GREAT NEWS FOR THEA

Here's a picture of Thea at Halloween. She was a scarecrow. Not scared of anything, this one.

Hey folks,

Been wondering about Thea? For those of you who don't know...Thea is my dear friend who became paralyzed from the waist down 2 years ago when the horse she was riding reared up and landed on her.

Last I told you she had been accepted as a candidate for stem cell surgery in Portugal this November.

Well, things have changed.

There are a series of tests you must go through before the surgery can take place. It turns out that Thea's injury has progressed toward recovery a lot faster than expected. Which is GREAT and has EVERYTHING to do with her early commitment and determination for therapy.

However, the progress she made over the last 2 years disqualified her for the surgery.

At this point they determined that the surgery could in fact, worsen her condition.

So, what does this mean for Thea? Will she ever walk again?

YES!!! I believe she will and not because of any new medical breakthrough. She will walk again because she never gave up believing that she could.

This woman has more heart and faith than anyone I've ever known. I love her a bunch.

The original plan was to go to Portugal for the operation and then spend some time in Michigan doing post surgery therapy. Thea is skipping the surgery altogether and heading straight to Michigan this May. I'm so happy for her. Last week she used her walker WITHOUT her leg braces.

You don't really understand what that means, do you? She is paralyzed. She can't tell her legs to move like you and I can and using her hip muscles to walk without the support of braces is scary! However this doesn't surprise me.

She hasn't been sitting on her butt the last 2 years crying "oh poor me, why me!"
No, Thea has been busy educating herself, overcoming great fear, finding solutions to everyday problems, raising her 3 kids, struggling, working, driving, riding, walking...smiling.

She has never spent much time at the pity party. Doctors have told her to accept her situation, become friends with the wheelchair and get on with her new life. Thea has flat out refused.

She is brave and I respect her greatly. She is an inspiration and when I look at her, I am reminded that anything is possible.