It is amazing how quickly time has passed since my last update in November – we are over a year and a half into our new lives. It’s Passover (Good Friday)/Easter, a time for new life, forgiveness, and hope. I recently returned from a month in Colorado. What a joy to depart knowing Bryce is healthy and well, having dictated a 40-page independent project, hitting on all cylinders. Here’s our latest news…

Christmas in CT
On December 23rd, Bryce returned home to his Mom’s house at Taft in Watertown, CT and stayed for 3 weeks. He had a nice quiet time catching up with friends and family. Keefer brought him down to New Canaan to see Meg and I for a day, but we couldn’t get him into our house - doors too narrow and steps too steep and dangerous! Details Watson, details! We reached out last minute to our good friends Bob and Carol Oram, who invited us over to their house for fellowship and football. We followed up with dinner at the Knechtle’s, our friends and the pastor of Grace Community Church of New Canaan, rounding out a wonderful day together. During Bryce’s time in Connecticut, freezing and sequestered inside through the harsh northeast record snowstorms, he firmed up a desire to remain in Colorado after graduation in December 2011. It’s easier to live there as a person with physical challenges: 300 days of sunshine per year, mild weather on average, lots of recreational therapy programming through Denver’s Craig Hospital alumni, and a big city in which to begin his new life after college.

Re-evaluation at Craig Hospital
Dad and Bryce traveled to Colorado in early January for Bryce’s first annual week-long re-evaluation at Craig Hospital in Denver. After seamless travel (we are getting smarter and more skilled at this), we spent a week in Craig’s specialized out-patient housing. He was exhausted after a week of various tests, but they were impressed with how well he is doing, physically, mentally, and academically, relative to others at the same stage. He has also progressed to C5/6 from C6/4 (still Asia A-Complete), which means more arm strength and capability (but still no fingers). However, we were surprised at the weakness of his upper back muscles, which have deteriorated from lack of use, despite pushing around his E-Motion-assisted manual chair since last summer. He has not kept a consistent physical therapy regiment given his school course workload, which also sets him back temporarily from independent driving. In addition to the challenges of ordering and customizing a van, Bryce must seriously prepare physically not only to have the basic strength to turn the wheel, but also to push two customized bars for brakes and acceleration. If he can’t, we will have to add customized electronic controls to accomplish the same purpose. Driving is much more complicated than we thought and will take time and focus after he graduates from Colorado College. The good news is that he should be able to drive. We are learning that everything takes longer in the “new normal.” We will get there. As Churchill said, “never, never, never give up!”

Return to Colorado College
Bryce was happy to be back in his “own” room, visit with his friends, and see his buddies from Colorado College’s Security department right next door. He settled down into the block program grind (intensive sequential courses of 3.5 weeks), completing several additional courses, including a course on the Middle East and an independent comparative politics thesis. Our new friend, Sylvie Fadrhonc, offered enthusiastically to shepherd Bryce through a special skiing program at Telluride in March, but Bryce couldn’t find the time and also remains hesitant to return to the slopes until he gains more strength and independence. That day will come. Bryce will continue straight through summer classes, take a few weeks off in August to come home to CT, then return to Colorado to push to graduate by December with a BA in International Political Economy. This would be Bryce’s senior year so most of his friends are graduating this spring. He currently plans to establish himself as independently as possible in Denver in early 2012, and consider graduate school in a few years. His long-term goals are still coming into focus. At this stage, a few years in Denver, then graduate school, either in Denver (DU?) or east (Georgetown?). One step at a time……

Next Steps
With Bryce planning to stay in Denver, that presents a myriad of challenges for him and for us. After scanning the real estate market for a month in Colorado Springs and Denver, Meg and I continue to discuss how and when to move out there to offer him back up support, “safety,” and encouragement. He will need help establishing himself in an apartment, whether aligned with us, or with roommates, or alone. We will need to coordinate shifts in Medicaid, insurance, and nursing aide care. Additionally, he will need to step up physical therapy and driving training and we will look to order a customized van as his strength and capabilities become clearer. Bryce is thinking about possibly having a “service dog” as a companion and helper. 2012 looks like it will be full of more learning experiences. As always, we “strive for independence” in everything we do. I have the flexibility in my current enterprise credit risk management role at BAML to work anywhere in the country; that flexibility has already helped significantly and will continue to do so, although my heart yearns to be back in the investment management world.

It has been a wild ride of uneven turns, emotional mountains to climb and descend, delays, exhaustion, and hard work, yet we are thankful to the Lord for life, health, and Bryce’s courage and vigor. Now that life is relatively stable and “new normalizing,” it is easy to forget how hard things were a year ago and to deny the enormity of Bryce’s remaining challenges. We just take each day and each month, step-by-step, doing the best we can. At this Easter time, we thank God for His love and provision. No matter how hard the road, we will continue to have hope – a hope refined in the fire of life’s challenges. We are amazed and overjoyed at how courageous and focused Bryce has been; how he has risen with great courage to the challenge before him. Yes, he has bouts of depression and anger; that is absolutely normal under the circumstances. But, he continues to move forward, persevering under pressure, to find the path that God has laid out for him.

May God bless each of you for your love, prayer, and support for Bryce and our family. There is absolutely no way we can write enough timely thank you notes to match how grateful we are for your blessings in our time of need. This Easter, we pray that God might help each of you in the same way He has helped us, to get through whatever valley you may be experiencing.

Thank you friends and family.

In Christ alone, we depend,

John & Meg

Video link below on Vimeo.com – “Bryce Rafferty - Perseverance under Pressure”

http://vimeo.com/22866712