August – Pray Day for Danny

We’re at the beach!  It’s been a crazy week and I’ll get to that post another time.

Today, it’s about the August Pray Day today.  Are you In On Ten?

August is a tough month between school starting for our 1st grader (where has the time gone?) and on the 16th, we’ll celebrate (?) the 7th anniversary since Danny’s accident.

My heart is heavy and my mind is full, especially because of a change that is happening right now.

Change is good right?  Change takes you out of your comfort zone and stretches you.  I hate being stretched.

Anyway, it comes down to money.

No one likes to talk about money and trust me, Danny and I hate asking.  It’s been one of the many lessons we’re learning on this journey; how to ask for help.  Sometimes help comes in the form of money.

Danny’s participation in Beyond Therapy has certainly been a HUGE key, if not THE key, in the extent of his continued recovery.  Remember, they’re using his results as a case study to present in favor of activity based therapy programs for chronic traumatic brain injury.  It’s unheard of and there seems to be no history of a recovery like his.

But, it costs a lot of money.

How much is your freedom, your independence worth to you?  How much would you pay to be able to walk where you wanted, when you wanted?  To be able to take yourself to the bathroom or just even go for a drive?  To have the freedom of motion to teach your child to kick a soccer ball or hit a baseball?  To jump in the waves with your son?  How much would you pay?

More than likely, though no fault of your own, you take these things for granted.  To walk into the kitchen in the mornings, reach up to grab your favorite coffee cup, open the fridge for the cream; what’s it worth to you?  The fact is, you don’t even have to think about moving the muscles in your body to accomplish these motions.

Danny does.

Each step, each weight shift, each time he has to pick up his toes, he has to think about each movement.  His brain has to learn it, over and over and over again, in order for the pathway to be remembered by the body.

How much would you pay per week to have the freedom?

Beyond Therapy is $100 per hour.

Up until last week, Danny was going six hours.  Two hours were submitted as Physical Therapy visits to our insurance company, thus the evaluations every 12 weeks.

Four hours a week are out of pocket.

We rely solely on the generosity of others to fund BT because we certainly cannot do it on our own.

Last year, LongView Wealth Management organized a golf tournament in which we raised about $13K.  These funds took us into March 2012.

In my last post, I mentioned the fine line between trusting God to provide and using wisdom to know when to step away.

The time has come to use wisdom first, and then continue to trust the Lord to provide.

The balance we own Shepherd Center is too great to continue in hopes that the funding will come.  With no events on the calendar, we cannot skip by on their good grace.

So, what do we do?  We step back and right now, it feels like the worst time.

With Danny mentioning every day that he feels on the verge of breakthrough and him believing in himself, it feels like I’m ripping the opportunity to make that dream a reality away from him.  It feels like I’m dangling his freedom in front of him and then snatching it away; such a tease.

Going forward, for how long I don’t know, Danny will only go to BT for the two physical therapy hours we can allocate to insurance.  They will build him a work out schedule that he’ll have to complete on his own.

This change sucks and feels like another robbery.  But, it’s another opportunity for God to reveal Himself in our journey, to show His glory, that our success is only found in Him.

So, on the 10th, I ask you to pray for funds to pay off our balance at Shepherd and to also provide the monies for Danny to return to BT full time and to reach that goal of independence.  If you want more information about the costs or how to donate, feel free to email me at dannyandallison@hotmail.com.

Also, Danny has asked that you all pray specifically for all the parts of his body to work together and for progress to increase in scale and consistency.

This past month, Danny has continued to walk in and out of church, to and from the car and as of tonight, he walked into a restaurant for the first time in almost seven years.

Help us make these seemingly last pushes to the finish line.