Repost: Brad Burns - What an Inspiration!

I received an email from Brad the other day, so I decided to repost his amazing story! It had been so long since the first post, I had almost forgotten who he was -- shame on me!

"I came across this incredible story via The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and had to share it with you:

"Name: Brad Burns
Injury: Incomplete quadriplegia
Mechanism of Injury: Auto accident
Date of Injury: May 31, 2008

Brad Burns says he is happier now than he was before the auto accident that left him living with quadriplegia in May 2008 at the age of 24 ... and he has a Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation tattoo to prove it.

Burns, now 26, went from having his C4, 5, and 6 vertebra fused together, a C5 burst fracture, broken right ribs, lacerated lungs, two torn muscles in his right deltoid, and an open-book fracture of his pelvis, to now being able to walk independently with just a front-wheeled walker."

Read the rest of this incredible story here:  Nothing's Impossible

What I found particularly interesting is how they initially got him up and walking.  I've heard that doing the motion forces the brain to create new paths if necessary, but I've never seen it actually work in such an amazing way until I read that story!  Wow!  I feel so incredibly happy for him."

And to think he emailed me and told me I'm a fighter!  I am humbled by his kind words because I think he is just incredible!

Snow Chihuahua!

Aurora Borealis

Aurora Borealis timelapse HD - Tromsø 2010 from Tor Even Mathisen on Vimeo.

Home, Finally

I am finally back in Norsk country and it has never felt better!  I have had many laughs so far at all the things I had forgotten about in my 20 years of being away; for instance, up here they say "pop" and down south they say "soda".  Up here around this time of year when it hits above zero degrees it's a heat wave, down south if it drops to twenty degrees the entire state panics and shuts down completely.  And, up here in the great state of MN, if you're a weakling, you will never survive.

The most interesting change we have had to make so far was teaching our Chihuahua how to go to the bathroom in the snow!  It took her two days to figure it out, but she finally did and now it's tough to get her inside!

I am looking out my window at the piles of white snow wondering why I ever left.  Yes, it's cold.  Yes, it snows almost all winter long, and yes the sun doesn't shine near as much as it should (in fact, it seems that the only time the sun shines is when the temps hit below zero!), but it is my home and I feel blessed to be back.

People ask me why the heck I moved from Florida back to this tundra, and I simply say because I wanted to come home.  I suppose had I never left I would ask me the same question, but knowing what Florida is really like to live there, I wouldn't go back if you paid me.  A vacation, maybe, to live there, never again.

The best part of all of this is when I left Florida, emotionally I left the old me behind, and physically I actually left my chair behind.  I have been completely without wheels since Jan 5!  I have to say I have done just fine and I don't even miss it.  I just keep getting stronger, yippee!

It has been six months now since I have been walking on a regular basis, and although I am still progressing slowly, I am still progressing. 

It will be up to 30 degrees by the weekend here.  I think I'll go find an ice fishing hole and go swimming!