Ross Goes Home TODAY!

After four weeks at St. Jude’s Hospital for rehab, Ross goes home today. It’s been almost six weeks since his injury, but it feels like much, much longer for all of us. I visited Ross last night for the last time in a hospital, and at 10 am today, we will have ne last family meeting with his doctors, then take him home. Ross continues to gain some muscle function in his lower extremeties. Though he can’t feel it himself, the trainers at the gym have him doing various exercises, and they report that they can feel his muscles firing in his legs and butt cheeks.

As I wrote before, due to some red tape and insurance hassles, there is a chance that Ross may not be able to get into an outpatient therapy program for up to four weeks. Earlier this week, through my friend Mike Young, I met a very inspirational family - the Goodwins, from Rancho Cucamonga - whose son Brian was paralyzed in an accident at the beach. They told me about a program called Project Walk, where they specialize in therapy not intended solely to help you get on with your life with a spinal cord injury, but therapy that helps you regain control of your body and ultimately, to walk again. Tomorrow, I am planning on taking a trip to Project Walk, and am going to try to enroll Ross in the program, at least two days per week. Project Walk, you see, is located in Carlsbad, only a few minutes from the new TransWorld Motocross offices. At the VERY least, I’d like to get Rossi in to work with their therapists for the first month he is home, and unable to get into Hoag for his outpatient sessions. Project Walk, of course, is not covered by insurance, and it is very expensive. Fortunately, we’ve actually rasied about half of what we need for a month’s session at Project Walk. The support bracelets have been popular (see older blog below for more information about them.) and many friends have made contributions. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to each and every one of you. I haven’t even been to the office in a few days, so I don’t know what bracelet orders have come via the U.S. Postal Service - the Paypal.com orders alone have been amazing. (Shameless plug: to order a Ross support bracelet, send a donation via Paypal to swap@sbcglobal.net and be sure to include your address!)

I know I’m rambling… sorry. Anyway, I made another short video with Rossi last night!