It is less than a month ago I received the phone call that my friend Matt had “collapsed while working on our CERT trailer”. That collapse was so much more. It was a full blown stroke. He lost function in his entire right side and speech. He could say Yes, No and Okay. For a while we didn’t know what the outcome of this would be. We knew Matt; he is a fighter and would not accept anything else than coming back to normal as fast as possible. But was he going to be able to do that?

I am very close to the family so during these weeks I’ve tried to visit Matt as much as possible. Sometimes I’ve been able to bring his mom with me in so she could see him. All the time we have seen a progress. Things has been going the right direction. Slowly but steadily. Sometimes he has surprised us and done major steps forward in just 24 hours!

I wasn’t able to go and see him last week. Last Tuesday he was moved to a rehab facility. I worked the 4th of July events that kicked my butt and it was my long week at work. So it was a while. I still get updates with videos and stuff from his sister whom is there every day checking on him so I know exactly what is going on. But it is not the same as seeing it with your own eyes. But today I was able to make it into Dallas.
When I first got there and to his room it was empty. The bed wasn’t made but his stuff was there. Quickly figured out that he must be in therapy. Talked to a staff member who directed me the right way. I had to wait for about an hour but was finally able to find him, in the middle of his therapy. The girl who helped him was so sweet! She could incorporate my visit with his training that he was doing and you could see how happy Matt was to (finally) see me. I am so glad I went! I took up the phone and right away he said “selfie”!

If you would have told me that I was going to be able to take this picture on June 17th when I first saw him in that hospital bed, I would have thought you were lying. Matt is making amazing progress. From not being able to communicate to now say full sentences most of the time. He can dress himself, he can move his right arm and even though he doesn’t have any sensation in his skin, he can move his fingers. He reached out his right arm to me and said “Hi” so I grabbed his hand!

He is able to take a few step with support of others and a walker and he can transfer from the bed or whatever to his wheelchair almost on his own now. It is so remarkable to see this journey Matt is doing. On my way home I thought to myself: in a year we will look back at this time and not even remember it was here because he will be back to normal again.

Matt’s fighting spirit is over the top. He is determined to come back. CERT is his everything and talking about it makes him smile. See him smile makes me smile! It is quite cool to see how he is able to re-train his brain to do things and understand things. I don’t expect him to be in rehab more than maybe 1.5-2 weeks with the progress he is doing. Then he will have to learn the world on the outside again. Driving is not on the map for a while though…

I have started a GoFund Me for Matt to help out with all expenses he may have. Hopefully we can get some people to help out… please do if you can. Just a dollar makes a huge difference!