Well,  We all made it through out first Christmas.  We weren’t able to get Matt and ourselves to church but our Christmas was certainly one that was full of blessings, faith and hope.  Honestly it was rough getting started in the morning but as morning progressed it became promising, with Matthew able to pick out the shirt he wanted to wear for the day.  That’s right, we are getting him alot more involved in deciding things like what shirt he wants to wear and whether he is finished with a task, or asking him how he feels and such.  We had him up standing for a family photo in the evening before we all sat down to watch a movie, he was up early and stayed up really late on Christmas day.  Today, Lisa and I drove Matt down for and eye evaluation with Dr. Love.  Sounds kind of weird but that’s her name.  I had told her that Spencer and I had made some observations in regards to Matt’s vision so she asked us to bring him in and we did with photos that documented what we had observed.  She did some tests, made some notes and compared them to her first evaluation and concluded that he had definitely had made some improvement and we are now able to narrow down the issues that Matt has and set up a prescription for glasses that were ordered today and should help alot.  They should have the glasses ready in about 2 weeks we were told so that is definetly something to look forward to and should help tons in Matt’s progress.  He should not be as strained as he has been to see and it will widen his visual perspective tremendously!  We were able to see that in the Doctors office.  When we left the office we could see Matt looking more to his right trying to see what he was seeing in the office so we had to explain to him that when he gets his glasses he’ll be able to see like that all the time.  I know he’ll be looking forward to that, it will be a whole new world!  Lisa and I would like to thank everyone for their support, prayers and thoughts.  This has been as you can imagine the worst year of our lives having a child hurt so traumatically like Matt was hurt.  It just tears your heart out as a parent or like I know many of you as friends and family, it’s hard to experience in your shoes.  We as a family could not have made it this far without all your support.  It really makes a difference.  When this first happened I know the assumption was that Matt must have been drinking and chose to get in the car with his co-worker Karl to come up to Ramona that evening.  Truth is we have gotten  the medical reports and that was not the case at all.  Matt was not intoxicated.  We can only guess that he was  stressed from the pressures and responsibilities of his new position at work and with the events in his personal life earlier that week, he was really heartbroken and just didn’t want to come home to what was once his hope of having a family and future of his own.  I had dinner with Matt the night before the accident because I was concerned for him having learned of what he was gong through.  He was very heartbroken and didn’t quite understand why he was feeling pressured by a select group of friends he should not have trusted, to end what Matt saw as a good thing.  I feel so bad for him, this has changed his life and the lives of so many that know Matthew, that love him for the wonderful young man he had become, I just don’t understand it.  I know there is a plan for him and all of us involved, don’t know why it had to be changed to what is now but none of this can be undone.  It’s just something we must hold our heads up, sort out as we move along day by day and keep working towards whatever it is that God has in his plan for Matthew.  Once again I thank all of you who have been there for Matthew, his family and close friends.  I will keep you all updated as things progress and may this New Year bring us all health, healing, peace and hope for all of you and your families. 

Amen

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Hey everyone,  The latest is Matt is up and standing in the standing frame daily, up to 45-50 minutes at a time.  The other news is Matt will be going to Sharpe Memorial Rehab Center here in San Diego 3 times a week beginning next week on the 15th.  He will be busy.  We will continue with Spencer, see if we can make that work 3 days also along with continuing the eye therapy once a week and the work we are continuing at home with that.

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Thanks for all the help.  We got a couple of leads on Standing Frames and located a real nice one off an ad on Craigs List.  I was exactly what we were looking for.  I picked it up last night out in Descanso east of Alpine.  I cleaned it up tonight and it’s like brand new!  Spencer is coming out this Friday night so we’ll get Matt in it and see how it works.  I’ve tried it already and I think it’s going to be a great help and a much safer way of getting Matt up for all of us.  I’ve been telling Matt about it and explaining what we’re going to do with it and he looks at me then over at the Frame then back at me like “We’re going to do what?”  It’s funny to see his reaction when you explain things to him like that, he does the same thing when he’s outside checking out the hoist we get him up in.  We explain to him what the hoist is and he knows what we do with it.  He looks at the hoist then back at you then back at the hoist like he’s really understanding how it works and understanding what it’s used for.

Thanks again for all your help, I’ll keep you all posted on how this all works out.

Mario

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Hello all, Matt has been continuing to get stronger and has gotten to the point where  it is taking 3 or 4 of us to get him up straight.  His legs are pushing and pulling unevenly as we get him up so we are literally wrestling him up, he’s so strong now he’s getting where he can hurt someone as he tries to overpower us.  This has been  building for some time now along with all the verbalization.  It puts allot of strain on Matthew too and he’s feeling allot of  pain which is not a good thing.  Spencer and I have seen this coming for a while and there is a piece of equipment that can make this whole part of the process easier on us and safer on Matt.  The other good thing is with the right piece of equipment we can get Matt up on his feet daily and that’s the goal.  Lisa could get him up without any help and the more he’s up, the more he can take over that function and move on to other things along with all the other benefits that go along with standing like moving towards getting him walking.  The equipment we are looking for is called a “standing frame” and there are a few manufactures of this type of equipment.  We are aggressively looking for one and are first pursuing a used standing frame which could save us a good amount of money.  If anyone out there has a source of a used standing frame or knows of somewhere we could locate one at a discounted price it would be greatly appreciated.  The sooner the better, it could alleviate allot of discomfort for Matt as well as us who are involved it his rehab treatment.  If you have information or a contact, please sent me the lead with all the contact information.  We know this type of equipment is often used and not needed after a period of time in a rehab situation and often winds up in a corner or shed somewhere and that’s what we are hoping to find.

Contact info:

Mario Ruiz

760 803 5124 -C

sdmario@cox.net

Thanks 

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