October 8, 2008
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Over the last few days and weeks we have received so many notes from our friends about Hillary….and about our journey as a family “on the scenic route”. And it is true so many of you are a part of our daily bright spots and low spots that you know more than you should have to shoulder of the sweet and the ugly stops along that route. But we thank you beyond words for the “pieces of this” you continue to carry for us. What would we have ever done without you?!?! And it would seem all roads continue to take us back to Vanderbilt; beginning with the friends we have made there, to the professional expertise we continue to receive and celebrate every day of our lives. This last month has been no exception. Hillary made her way back to visit with her LifeFlight team and 10 North’s Trauma nurses and doctors. And finally fulfilling a long time promise, her son arrived at Vanderbilt’s helipad where he donned a LifeFlight helmet and sat inside the very vehicle that transported his critically injured mother. It has been a celebration beyond anything we could have hoped for just over a year ago.
We couldn’t stand for you to not “be there” with us as it has always been your intercessory prayers for God’s love and protection that has brought her (and all of us) through the many stages of trauma survivorship.
In many ways we are coming onto the last stages of the recovery process for Hillary. We know the challenges and blessings of her accident will always be a part of our lives….though most of it now is hers to bear. She is scheduled to enter a program for reentry into society and her community and this is the place we will now have to go our separate ways for a while. The goal of her next program is complete independent living and no woman and mother could be more ready than Hillary for this important passage to begin. We don’t know if the program will be one month or six, but we will be waiting for her when she is ready to take the world on again. If you read on I think you will see she’s made a pretty good start already.
Thank you again for the changes you have made in our hearts forever. We never want to miss the opportunity to tell you how much you mean to us….. but most of all to Hillary and her son.
XOXOXO
–Shawn
For the entire House Organ issue on Trauma
http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/houseorgan/
