Unbelievably, it’s been one year since Brendan’s accident.  He continues to recover and adjust to this new normal with all the resilience and humor I have come to expect from him. He has vastly improved in many ways but still struggles on and off with muscle and nerve pain.  This will be a lifelong battle. 

There is nothing further the doctor can do for Brendan from a curative perspective so his last appointment was in March of this year.  Dr. Kennedy outlined what limitations exist for Brendan going forward.  There may be surgical or even prosthetic options in the future but for now Brendan will utilize the parts of his hand that remain. 

Since the doctor sign off in March, he has been working with a job retraining advocate assigned by his L&I caseworker. It looks like he will be approved to return to school in the fall.  He plans to register for classes and become a paralegal.  I know firsthand he is great at arguing, so it seems fitting that he could potentially move on to continue and become a lawyer. 😉   If everything works out as we hope his schooling at Tacoma Community College will be covered and he will continue to receive his L&I benefit while in school. This is huge blessing and will allow Brendan to focus completely on his schooling so he can rejoin the workforce. I will say that the experience he's had with L&I over the last year has been surprisingly positive.  There is a lot of patience required- things move at glacial pace- but so far so good. I have spoken to a lot of people who rely on L&I and they said the big struggle is proving the injury is work related- back or other joint related issues are hard to prove.  In Brendan's case there is no question that this was a work injury. 

As hard as this last year has been, there have been far more blessings to come out of it.  These things have a way of shifting your priorities into focus.  Life can change pretty quickly.  I find personally that it’s made me let go and be more forgiving.  I want to love all my people as hard as I can, as long as I can while I am here.  For Brendan I know one of the things he has loved is the time he gets to spend with Will.  You can see from the picture Will is pretty thrilled about it too.  😍 He was able to participate weekly in the co-op preschool Will attended this past fall/winter- something that would not have happened while he was working two jobs.  I don't think he would have ever envisioned himself the classroom helper, art helper, etc.  He has grown tremendously as a father and as a person.  It's also a miracle to watch how the human body adapts to circumstances.  Overall I would probably say the positives outweigh the negatives, but that is easy for me to say- I am typing this update with all my digits intact.....😂 

It’s also been a blessing to watch all the kids interact in the rare times we all get to be together. They still may annoy one another but there is a deep love that is more present now.  This could just be me or the fact they are becoming grownups before my eyes- whatever it is, I'll take it!

We have had so much support over the past year and could have never gotten through this without all the prayer and support of our family, friends, church/work  family... I could go on and on. Please keep Brendan and Will in your prayers as they navigate the next year together.  I know a whole new list of challenges will be presented, but I also know that Brendan is up for it.  Knowing he has the support of the community around him makes all the difference.  The below is my constant prayer.  God is good all the time. 

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV 

Blessings, 
Kelly