UPDATE! Peter Jessee Gets Work on New Equipment

This is an email from Peter's mother Janet sent to several of the families friends. Our intention in running the letter is to help raise awareness of Peter's condition and let the community of Eastern Oklahoma show their support for the Jessee family. "Friday afternoon my 19 year old son Peter was taking surfing lessons at Waikiki Beach on our family vacation. To make a sad story short he began to experience severe back pain and it became bad enough that we called an ambulance and admitted him to Queens Hospital in Honolulu. Peter is now in intensive care suffering from a Non-Traumatic Myelopathy. It is a condition caused by the spinal cord being deprived of sufficient blood supply while paddling a surfboard. Because you arch your back to get your arms out the water to paddle. Or in other words a stroke to the spinal cord. The injury causes paralysis involving both legs and there are only 14 well documented cases for research, (since each case is different we are in unknown territory). There is not any surgery available as there is no damage to the spinal column. The spinal cord will need to heal itself. Bud and I and our daughter Whitney have left the hotel and moved to an apartment at the hospital. Which is a 5 minute walk to Peter's room. At this time we do not know how long we will be in Hawaii. Peter will start with the physical therapist tomorrow to prepare him for air travel. In the next few days we should be able to make arrangements for Peter's move to a Research/rehab hospital. Since Peter is an athlete, we hope this time to prepare to for travel will be short. He will need to be able to get himself in a airplane seat and be able to sit for a long journey. Currently we are considering Craig Hospital in Denver and the Miami Project in Florida. If any one else knows of any other hospitals that specialize in young adults please forward information. As we learn about this, we are finding out the research and the rehab are not always in the same hospital. Any help would be appreciated. Also, we may need to hire someone to do medical research for us. Using google and finding out what is going on in the medical world may be beyond our capabilities. Anyone receiving this in Tulsa or Broken Arrow please forward on to anyone that may know Peter. He is very alert and making the decisions regarding his health care. As in any hospital stay, the days are very long and he enjoys the text messages and phone calls. Since we are from Oklahoma the staff does not make us adhere to hospital schedules! Peter can be reached on his Blackjack (or Facebook or myspace will work too). Also, if you would forward to the Broken Arrow High School staff, NHS, football, soccer and hockey players. Please pray for healing and patience. Bud and I can be reached on our cell phones. Hawaii is 5 hours behind Oklahoma time. Thank you and keep the prayers coming. Janet Jessee PS..... An email made it's way to Hawaii to a young pastor (Matt Dirker) and he came to the hospital to pray with us. You guys are wonderful!" THE LATEST UPDATE FROM THE JESSEE FAMILY: "Today was another busy day. Peter was very tired tonight but that could be because I could not get him to go to sleep last night. He was up until midnight answering text messages and reading Facebook. He has unlimited text messaging so do not hesitate to text him. It really lifts his spirits and keeps him occupied. We were able to get him in a cardiac chair and wheel him around the hospital and even was able to take him to an outdoor patio. I took him back to ICU so he could see where his room was. We tried to find his nurses but they were off today. They were wonderful as his nurse here, Kelly, is also fantastic. We are still on schedule to get Peter to Denver next Wed. Due to complications with airlines, we could not get all of us on the same flight. I will have to leave Honolulu on Monday so I can be there when Peter arrives on Wednesday morning. Peter and a nurse will leave Honolulu Tuesday evening on United arriving in Denver on Wednesday at 7:20 a.m. The United flight is a direct flight. Janet will have to stay in Honolulu an extra day. Her flight will leave Wed. night at 9:20 p.m. on AA." Stay tuned to VYPE.com and we will keep you updated as we know new information. Please leave comments below as we know the Jessee family has read each one of them and they really appreciate your kind words and prayers. UPDATE - 7/3/08 Today was another good day with a little progress. Peter is getting stronger every day. We are hitting P/T pretty hard and doing extra exercises to keep the legs stretched. Peter still has good mobility in his hips. We think we are seeing a slight movement of the left toe. The nurses also have seen just the slightest movement. Day two of catheter being removed and he has started intermittant catheterization. Then the trick is to get the sphineter muscle to close so there is no leakage. First day we had leakage. Today we were leak free. Doctor wanted to put Peter on a drug to stop leakage from day one, but we wanted to give it time to see if his body can do it on its own. Keep that in your prayers along with giving