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Help Hope Live for Mclaren Slifer

Mclaren dove into a wave… something we’ve all done at one time or another at the beach.

On July 4, in South Bethany with friends, Mac dove into a wave. He has no recollection of hitting anything, no scraps or bruises but he knew instantly, something was wrong. He held his breath as his friends realized he was injured and helped him from the water.

Updates (19)

June 15, 2026

Time for a catch up… i’ve been meaning to write for days but they just keep getting a head of me.June 2 Caelie graduated! And it was a spectacular day!  Weather was perfection and all the kids who spoke were smart and meaningful. The future is bright!What added to the joy of the day was that Mac was there. Back at his high school, many of Caelie’s classmates had siblings who are Mac's friends. So while he tried to stay under the radar- his friends, many who haven’t seen him since his accident, sought him out and that just made my heart so happy. Mac has just not been ready to put himself out in the community. And that is very hard for a mom to witness. All we really do is dr appts and therapy. It’s hard to see his world be so small when he should be soaring.  time. time will heal.So to have my whole family there for Caelie’s graduation made my heart sooo full. The cherry on top— we went out to eat with all the grandparents! First time out!I asked Mac the next day his sum up of the whole day… if you know Mac, man of many words … “Not a bad as I thought it would be”  HIGH PRAISE.. lol!Caelie is healing right up after her knee surgery and has been cleared to get back to PT… and Mac is also getting back into the swing of therapy too.It’s a bit of a scramble getting everyone where they need to go and with Tim back to his travel schedule; i’m on duty 24/7 for 4-5 days at a time. So if you see me out in the world staring into space …lol… i’ll be ok!Mac's seen his high school friends a couple time to hang out on the back deck and his Pitt roommates came to visit to and stayed for an impromptu grill out. Just wonderful!Catching up on Mac’s return to therapy at Bryn Mawr Rehab. Sadly, it’s super evident how much of the progress Mac had made in his previous rounds of therapy, in terms of his upper body strength, has just gone away. But I guess that’s to be expected when a large part of his recovery was not moving his arms too much. I know he’ll build it all back but still really discouraging. Come on triceps… just 4 more months to see some progress! Oi! The other disappointing fact is that we are only offered two days a week therapy as a SCI injury coming back for a third round. I asked if they could ask for three days a week since he’s coming back from a surgery. But it doesn’t look like that worked. I’m not done with that conversation yet. Just not sure who might be able to help.I’ve been working, for couple weeks now, on getting supplies covered for Mac's care. With medicaid, these things should be covered but we’ve been shuffled around so much within the system and where exactly Mac’s care fits. (Scammed for the fist 4 months then shuffled between programs because at 19 he was still considered a child within medicaid but then he needs to be an adult to get offered paid home care. it’s been a time consuming nightmare.)  So we’ve been buying products that should be covered ourselves (and your generous donations). I hopefully found two resources this week and will get that sorted soon. It would be nice to have that stuff covered. Tim has been working with another agency to try to have me approved to be a paid caregiver, not skilled nursing, mind you. (My training at Bryn Mawr rehab, by the nurses there, three weeks before discharge does not qualify me— even though I’m doing exactly what they were doing) The system pretty much sucks. I quit my jobs a year ago, now, and it sure would be nice to have some, any,  income again. So those are my complaints for the week.Moving on to keeping things hopeful. I will never give up hope that there will be a cure.. that he will keep healing. Here’s to a week of strength, persistence, and some laughs. We can always use some laughs to get us through the days  Thank you for joining our Team and always keeping us lifted with your light and love… keep it coming!XOXOXTeam Slifer  (Melissa)#ExpectNotOneMiracleButMany#BentNotBroken#StrongMF#SpinalCordInjuryAwareness

May 26, 2026

We have a pretty exciting week ahead! Caelie is graduating High School and we all will be heading to the stadium (weather permitting) to witness the last Slifer exit the West Chester Area School District! Mac is going. This will be huge. This will be hard. There is no hiding out on this one. We’re not sure where to sit because obviously his chair won’t go up into the stands and that means we're on the ground level IN the walkway. This is going to be a tough outing for Mac… out in public… and at his old high school.We are also going out to eat later in the day. This will be our first time out hoping that all the accessible things are actually accessible. You don’t really know until you need to know.Mac has gotten together with some of his friends recently as everyone is getting home from school (this makes me so happy) but beach trips are happening and this will be a hard summer of missing out and the 4th of July will never ever be the same. I’m trying to think of something we can do that may make the day/weekend easier for all of us.Mac is really looking forward to getting back to therapy. His leg spasticity has been a huge challenge during our time off for nerve transfer recovery. We do leg mobility every morning but as the day wears on spasticity kicks in. Sometimes to the point of making his neck sore. Everything above his injury is connected. Everything below his injury is connected. So even a big breath in can trigger his legs to start jumping about, the same way movement of his legs can trigger his abs to engage and up the chain it goes to his neck. Can’t wait to get back into therapy and get his body more movement than we are able to at home. I’m thinking I may try to empty out my office to create a work out space for him with a big raised mat he can stretch and practice mobility. The hospital bed doesn’t cut it. And hopefully!!! we finally get an insurance approval for the RTI FES Stim bike. The final determination should come in the next 45 days. 6 months too long in my opinion, insurance has really failed on this one so far. (UHC)A couple weeks ago we visited Stand Strong Gym and its owner Matt Helm. Mac was impressed that it was a regular gym. And seems game to using the gym as a supplement to his therapy. As for therapy, we have some catching up to do. I think a lot of Mac's progress from the previous months of therapy will have be be regained from the nerve transfer recovery and us just not having access or the ability to do as much with him at home. But I have no doubt, starting June 1 Mac will put in the work!We are still going to seek getting into the NVG-291 trial that is supposed to happen this summer, but know nothing of the logistics The last one was in Chicago.We still need to add access to our house, finish up his master suite now that we know a bit more of how we need to use it, and we have Stand Strong Gym goals and another gym in NJ PowerWalk that has some interesting mobility options and solutions we want to check out.  We are always learning, will forever be adapting, and always seeking inclusion. As always keep sending us all the love and light. While the initial trauma maybe fading (just a little) and life certainly keeps moving on (without us, it feels, sometimes). Please keep sending all the love and light, our journey is still only just beginning.XOXOXTeam Slifer (Melissa#ExpectNotOneMiracleButMany#BentNotBroken#teamSlifer#StrongMF#SpinalCordInjuryAwareness

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Guestbook

June 11, 2026

Hang in there, thinking of you.

Rachel Caldwell

June 1, 2026

Thinking of you alwsys and keeping you in out prayers.

Susan shelton

susan shelton

May 15, 2026

Melissa, keeping you and your family in my prayers.

Melissa DeFreece