November 2, 2016
Wow, I can't believe it has almost been a year since I posted anything. Where has the year gone. John has been busy living life and being involved with Air Force Wounded Warrior adaptive sports camps. We have been to Florida, Tacoma and will be heading to DC on November 13th. He continues to walk with electrical stimulation and a walker and help from his therapist. He continues to move forward and hasn't lost any of his abilities. He will be starting back to three days a week of therapy after a fun summer in New Hampshire and Tacoma. John was honored to receive the Live Award from Help Hope Live this past September. He wants everyone to know that he doesn't want pity and that he will make fun of you if you pity him. He makes it a point to always smile when out in public to make sure people know that those with disabilities are happy and living life and that we should be happy too those of us who are not disabled. John is waiting to be discharged from the military so he can start back to school and wants to work toward being a counselor.
June 1, 2016
It is fast approaching two years since John's accident. He continues to make progress so we are still hopeful for more. He is walking with arm crutches and leg stimulators in therapy. Involved with adaptive sports thru the Shepherd center and Air Force Wounded Warrior. He is able to lift weights 65 lb bench press so far without any adaptive equipment. Hand cycling and even water sports. Stay positive and never give up hope. Keep the faith. Love to all.
February 4, 2016
As we enter a new year I wanted to update John's progress. He is now taking steps with a device and using his own strength and nerve input to move his legs. This is huge. We are still hopeful he will walk. Even more encouraging is that John is still hopeful he will walk. We would not be here without your generous outpouring of love and support. This journey to walk again takes so much time and therapy. He has gotten more use of his hands. In the beginning he was not able to make himself any type of meals. He now can make a sandwich and eggs in the microwave. While writing this it seems so simple but when you break it down you have to be able to open a jar of mayonnaise and the lunch meat container or jar of peanut butter and jelly. This was an impossible task before. These small achievements give him his independence back. John continues to go to therapy three days a week. He spends time with friends. He is learning to live a new normal life. He is hunting, wake surfing, biking and we even went skydiving for his 25th birthday. Keep posted as I will be updating the day he walks. We are forever indebted to your help in reaching this goal. I have posted some updated video and pictures.
August 15, 2015
Hello to everyone. It has been a busy one year and I wanted to give an update. The one year anniversary was one of mixed emotions. John has made tremendous progress but continues to work at being able to walk again. He has not given up and goes to therapy three days a week. He is able to stand with a walker without help and is able to knee crawl using a device in his therapy sessions.He is able to leg press over 100 pounds and was also able to ride a stationary bike without someone pushing his legs. The OT that he has been getting for his hands is very tedious and slow and what seems to be small progress in the big picture has made him more independent in life. He has gained more mobility in his hands and is working on gaining more strength to grip and hold things. Most of his time is still devoted to therapy and is hard for him to move forward with anything else at the moment. He is still active duty and the Air Force has been so supportive and encouraging. His commanders that were with him at the time of the accident have stayed by his side during this whole time. The donations given to John on this site have made a world of difference in his ability to make progress and become independent. During our journey we have seen the unfortunate outcome of those without the funds or facilities to move forward and make progress. There is not enough thanks we could give to show you our appreciation. His friends have made it possible for him to spend time at their homes and adapted what needs to be adapted to keep him involved. We are doing some more renovations to our home this month so that he has more room to get around and be outside on the back porch. As it is now we don't have room for his at home therapy devices or a way for him to be outside. We have had some fun this summer. He went tubing while in Maine this July and skydiving for his birthday in June. He did some scuba diving training at Shepherd and hopes to get his certification once therapy sessions slow down. I have added some new pictures from the summer. He doesn't need me to go to therapy with him anymore so I don't get to do picture updates. Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes. I will post an update on any new progress.
May 17, 2015
John and his family and friends are participating in a fundraiser to help others have an opportunity to get therapy. If you would like to help with this event. go to the walkrunand roll 5k cumming GA and register. The event is June 14th. Register under Team John and we could win 1000 hrs which he wants to donate to a friend in need.
April 28, 2015
lemoinerecovery.tumblr.com
April 28, 2015
John is continuing to make good progress. All of this is because of your kindhearted donations. Every day we feel blessed that we have the opportunity to get John walking again. He has been able to ride a stationary bike independently in the past few weeks. He continues to work hard five days a week. His video of riding the bike is on the link provided. He has also found time for fun and continues to have an amazing spirit to fight.
