Updates to the Rehabilitation Page
For those of you who missed it I have added at the Channel 7 video that I featured on in 2009. I have also added some information and a link to Project Walk on the Rehabilitation page.
Enjoy,
Mike.
My First Hate Mail!
Following my attendance at the Bayside City Council meeting last week someone found it pertinent to send me my first hate mail! I am flattered by this as it is wonderful to be treated as a normal human being as opposed to somebody who has broken his neck and is confined to a wheelchair most of the time. Just so that you are aware my website is not about hate mail. It is about recovery, persistence, determination, defying the odds and the application of the human spirit. It is an important outlet for me to share my achievements and I know others look at it in the same way. Any further hate mail in relation to my involvement in the community will be deleted as soon as I am aware that it is there.
Cheers,
Mike.
Bayside Council Ruling Last Night
There was an ordinary council meeting last night to make a judgement as to whether the Bayside Council would follow suit with the Kingston and Port Phillip councils to make Beach Road a no stopping zone between the hours of 6 AM and 10 AM on the weekend to allow clear passage for cyclists to avoid negotiating parked cars. Obviously if this ruling had been in place in the Bayside Council area during my ride in June 2008 I would not be a quadriplegic today. I attended this meeting with Monica and a friend and spoke about my experience. Please see the Cycle Safety page for more details.
A New Era … Ashley at School and a New Website!
Welcome all to the new look website. Since my accident there are a number of topics that I am getting approach to be involved in. To address these more easily, I have worked with my brother and his girlfriend to construct a new website which has topics and pages to address them. I am hoping that the additional information is more relevant to where I am at in my recovery and adequately discusses things I want to be involved in as time goes forward. Since my accident and having made a reasonable recovery I’m getting asked a lot of questions regarding the rehabilitation that I have undergone and methods we have used. The rehabilitation page will contain information that will hopefully assist others inflicted with spinal cord injury. I am hoping the content of this page will give people ideas for what might help them faced with similar ordeals. The insurance page discusses aspects of the insurance coverage that I had prior to this injury that I have found helpful. I would also like to use this page to improve aspects of insurance particularly to do with the use of roads by cyclists which is getting more and more prevalent. As more cyclists are choosing that method of transport I think it will be important to recognise cyclists as road users from an insurance perspective. This is not the case at the moment because you cannot register as a road user on a bicycle. The cycle safety page will provide updates on my involvement with cycle safety issues including my involvement with bodies and foundations aimed at improving the way a road is shared between bicycles and motor vehicles. I have also been asked and have accepted invitations to do public speaking. I have really enjoyed these opportunities and I hope the audience that I have spoken to have enjoyed what I’ve had to say and present. This page will provide information on the topics that I’m speaking about and even future engagements that I may be speaking at. So please enjoy the content of the website and any comments on its layout and content are welcome.
On another note my beautiful daughter Ashley has started school. This is a real milestone in our family as she has been through a lot more than your average child during the last two years. I’m pleased to say that at this stage as we start week three of her school life she appears to have settled in well. As her father I am very proud and very pleased to be involved in helping her get to school and home again in the afternoon. As time goes on I am looking forward to being involved in the classroom to help her and others develop through her first year of school. I am also pleased to report that I achieved a goal of mine in that I walked into her classroom. I was using crutches and it involved two steps. Ashley was wonderful and so pleased to see me in her classroom with all of the other parents helping her settle in.
Enjoy the photos that I have included of her first day at school.
We All Need Some Cheering up at Some Stage!
by mikef, under Update by Mike
Well Monica, Ashley and I returned from holidays late last week and I began my rehabilitation routine for 2010. It has been great to have a break from the routine but I discovered that my body needs regular manipulation and movement in order to not rust and be thrown in the scrapheap! By the end of the holiday my shoulders were basically seized up and could barely move.
There were however some great achievements from our holidays from my perspective. It was wonderful to revisit the wonderful holiday home of my parents-in-law who worked for months to modify the home so I could stay and they did an amazing job. In addition to this they worked tirelessly to help me have a break from my regular care routine and be surrounded just by family. The best addition to their home was a custom-designed set of stairs which was about 40 cm deep and 10 cm high a step. This allowed me to walk from the ground level to the upstairs portion of the home almost independently using my sticks. It really was invigorating! In addition to this, with help from my brother-in-law Simon in particular we had regular trips to the beach where I walked on the sand and sat in a camp chair to watch the kids play in the water for hours upon hours. I even had a dip in the water myself on the odd occasion. This was not at all graceful but very pleasant nonetheless. A far cry from the long ocean swims and body surfing that I’m used to but I can’t complain.
The worst part of the holiday and the reason we need some cheering up is my poor wife Monica has come down with a severe case of pneomonia which she contracted just prior to Christmas. The truth is it has been coming on for some time because she has worked so tirelessly since my accident. We are doing whatever we can to help her get back on her feet so please feel free to send your best wishes to her. She is getting better and is certainly through the worst of it but needs to be careful for the next month at least. Trying to tie Monica down is probably the greatest challenge that I have ever had so please help me! If you see her out and about trying to knock off one of the 20 things she puts on her list every day please send her straight home. My mother is down with us at the moment which is fabulous.
On a lighter note please find a video clip below. With close friends of ours who have a daughter the same age we have a competition each year to buy each other the noisiest present. This year was hilarious as we both bought exactly the same thing for each other… a drum kit! Here is Ashley strutting her stuff and I think there is a real future there. Listen in particular for the crescendo!
Keep well,
Mike.
Don’t Try This One at Home!
It has been a little while since the last post (and that does not mean it is Anzac Day) but I have uploaded another video of some exercise that I’m doing at the gym with my trainer Patrick. It is a seated rowing exercise while sitting on a Swiss ball. I am quite proud of this exercise as it is taken quite some time to even be able to sit on a Swiss ball. In addition to this, it has taken a long time to get my shoulder blades to move at all let alone under my own muscle control. So here it is, enjoy and don’t try this at home!
I hope you are all well and Merry Christmas to all. Be good to family and friends because trust me in times of need they are the best resource you could ever have.
Cheers,
Mike.
