Jordan Griffin, June 2009. On July 20, he heads to Sacramento, Calif. for more rehabilitation
By Rachel Meenach
Jordan Griffin sustained a spinal cord injury from a snowboarding accident on Orcas Island last December. He shattered vertebrae C6 in his neck and has been diagnosed with Incomplete Quadriplegia.
Rachel Meenach is Jordan’s mother.
Another eventful month has gone by! Time flies by so fast these days!
Everyone is doing really well. My girls have been to super busy at camp and on vacation with their dad. Josh is keeping busy doing some odd jobs and getting ready for football season to start…(if anyone needs a teenager for hire, he is always looking for work!haha)
He continues to progress…lots of little baby steps, but each day brings improvement.
We have arranged for a steady group of people to come in and help stretch his legs. The need to keep his legs flexible and not atrophied is our main concern these days. To work with his legs causes horrible spasms that run throughout his body and unfortunately this causes a great amount of discomfort for him. He has been so strong throughout this whole ordeal and understands the need for the constant therapy…but whether he likes it or not is another story!
The physical and occupational therapists continue to work with him on a weekly basis. They have been a wonderful source of information, support and friendship! Jordan has become very comfortable with them, which can be good and bad on some days! He loves to push his boundaries and I am constantly apologizing for my goofy teenager!
The best news of all is we are finally headed for Shriners Rehab Center down in Sacramento, CA!
We leave on Monday the 20th of this month. Some very special friends of our family have offered to fly us down, so the trip is expected to be short. Jordan hasn’t been tolerating traveling for a prolonged amount of time these days, so the quicker we get there, the better!
Part of his summer will also include schoolwork. He is hoping to keep up with his class and be able to graduate on time. He and his brother will be Seniors this year…class of 2010! They are both excited about what the future holds. Joshua has been looking into sports medicine or physical therapy as a major. Jordan has always loved to write and looks forward to a career in journalism as a sports writer….both boys want to include football in their life somehow!
He continues to have problems with UTI’s and his kidneys. We have been working diligently to keep him healthy without pushing antibiotics into his system all the time. It has been difficult and his poor body hasn’t been able to tolerate medications well. He is also having problems with his blood pressure staying in a normal range. It has been stabilized with medication for the time being, but we are hoping that once we are at Shriners, the team of specialists there will be able to address it and take care of it properly.
As of this writing, we aren’t sure how long we will be in California. We do know that he will be admitted for the first week as an inpatient, possibly the second week also. Mainly this will be for testing and putting together goals and a plan for him.
I just want whatever it takes to help get Jordan more independent and strong. It’s time for him to really start living again!All the amazing love and support that everyone has shown has been our strength for the last few months. Being home has been healing for both of us and we are ready to take the next step in this journey….
Now that we are back in a hospital setting, I will continue to update more regularly about his progress so check in from time to time!
Thank you…again, for all the prayers, love and continual support!
All our love….
Rachel and kids
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