Stepping Out

Well. folks, what can I say? The last nine and a half months have been... I can't even come up with a word. Let's go with triumph, as triumph can only come after a lot of hard work, along with running the gambit of all other prerequisite human emotions. Today we are happy to announce that Nick moved out of our guest room to resume his life where he left off back in Denver! We could not be prouder of our young man as he takes this next big step in his recovery. Gosh, that sounds good! Did you hear that? "His next big STEP!" Nick has actually been taking many steps lately. With several weeks of physical therapy under his belt and a fancy new cane, he has become quite unstoppable! After cruising through his first, senior trimester at JWU, PT became the main focus for the remainder of the school year, as it should. He is of course planning on finishing his degree starting in September and with his new apartment being only 10 or 15 blocks away from JWU, he will have an extremely short commute.

We want to offer a huge "Thank You" to (from left to right above) Tyler, Kevin, Jeff, and Jake for doing the heavy lifting. And thanks of course to the man himself, Nick who hit up Burritos To Go early this morning in order to fuel up the moving team. You all took time away from your busy lives to make today go extremely smoothly, and we appreciate you!

As for Maura and me, we agree... it was lump-in-our-throats difficult to send our baby out to fly for the second time this morning. We will persevere, of course, because it's absolutely the right thing for Nick to be doing at this moment, perhaps even ahead of schedule.

To this kid... Go forward, child, we love you, you've got this!

We can rebuild him . . .

Today was an exceptionally good day. Having taken delivery of his new ottobock C-leg 4, Nick is now officially bioNick! It’s kind of humbling that we are at this point in Nick's recovery, with Veterans Day still in our rear view mirror; as this microprocessor controlled, hydraulic leg that will give our son his mobility back was developed to address what so many injured soldiers have required over the last few decades. We are extremely grateful for these technological advances and just seeing that new knee supporting our son today was about the best gift his mother and I could ask for! I’m pretty sure I can speak for Nick’s whole family when I say that we are eager for the next phase of his recovery because we’ll all get to take part in it - getting out and walking strong again!

Every step you take

Exciting news, everybody! Nick took his first several steps on the temporary socket and an older model C-leg and I must say that he did a truly amazing job, right out of the gate! Still waiting on and approval for a C-leg 4, but if all goes well he will have his first permanent leg in a few more weeks. Stay tuned!

(Forgive the portrait mode video. The room was too small to capture the moment in landscape)

Is that a TALON, man?

The excitement is really starting to grow among us as Nick's test socket is just about ready to go out to cast the mold for his first permanent socket! This was the first time in 5 months when Nick experienced contact with the ground on his left side and he said it felt wonderful! Although we all kind of like the talon look that this test stand offered this young eagle getting ready to fly the nest for a second time, Nick is really looking forward to getting the keys to his microprocessor controlled lower leg. It's been a long time coming and Nick has shown no signs of slowing down in the pursuit of his life's dreams and for that, his family could not be prouder! It also goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that our hearts are warmed knowing that he will be on his feet in the next several weeks. Onward and upward, son!

Healing doesn't always come in pill form

Last weekend was definitely one to put in the memory books! Nick embarked on a trip that he had planned long before his accident. A trip to Seattle with his friends to attend an electronic music festival, Above & Beyond Group Therapy, was exactly the emotional therapy he needed. It is undeniable that music heals a person's soul. It is what we all turn to to ease our minds and forget about our troubles. During the early weeks of Nick's recovery, he had to cancel his plans to go to a different festival, EDC in Las Vegas. It was then that he declared that his amputation was NOT going to stop him from going on the next trip he worked so hard to make happen. In order to make it easy on everyone, I joined him on the journey.

The experience of traveling with Nick’s disability went remarkably well! The camping terrain was a bit of a challenge in his wheelchair, but nothing he couldn’t handle. In fact, I can’t think of one time Nick complained... about ANYTHING. The kid is truly one-of-a-kind and he teaches me that patience is key to his situation. After two nights camping and two days of pulse pounding music, we headed home with memories that will last forever.