Let Summer Begin and Another Round of Surgeries

Jake has been enjoying the beginning of summer and making it a point to strengthen his walking skills everyday with increasing his duration of his walks in our neighborhood. He is very adamant that he wants to keep his cardio up to stay physically fit and improve his walking stride. His knee is still limiting the quality of his walk and his gate as he walks, as it cannot bend more than 30 degrees. So Jake is slated for another round of surgeries on June 15th to replace all the hardware in his knee, above around his knee to improve the degree of bending to up to a 90 degree angle. This will also aid in quality sitting for his knees to sit at a more comfortable angle, and the ability to assist him with getting up to stand and sitting down. The surgery will be a substantial surgery again, over five hours and another week in the hospital. The only good thing Jake is looking forward to this hospital stay is all the kind, caring and pretty nurses. Yes, he definitely is a 20 year old young man .

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger- the Kelly Clarkson song and lyrics is so what I see in Jake as the lyrics so reflects his past 14 months. He has so proven that he can truly beat every obstacle or setback thrown his way with dealing and coping with his physical impairments of his accident, acknowledging and making the most to improve his TBI impairment, and focusing on the future possibilities of obtaining a future education and meeting the girl of his dreams that will love him, care for him, and respect him for the amazing young man he is.

I have been so impressed with Jake’s continued progress of focusing on his job of healing, his physical fitness and healthy choice wellness program. He is determined, health conscious, and guiding Jeff and I too with making better eating habits- it’s a win-win for the Harm family! Jake’s positive life choices, dedicated daily routines, and following the neuro doctors recommendations has allowed Jake to make some amazing and continued brain gains. He has just gone through another series of brain and academic testing and the doctors were truly amazed on his brain development and academic gains. Of the many tests Jake had to complete this past week, Jeff and Jake each had to take a 60 question perception survey/test on Jake’s intellectual and day to day activities of strengths and weakness and the comparison prior to the accident and where he is at today in isolation of each other. When they came back together the doctors reviewed the results and were truly amazed on how the final results were almost identical on each survey/test. If you layed the results on top of each other, if it was like the same person took the test about Jacob. The doctors had never seen these types of results before, and noted to Jeff and Jake how so in-tune we are to Jake’s needs and how Jake truly understands the depth of his TBI, his physical impairments, his limitations but also his capabilities and the importance of understanding where he once was at with his cognitive ability, and where he is at today with his brain cognition and the gains he can still make.

Thank you for the continued following of Jake’s recovery. He has a long way to go, but the progress we as parents have seen has given us hope that Jake one day will live a very productive and fulfilling life even with guidance from a fulltime caregiver. We are so thankful we can provide the ongoing nurturing support, guidance and love to our son, where many parents do not have that option or financial capability. Jeff is such a dedicated caregiver and I am forever grateful to him to care for Jake, so I can continue on to run our edtech company to be able to provide for them- and still make a learning impact with educators and administrators nationwide. Again, another win-win for the Harm family.

Happy June everyone!