November 19, 2020
Nov 2020
What a year!
We have lived in 4 different homes in the last year. The 4th being our newly built ADA home by Lake Conroe. Amy was able to help make decisions and supervise the construction. We moved in just as everything was starting to shut down, including most of Amy’s therapies. She was able to continue one therapy as our Neufit practitioner came to our home until the office reopened.
Amy took advantage of that time to unpack, organize and set up her therapy room and build shelves for our garage. She also learned how to ride an adult trike and has worked up to just over a mile. Once we returned to OT her therapist remarked she had not regressed over the months but progressed!
Amy continues to improve in her mobility, dynamic balance, fine motor tasks, speech and cognitive abilities.
What Amy wants you to know:
She thinks she has made major gains in:
1). standing without assistance while doing tasks
2). walking better with a walker
3). building up leg and core strength by riding the adult trike
4). transferring weight from one leg to another with minimal assistance
5). walking longer distances with the Alinker walking bike
Amy is continuing OT, PT, Speech (through zoom at Texas State), Neufit, hyperbaric oxygen, chiropractic and functional neurology (through zoom with her dr. in Japan!). This year we have added Neurofeedback, PEMF, dry needling (for the tmj) and are hoping to begin a new brain program which will consist of several new treatments. We are excited to see the possibilities to come but worry about the out of pocket expenses.
One thing we realize is Amy, for the rest of her life, will be looking for ways to continue her recovery journey and to prevent a decline.
We wouldn’t be able to afford all of these therapies and treatments without all of your support and generous donations in Amy’s honor over and over! We love each and everyone of you.
December 4, 2019
Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you for donating to Help Hope Live. This is a very important organization to me. My life changed on Feb 27, 2012. I rely on your donations to continue my rehab and therapies. I appreciate your generosity and thoughtfulness. Thank you again for caring about my welfare.
God bless you for donating in my honor.
Best Wishes,
Amy Clabaugh
November 12, 2019
Another year of continued improvements! This year we have seen the nerves in Amy’s once paralyzed vocal cord completely regenerate. She is now off all prescription medications. The last to go was thyroid meds. The neurologist commented that her brain is really healing. He said the difference from last year to this year was night and day and to keep doing what we’re doing.
The functional neurologists we saw from 2014-2017 in Houston had tears in their eyes when they saw her in May of this year (it had been a year since our last check in with them). They told Amy this is not the end of progress but there’s more to come! Big smiles and happy tears all around.
Amy’s cognitive abilities are great. She’s back to managing her own finances and keeps me on my toes about mine. Friends and family comment on her quick wit and great memory. And she continues to beat us at dominoes. The newest functional neurologist commented after assessing Amy that her frontal lobe has healed.
Amy’s balance, mobility and ability to walk is getting better. I think we have surprised many folks when Amy walks with me supporting just one side. Her coordination of speech, fine and gross motor have all come a long way. A program called Neufit, the use of direct current (like our brains), has been a winner for Amy. She is able to bounce on a trampoline and ride an airdyne bike, things she hasn’t been able to do for 7 years. Although she can see improvement Amy still wants more.
We have been researching some of the latest alternative treatments for brain injury. Unfortunately, they are expensive and insurance doesn’t cover them. That is where Help Hope Live and your donations are helping Amy continue to meet her goals. We are continuing on with the therapies and all the supplements we know are working.
We are so blessed to have such a supportive group of family and friends. We feel your love and know that you continue to pray and cheer Amy on toward more greatness!
December 1, 2018
Amy and I are once again overwhelmed with the love and generosity that was shown to us on and around Giving Tuesday. Amy continues to improve and get stronger with the many different therapies she participates in. All of her therapists are seeing the positive changes across the board, physically and cognitively.
These are the words Amy wrote and I posted on her facebook page. (unfortunately I am unable to post the same photo on this page)
Thank you for your donations. I am fortunate to have caring and generous friends in my life.
