10/17/15 (Elijah)

Hello everyone!

Grace, Elijah’s younger sister, has been working so, so hard to prepare this post. When I got to see the finished product today, I was struck by what an incredible gift it is that Elijah’s sitting here next to us, watching it too. So much prayer, and waiting, and hoping, and the pure faithfulness of God.

Here’s an update from Brenna, with a very special video at the end: a visual glimpse into the road Elijah’s traveled, sustained by the Hand of the God who never slumbers or sleeps!

|| Haley

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“We have enjoyed being home as a family since September 23. The adjustment was the easiest of all of our transitions. Not to say we didn’t have our share of bumps in the road, but the road is more familiar here. We have already been home close to 4 weeks this Wednesday the 21st. Praise God that we still see evidences of healing and progress. Elijah has already changed and improved so much in the weeks at home.

Just to recap: 30 days in ICU in Cheyenne; 36 days at Northern Colorado Long Term Acute Care Hospital in Loveland; 83 days at Craig Hospital in Englewood Colorado for a grand total of 149 days between the accident on May 8th, and Sept. 23, when Elijah walked through our front door!! All in all he was low on the Glasgow Coma scale for 66 days.

Grace has painstakingly combed through hundreds of pictures and videos to create a wonderful recovery video. Five stars Grace! We could have used three songs to include all of the memories since May! The picture of the truck clearly shows that there was no room for Elijah to fit on the drivers side of the truck; the steering wheel was firmly pressed against the seat. Unfortunately, the ICU nurses didn’t allow us to take pictures the first few days after the accident. The pictures start about May 11th and were quietly snapped on a cell phone when our nurses weren’t looking.

Elijah had multiple lacerations and contusions, red/pink (blood-stained) hair and external frames on his legs. His feet were almost always bandaged for the whole 30 ICU days. He looks swollen and large, because he was. He topped the scales at 215 pounds – 50 pounds of fluid. The story goes that they were pumping him with fluids to protect his internal organs. He had a ventilator for one full week and then a tracheotomy on May 15. Slowly he began to look more and more like himself aside from his posture. He tracked with his eyes at the LTAC and laughed on June 22 but mainly spent 23.5 hours in bed each day until Craig.

Reflecting on our journey as we watch this video and re-read all of the cards and letters we say. . .

“Never once did we ever walk alone,
Never once did You leave us on our own.
You are Faithful, Oh, God you are Faithful.”

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