Peter strength and courage to continue his fight. Prayers are being answered and we are taking everything one day at a time. Attached are a couple of pictures of Peter in his room. In the background are the posters, Tiger pennant, Tiger beach towel and the autographed game ball that the soccer booster club sent. Thanks BA soccer. I want to thank David Matthews and his daughter, David was the one that was here the first day we arrived at Craig, for stopping by today. We were able to get them involved in a game of Go Ball. A game similar to football only in a wheel chair. As we enter the Fourth of July weekend, I want all of you to reflect on how life is so fragile. Many accidents happen on this weekend from auto, boat, recreational and fireworks just to name a few. Here at Craig we are surrounded by so many that have had life changing accidents from the simplest things that many of us do every day that might cause an accident. These are actual situations here at Craig. Driving a car and looking down for a brief second, running off the road, and flipping the car. Being a passenger in a van and your seat belt is the only one that does not work, having an accident and being the only one hurt because you were thrown out of the van. Coming home from a ski trip with big sister driving and the 15 year old little sister did not fasten her seat belt. A football player, playing the game he loved, hoping to earn a position at Texas Tech, tackled from behind and landing the wrong way on his neck. A 60 year old retired gentleman, that did not need to work, but wanted to have something to do three times a week, gets a job at a hotel. (Springdale, AR) On his third day at work, a fellow employees boyfriend enters the hotel, kills her and shoots the retired man leaving him for dead. Totally out of his control from a senseless act. Many that if they had done just one little step, might have prevented the situation. So this weekend I want all of you to enjoy the holiday to the fullest, but do it safe and sound. So I will be praying that all of you have a safe Fourth and as you get ready for that Fourth of July barbeque, I ask that you pray for Peter giving him strength and courage to continue his fight. He will walk again, Bud 7-11-08-----UPDATE---Peter Takes First Step in Pool THAT'S ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR PETER JESSEE. Today we had another small miracle. Peter was in the therapy swimming pool. We were able to get in the pool early so Peter got an extra half hour. The therapist put some ankle weights and sandals on him. The ankle weights are used to hold his legs down. She then put him in the corner of the pool and told him to stand as straight as he could and to try and lock his knees of which he was able to accomplish. She then said to try and take a step. He took a step with his right leg and was able to move the left one just a little. It was just one step, but a huge one. The therapist told her associate that she did not know what was going on, but Peter just took a step. A couple of nights ago I woke up dreaming of Peter moving his legs up and down at three in the morning. He was not walking, just moving the legs. I could not go back to sleep and finally at 6 am I decided to check my emails since we are one hour behind home. There was an email from my good friend Richard Johnson in Nashville, TN. Richard said he woke up at 2:30 thinking of Peter and started praying for him. His prayers obviously woke me from my dream and was giving both of us a message. When Peter woke up that morning I told him about Richard and that I had woke up at the same time with the dream. I told him that I did not know when something was going to happen, but I felt that something good was going to happen soon. Peter went all day thinking about this and then that evening he asked me if that really happen. I assured him that it did. He told me that in Dennis Byrd's book, Rise & Walk, he had a similar experience where he awoke at 3 in the morning and his fingers started working. The next day a friend came by and said he had woke up at 3 that morning and started praying for Dennis. Prayer does work and we need more prayer every day asking for continued healing and signs that there is always hope to continue the fight. Please pray for Janet and Whitney to give them strength as they are in the process of trying to get our home prepared for Peter's arrival. We are keeping the faith and your prayers are strengthening us every day. God Bless all of you. He will walk again Bud UPDATE: AUG 1st 2008 Again we praise everyone for your support, prayers and concerns. We know that God is healing Peter and today we had more evidence of his wonderful healing powers working. Yesterday the occupational therapist saw him move his left foot ever so slightly on demand. Last night while he was in the shower chair he flex his right quad just above the knee enough to also cause his right foot to move slightly. Today while with the physical therapist, he flexed his right quad enough for her to feel it slightly. She said it was not enough to grade, but there was definitely something there. We then went to the pool and we had a different pool