Jordan Griffin with the Orcas Island Lady Vikings in Puyallup this weekend. Photo courtesy Rachel Meenach
The Orcas Island Lady Vikings beat their long-time La Conner rivals in the last 40 seconds of a thriller-diller Tri-District Game last Saturday, and the island’s Favorite Son Jordan Griffin saw it in person.
For the first time in 16 years Orcas girls basketball team won the Tri-Districts and will bring home a “2009” banner to put up in the school gymnasium.
Although the girls were down 24 points deep at halftime, they held their opponents to 10 points in the whole second half of the game. The Vikings scored 20 points in the 4th quarter, and it wasn’t until the last 40 seconds of the game that they pulled ahead, to win the game 44-39.
The Vikings had a total of 17 steals and Stephanie Shaw was high scorer with 14 points.
The girls are home and will be sponsoring a bake sale at Island Market on Monday afternoon from 4:30 to 6:30 and then it’s on the red-eye Tuesday morning to travel to Spokane for the state playoffs.
Now for the report on Jordan Griffin, who is due to return to Orcas Island this week:
Contributed by Rachel Meenach from the www.CaringBridge.org site for Jordan Griffin
Jordan was able to leave the hospital on a 24 hour pass this weekend. We started off by going to Puyallap and watching the Orcas Girls Basketball team play an absolutely amazing game! The excitement was intense…and I actually worried it might be too much for Jordan’s blood pressure!….haha…I was wrong! Not only was his blood pressure fine, he was in one of the best moods I have seen in a long time!
We left the game and ate dinner with the girls at South Center Mall…the kids talked and joked the whole time!There isn’t anything better than good friends and good times!! =)
Jordan, Josh and I were able to spend the night at a local hotel thanks to a wonderful friend!=)
We were able to practice our nursing skills and had some insight to the long road ahead of us….not just the bad, but the good too! Baby steps are hard to adjust to…we live in a society where we need to have everything now and this experience has taught me to be humble and patient!
As of this writing, Jordan is making spectacular progress…he is moving his left pinky finger Voluntarily!! This is a HUGE step for him and shows there is some nerve progress in his hand!
He is also reported to the therapists and me that he can feel firm touch on his left toes, back of his left calf and the inside of his left knee….another major milestone! Still no movement below his upper chest area…but I believe in miracles, patience, hard work and determination!!
We only have 3 days to go and we are literally sitting on the edge of our seats…almost like waiting for the bell to ring at the end of a school day!…it just can’t come fast enough!!
I have so many thanks to give to everyone who has been helping us to be ready to come home….the support and generosity has been overwhelming and I will never be able to express to everyone how thankful I am!….Lots of love and thanks from all of us…Rachel, Jordan, Josh, Anna and Bethany!
**If you are reading theOrcasonian for free, thank your fellow islanders. If you would like to support theOrcasonian CLICK HERE to set your modestly-priced, voluntary subscription. Otherwise, no worries; we’re happy to share with you.**
