May 7, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Today, May 7, marks the two-year anniversary of Kevin's accident. To those of you who have followed us through this journey and supported us with your love and prayers, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Our God is an awesome and faithful God and He has held us close in His comforting arms during this difficult time and it has brought us much comfort knowing you have been interceding on our behalf.

Without a doubt, these past two years of dealing with Kevin's accident and my brother's suicide just over a year ago have been two of the longest and most painful years I can recall. On both of these accounts it looks as though we are making real progress toward closure...at least at the legal level. As executor, I am very close to closing my brother's estate and that is taking a huge load off my shoulders and things are progressing well toward Kevin's settlement with Worker's Comp.

Two weeks ago Worker's Comp. attorneys took Kevin's deposition and Kevin's attorney said it went very well and their attorney seemed genuinely sympathetic to Kevin's case. A few more things have to be done before final decision is made, however. Yesterday Kevin was seen again by the neuro-ophthalmologist and in the very near future Kevin's attorney will be taking the doctor's deposition to help in Kevin's settlement. The doctor said he thought Kevin's eyesight was about the same as when he last examined him. Kevin wants to be able to go to the Braille Institute to obtain a white cane and asked the doctor for the necessary paperwork he would need. We are all very happy he has decided on his own that this is something he really needs. The doctor said his report would include what he needs and was again going to recommend a seeing-eye dog for Kevin. It is still my understanding that as part of the settlement this would be included for him. Kevin also told the doctor he had some difficulty seeing the computer screen. The doctor was going to look into the matter as he believed there was some adaptive technology for the computer that would be beneficial. I believe the Braille Institute would be of assistance here as well.

Last week I took Kevin to an appointment with a hematologist to check on his condition of Protein S deficiency. As you may recall we discovered he had this condition when he was in the ICU and developed two blood clots. Since that time he has been on blood thinners, at least until about a month ago when the internist told him it wasn't necessary. At his appointment with his primary doctor a couple of weeks ago, however, he was told this really needed to be followed up by a hematologist, which we have now done. The hematologist is running quite a few tests to see if Kevin still has Protein S and/or any other conditions which may be contributing to this problem. If he still has Protein S deficiency he will need to go back on blood thinners. The doctor explained that Protein S is most often an inherited condition but can, in rare cases, be an acquired condition due to trauma. The doctor also said if he does have Protein S the rest of our family (Everett, Keith, and I) would need to be tested as well. He explained that one third of people with Protein S deficiency will experience an embolism at some time in their life. We will find out the results of his blood work when I take him back to the hematologist on the 18th of this month.

We ask your continued prayer that Kevin's Worker's Compensation settlement would be determined very soon and that Worker's Comp. would agree that Kevin is 100% disabled. We also ask that you pray we would all be patient as we wait upon the Lord as to what the future holds for Kevin and Sarah. We still have no idea if he can work, and if so, what he can do.

I want to ask you all to pray for Sarah's niece that was born this past Sunday. Little Charlize was born with a heart problem and was taken to Oakland Children's Hospital where she underwent emergency surgery. She was born with 2 backwards heart valves. The surgeons opened up a part of her heart to allow more oxygen and blood to flow through. They are working now to get her stronger so that when she is between 2 and 4 months old she can have open-heart surgery to repair these heart valves. This little girl will have to have surgery again when she is approximately 10 years old because she will need larger parts at that time. She will have to live quite a sedentary life as any stress on the heart can be fatal. Sadly, there is a very high mortality rate and approximately 58% of people with this condition don't make it to 20 years of age. Please pray for Sarah's entire family, for as you can imagine this has been quite a shock. Pray God will draw them closer to Himself during this very trying time.

Kevin and Sarah will be taking a long weekend starting this Friday through Monday to go and visit Sarah's family. Pray for their safety as the drive to the Bay area and that they will have a good visit in spite of the hard times going on at present.

May God's blessings be abundant to you all,
Tami