Jason's Continued Fight

Hey ya’ll, it’s Jason’s sister, Jamie. For those of you who don’t know, on November 14th of last year, my brother Jason suffered a massive stroke. The side effects of the stroke have caused him many more health issues - he has trouble speaking and has right side paralysis. He spent almost two months in the hospital and rehab facility. As of January, he has made it back home and is slowly recovering. His home has had to have some alterations to be able to accommodate him, which includes a lift for him to be able to get in and out of the house.

 

First of all, we have to thank everyone who was involved with getting the lift completed! You all have no idea what a life saver it has been! Thank you to our sister and brother-in-law, Shelley and Tony Barreca for making sure that they had a safe and sturdy pad for the lift to be installed on! Thank you to Mitzi Wild for offering the idea of the lift in the first place, and for making sure that it all came together. Thanks to Reggie Dixon for spending his Valentine’s Day at Jason’s house making sure that the electrical parts for the lift were all safe and working. Thank you to Rene Bankston, Landstar Steel, and all of the guys with the Southern Coast Riders for lift construction and installation. And last, but certainly not least, many thanks to Chris Pichon for showing up every week, several days a week and twice on all of those days, with the task of helping Stephanie get him up and down ALL of those stairs in the wheelchair! We could not have made it this far without ALL of you!

 

I want to give everyone an update on how Jason has been progressing these last couple of months. He has been doing better than any of us could have ever expected! He had to take a little break from therapy, due to some blood pressure issues, but he starts back this week. He has been walking some with a walker and with a cane. He is doing daily arm exercises and is slowly gaining use in his right arm again. He is still working on his speech, but he is slowly getting there! (Especially when he is frustrated. Which if you know Jason, is all the time!)

 

I also wanted to share with all of you, that since this all happened back in November, Stephanie has has to take a break from work. Between caring for his day to day needs, and getting him out of the house and back and forth to his many appointments and therapy, she just hasn’t been able to return to work. So they have drained their savings to make ends meet. Our hope is that Jason will have progressed enough in the next couple of months, and that he will be more independent so that Stephanie can return to work and have a paycheck coming in again. In the meantime, keeping bills paid, food on the table, and gas in the vehicle to get him to appointments is becoming another burden that they are struggling with. I know that they would never want to ask or have to admit that they need help, so this is why I am doing it for them.

 

We really appreciate everything that everyone has done to help them so far - whether it was financially or otherwise, they could not have come this far without you all! I don’t want to see them having to face additional burdens, if it can be helped. God bless you all! Please continue to keep all of those prayers coming! God’s not done showing His miracle work on Jason! Even greater things are ahead!