March 23, 2015
Just an update on our past few days. We have been in Mobile, Alabama with the Independence Fund on a bike ride. This was his first ride on an incumbent bike and we all did 18.5 miles. It went great and we will be doing more. If you want to be a part of an amazing fundraising group for veterans there will be a ride in September in Charleston for the Lt Dan Weekend. The Indy Fund does amazing things for our veterans. If you want to see John ride you can see him on the tumblr link: lemoinerecovery.tumblr.com. Your help has gotten him to this point. Keep posted for more happy times.
March 3, 2015
Over the past seven months we have been blessed with an outpouring of love and support. Every one of you have helped us meet our goal for John's continued therapy and we can't thank you enough. We have all learned so much about ourselves and the goodness of people. John has a continued long road ahead of him and will have many obstacles along the way that we can't even prepare for. These donations will allow him to strengthen his ability to walk again and meet those financial challenges. We are continuing to keep his campaign open to help him prepare for his future and work as long as possible to reach his goal of walking. Some people reach this goal in six months and some in two years. We don't know which one of these it will take for John. While being able to continue the Lokomat he has also been exposed to new technologies that are showing promise at Shepherd Spinal and Project Walk Atlanta. If you would like to see some of his progress he has made you can see him on the Project Walk Atlanta Facebook site. Thank you in advance for continued support and bless you all
January 29, 2015
John has started additional therapy at Project Walk Atlanta.This is a spinal cord rehab facility located in our area. We are so blessed to have these facilities. Thanks to your generous donations he is able to add more therapy to his already busy schedule at Shepherd. We are finally seeing some improvement with the lokomat therapy. Last week he was able to participate 35% with his own effort and this week he was able to 50%. This means the machine does 50% of the work and John does the rest. A little spark of improvement goes a long way. He is also able to have a hand massage therapist specializing in spinal cord injuries work with his hands and loosen up those extremely tight muscles.
January 28, 2015
Unable to load videos to picture site. Will try and upload to the lemoinerecovery.tumblr.com site. Password is john in lower case.
January 17, 2015
John will begin using this device starting next week to gain better use of his hands. http://youtu.be/IaxsBvCo12I
December 28, 2014
New photos added.
December 28, 2014
Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas. It was so good to be home with our entire family. John has been working very hard at Shepherd and is making more progress. His hands are moving better with the help of some new medication and his bionic hand machines he uses at home. They have a long way to go to be able to function with less concentration and clumsiness. A special Christmas gift that was given to me from him was a hand written note. He hasn't written anything since July so it had an extra special meaning. We go back to Augusta on January 7th for his six week check up from the VA.
November 28, 2014
Happy Thanksgiving. We are home and so grateful that our family is together as we came very close to losing one. Thanks to the amazing medical team that saved our son and the team that has gotten him to where he is now. You all have a special place in our lives and we are forever grateful. This week has been a time to figure out life at home and get settled in. Intense therapy starts again on Monday. Bless you all and hold your family close.
November 20, 2014
We are going home this Friday. New adjustments and routines to figure out. Thankful to be home with the rest of our family for the holidays. Bless everyone for your prayers and donations. John still has many hours of therapy ahead and is anxious to start his new work out routines. Keep him your prayers. Happy Thanksgiving to all.
November 6, 2014
Mike and I had the privilege of having a military family early on in our marriage and their support and friendship was strong 23 years ago and has lasted all this time. We have also been blessed to be in a unique family for the past 20 years (you know who you are) and even though we are all spread out across the world your support and generosity have touched our hearts and we know that you have our backs. Thank you all for everything.
November 3, 2014
I am sitting here on this beautiful afternoon in Augusta GA reading such words of encouragement and they bring tears to my eyes. Such outpouring of love and words of strength. I hope you all know how much this means to us. Bless you all!
October 22, 2014
John is in his 4th month of therapy and seems to be at the prime of his progress. Thank you all for your support during this time and please keep your prayers and thoughts coming. It means so much. He has a lot more to work on and strengthen and still needs your support. We are hoping to go home in the next week if Shepherd has on open slot for him to return to. If not we will stay here at the VA and continue therapy until a slot is available. Keep posted for new videos and fundraising events.
October 12, 2014
FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN NOW GOING ON IS FROM BOOK SALE PROCEEDS BEING DONATED IN JOHN'S HONOR.
YOU CAN ORDER BOOK ON THE COUNTRY PREACHER.NET WEB SITE. OR SEE HIS PAGE ON FACEBOOK UNDER THE COUNTRY PREACHER. THANK YOU.
October 6, 2014
These are new videos of John's progress this week at the VA.
http://lemoinerecovery.tumblr.com/tagged/video
Password is john. All lower case.