Best Wishes,
Amy
November 24, 2017
Thanks to you. our house is outfitted with a lift that allows Amy to get in and out of the house and a handicap accessible bathroom. Many of you also donated sweat to our workday where we cleaned, built a fence for the dogs, cut, drug and loaded brush, built steps, replaced rotten boards, etc.,etc., etc. It was hard work, but it was also a joy to be a part of such a worthwhile project. We have settled in and are enjoying being near the lake again.
Amy still attends speech, physical and occupational therapy and is working hard to meet her goals of being able to walk independently again, speak clearly and improve her fine motor skills.
Recently, she has tried two alternative therapies, acupuncture and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Following hyperbaric, she has seen improvements in long and short term memory, swallowing, energy, sleep and processing speed of speech and cognitive abilities. She is also seeing improvement in bladder control and spasticity in her left leg from acupuncture.
You can donate anytime at www.helphopelive.org/campaign.8899, but if you pay by credit card on Giving Tuesday the 7% fee will be waived.
Thank you for your continued support and love!
November 14, 2016
Dear Family and Friends,
After a lot of searching and looking for bargains in our current real estate boom, Amy and Ginger have finally found a new home in Spicewood. It is a modest, but cute 2 bedroom, 1 bath on a lot with lots of beautiful oak trees, a big front porch and a sliver of a view of the lake. There is also a property owner’s park with lake access where Amy can fish and a large wildlife population including lots of deer. Before they can close and move in, some handicap renovations will have to be done to accommodate Amy and her wheelchair. They include enlarging the bathroom, adding handicap bars and replacing the tub with a shower. Since the house is on piers about 5 feet off the ground, a lift is also needed.
Money donated to HelpHOPELive in honor of Amy can help pay for these medically necessary renovations and donations are tax-deductible so I am asking all of you who have been so generous before to dig into your pockets again and make another donation before the end of 2016. Tuesday, November 29th is Giving Tuesday, all credit card fees will be waived on all donations made on credit cards on Giving Tuesday. www.helphopelive.org/campaign/8899 (this will take you directly to Amy’s campaign page)
We are crossing our fingers that you may find yourself in a position to help out once again.
Love to all!
October 25, 2015
Amy and I are driving back to Dripping Springs, TX to see the same speech therapist she saw when we lived outside of Austin. We are going once a month for several days at a time. Amy gets speech 2x a day while we are there. The improvement in her ability to move her tongue, the strength in her tongue, her swallowing and the ability to hold her bottom lip up have been wonderful. With the added strength and movement in her tongue and the muscles working in her lower lip her articulation is improving! As her swallowing speeds up and the tongue gets stronger while eating we are seeing (hearing) less aspirating during meals and when drinking thin liquids. And we’ve just returned from only our second visit. Amy’s therapist is amazing! These trips and therapies are possible only because of your generous donations. We can’t thank you enough!
August 26, 2015
Amy will begin speech therapy again in 2 weeks! I’m so excited that we now have the funds and that I have found the perfect therapist! Well, actually I found the perfect therapist a few years ago and we are going back to her. We will be making the drive back to Dripping Springs on a monthly basis to be with the best, as far as I’m concerned. Her main focus will be on swallowing, chewing and strengthening her tongue. with a stronger tongue Amy’s articulation should improve as well.
Amy has also started OT again. She was able to get in the pool for her therapy this week. Amy LOVES doing PT in the water so you can imagine how pleased she was to find out she could do OT in the water as well. Her therapist was pleasantly surprised with how well she walked in the water and how well she performed. She just kept commenting on how great she was doing and what she was doing was not easy.
Thank you again for allowing us this great opportunity to continue on with the therapies Amy needs and for your prayers and love.
July 8, 2015
Amy was recently able to pass her PT goals of walking 500 ft with her rolling walker with close supervision AND she walked 250 ft with quad canes with contact guard!!
The money that has been raised will allow Amy to continue to get PT and begin speech therapy again. Thank you all so much for your generosity and love!
July 6, 2015
Amy and I can’t begin to thank everyone for their generosity and love! Your donations will make such a difference in Amy’s continued recovery!!