therapist. Peter was able to walk across the pool three times. The pool is about 15 feet wide. He also did side steps twice across the width of the pool. The pool therapist said that there is no way he should be able to accomplish what he did based on what they feel in his legs. We then asked them to check out his quad and they also verified that they could feel him flex the quad slightly. Just a small indication but it is a move in the right direction. Katy Rennie from southeast Kansas was able to sit in a chair yesterday for three hours. That is a huge step. Keep her in your prayers. Chris Henderson is improving in a Tulsa Rehab center. Keep him in your prayers. We also ask you to pray for our friends that have been with us here at Craig. Ashley, Keith, Dale, Tony, Marshon, Nathan, Nathan from Alaska, Addie and all the others in the halls and rooms of Craig hospital. Tomorrow is Hobie Cat day. The whole hospital goes to a small lake and they take them on Hobie Cat sailboats. So it will be a break from therapy although I think Peter wants all the physical therapy he can get while here. As we enter our last week here at Craig, I ask that you keep praying for Peter and visualize in your minds that God's healing powers are going through Peter. Mark16:17,18: And these signs shall follow those who believe....they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. God bless all of you He will walk again Bud UPDATE- AUG 5th 2008 Here it is our last week at Craig and we must prepare to go home. Every patient that has had a spinal cord injury is faced with the fear of going home. Leaving the safe and secure confines of the hospital are indeed a frightening situation. We hope that we are prepared for what lies ahead. We ask that you pray to give us the strength and courage to overcome this fear. It is going to be close, but we think the house is going to be ready for us by Friday. Please keep that in your prayers. Wednesday we had visitors from Tulsa. Bill and Taylor Fritts, a hockey family and Friday, John Curzon from our church family at Asbury United Methodist paid a visit. We had a busy Saturday with some therapy and visitors. Byron and Joan Day from here in Denver stopped in with some great chocolate chip cookies and a new friend from the Denver area, Scott Bess and his two boys. We did not know Scott before Saturday. Scott is unemployed at the time seeking employment. He is a big OU fan and has many OU collectibles. Due to his unemployment, he is selling his OU keepsakes on Ebay. Teresa Moon in Texas saw his articles on Ebay and emailed him about Peter and how one OU fan to another might enjoy getting together. Scott came by and gave Peter Josh Heupels book and a dvd of the 2000 National Championship game. He is a devoted Christian and wanted to share his faith and love of God and the OU Sooners with us. Put Scott in your prayers that he will find what he is searching for in a new career. Janet is checking out rehab facilities back home for our next step in recovery. At the same time she is getting the house ready and trying to take care of her responsibilities of her job. Please keep her in your prayers. Whitney is anxious for us to get home and we are excited about seeing her and her dog Ajia. Peter is ready to tackle his last week here. Over the weekend he still feels his quad muscles working and had a big grin on his face last night while he was exercising the quads. It is an ever so slight of movement, but he knows they are working. We will be arriving Friday, approximately 3:30 p.m., at Tulsair terminal 2845 N. Sheridan Road at Tulsa International. We would love to see as many of you there as possible to welcome Peter home. I know it would really boost his spirits to have a crowd there to cheer him on to the next faze of rehab. Again thanks for all your prayers and support. He will walk again Bud NEW-9-10-08 Peter and I went to OU Med Center for the LoKoMat therapy. This is the first time they have done this, but they had Peter in the robotic legs lifted in the air with the machine off. They told Peter at the count of three to raise his right leg as hard as he could. Then they had him try to extend the right leg and then they repeated the process on the left leg. I can not do it justice to try and explain it to you so here is the bottom line. The computer would record any activity and flexing of the muscles and record the amount of resistance Peter was able to do on his own. We are proud to say that Peter did record some activity and the therapist there said that was a good indication. We have had therapist tell us they felt something at Quest to Walk and Janet Day at St. Johns told us yesterday she felt him pushing and now we have it confirmed that there is some activity going on from a computer and we all know computers never make a mistake. It just amazes me how God keeps showing us that he is working on this project with us. Many that have had this happen to them have recovered quicker than Peter. We are taking a little longer and I know there is a reason God is showing us this way to recovery. He has all the answers. The difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer. He will walk again Bud