Michael is one of the sweetest, strongest young men I know! He is currently at St. Luke's Rehabilitation Medical Center in Spokane where he will stay for at least the next 14 days. He is working on regaining the feeling in his legs so he can walk on his own & get home to his family & friends. Please see his story below.

This last week has been overwhelming to Michaels family. His mom (Nancy) & stepdad (Blake) have 5 other children at home; plus, a bonus son they have taken in. They also run a family business which normally requires them to work 7 days a week to keep up with their orders. Being away from home is expensive, gas, traveling back & forth to

take care of their other children, meals away from home & not being able to get their orders out has been difficult. Without orders they have no income. Michael’s dad, (Andrew) also has a son at home to care for along with his 3 other children, he has also taken time off work to be with Michael. Getting Michael, the best care & getting him home is their top priority. We are also uncertain about the medical care that Michael will need once he gets home.

Michaels Story: About a month ago 12-year-old Michael started having back & chest pain. He had a doctor’s appointment where they did x-rays, the x-rays came back good, so he started physical therapy. Over the last couple of weeks, the pain had gotten worse. On Thursday evening January 8th he started complaining that his leg felt funny weird & his back was hurting. His family thought he might be sore from basketball practice or possibly getting sick. They were getting ready to take him in to see the doctor on Friday when Michael asked how he was going to get there, he said he couldn’t walk & his legs were numb, he was unable to stand or even take a step with help. He was carried to the car & then into the ER. They ran some tests at the ER &

then called Sacred Heart Neurology. Michael was taken by ambulance to Sacred Heart. Once at Sacred Heart, they ran more tests. He could only feel about 50% of the touch test they ran. They scheduled an MRI for first thing Saturday morning. At midnight doctors came in & ran more tests. He could move his toes on his right foot but now his

left leg was unresponsive & his arms were starting to feel tingly. They took him in for the MRI at 2am, by 5:30 am a nurse told them they found a mass & at 7am they were told Michael would have surgery at noon. The mass had been eating through his spine & putting pressure on his spinal cord. They explained they were going to remove the

mass & the affected bone. They would be placing material to protect the spinal cord, placing a plate & fusing his back. Michael was in surgery for about 6 hours. They removed the affected areas of T7, T8, & T9 then fused together T6-T10. 95 % of the mass was removed and the other 5% was to entangled in the nerves to be safely removed. We are still awaiting the results of the biopsy. Monday, Michael was fitted

with a back brace & started physical therapy. Tuesday, he had more movement in his toes & he was able to stand with support from his therapists. Wednesday, Michael was able to move both legs, he was able to sit on the edge of the bed with the support of his hands. He also graduated from Sacred Heart & was moved to St. Luke's Rehabilitation Medical Center in Spokane. Through all of this Michael has remained in good spirits! He is most excited to get home so he can see his friends.