del Sol IV! It is a SUPER FUN night put on by a GREAT group of people! I promise you will not be disappointed! It really is a blast. Here is the info and if you can not attend but would like to donate something for a giveaway you can contact Shawna at shawna@shawnareeves.com. You can also go to the web site at:

www.eastvalleysol.org

Gone Hunting!

Well...we are slowly but surely recovering from the nasty bug that seems to be going around. This weekend we made a trip up North for Luke's favorite activity...hunting! Mike and I both drew an Archery elk tag this year. Well I got lucky and had a great guide too I guess you could say and we found Mr. Elk on the second morning. I just happened to be in the right place and right time (and my prayers were certainly answered for a quick hunt,) and well as for Mr. Elk....I say it's the circle of life. Anyhow, two months before Luke was hurt he went on his first real hunt with Mike for javelina. He LOVED it and talked about it so much. Everyone was amazed at how good he did walking the mountains and keeping up with the big boys then as a six year old. He is for sure Daddy's hunting buddy. So it was only fitting that we bring Luke and let him get Mr. Elk too...made his day and ours too!

Drawing back and aiming...

"Luke's Elk," with just a little help from mom (and dad's expertise guiding too)

Got a Bug!

Well nothing exciting to report because Luke has been sick. Apparently there are a lot of sickies out there now and lots of different things going around! He started getting sick at therapy on Wednesday, so he missed therapy the rest of the week. The good news is...next week is a new week and hopefully he will not have regressed any this week while being down. I am thankful this is the first sickness he has had in a long time, so hopefully it is the last one for a long time! Thanks for your continued prayers. Hopefully more exciting updates next week!

Another accomplishment!!

Luke continues to amaze me!!! Tonight he rode his bike to my sister's house and back!!! Go LUKE...You ROCK dude!!! She lives the next street over from us, so I would say it is maybe a quarter mile there and a quarter mile back, so probably a 1/2 mile total?? Might be a little less than that...anyhow he did it! Right now his cousin Tyler is sleeping over with him, and they are watching Coraline. Luke is watching it very intently, and showed me no when I asked if I could change the channel. He has certainly come a long way...praise God!!! I looked at older posts and it was only about 2 years ago that he started following commands again, and was just starting to eat baby food by mouth. Certainly puts things into perspective....they told us from the beginning this was a marathon and not a sprint. I can't wait to see where he will be in another two years, we can look back and say, "remember when you had just started riding your bike and were scooting across the family room!" We are grateful for every bit of recovery we get, and know the best is yet to come...our God is an awesome God!

I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. (Acts 27:25)

Great Reports!

I have been getting great reports from Luke's therapists this week on the progress he is making! They are thrilled with the progress he is making in many areas such as using his left hand, reacting faster when asked to do things, walking using the walker, going from standing to sitting. The therapists at the Neuro Institute have switched up his therapy this week due to his progress! My dad took him to therapy this week and called me once and even texted (something he NEVER does) to tell me how hard Luke was working and how impressed he was with him. He sets the bar high, so I knew he must have been doing great things! This morning when I took him, every therapist came up to me to tell me how great he is doing and how impressed they are by him. GO LUKE!!!! He is going to the Neuro Institute at least 2 days a week for three hours each time and also gets 2 hours of Physical Therapy and 2 hours of Occupation therapy at home each week...so he is certainly busy. Here are some pics of the Gladiator in action:

Luke thinks it is funny when his PT walks him down the hall to his room to grab as many hats as he can off his hat tree. This day he grabbed 3; I think the most is 5.

Walking down the stairs with his PT.

Luke scoots to the Entertainment Center and empties out his toy drawer many times a day now!