Hi everybody, it’s Karen. I hope everyone had a great holiday! It’s been a year since Dan’s stroke so I wanted to update y’all on his amazing progress! 

Dan has now put his wheelchair in the garage!!! He is using his cane 24/7 - with assistance from us to stave off falls. We are so delighted for him! Dan has also been working online with a speech program called Constant Therapy that is helping him with speech and enunciation. We continue to go to physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy 3 times a week at Sheltering Arms in Bon Air - they are amazing! 

We have come a long long way - Dan’s stroke was one year ago as of January 8th - he couldn’t walk or talk...and we realize we still have a ways to go. We know we need to continue to be patient and determined - and take everything one  step at a time. We also know we could have never gotten this far without the love and support of our wonderful family and friends. Everyone has been beyond wonderful, especially Team Testin!! They have worked so hard for us! They have had meetings every few weeks to discuss how they could best help Dan and our family...they put together more than one fundraiser: the GoFundMe account, the O’Tooles “Dan’s Day”, and the Bourbon Day Raffle! They also built two ramps for Dan on the back porch, they sent us flowers and gifts, they organized with the community to provide homemade food for us - everyday - for four months! They provided HOURS of assistance with insurance and money matters - they sat with Dan when we needed assistance...they even offered to fly to Colorado and drive a handicapped accessible van back to Virginia because it was painted Hokie maroon!  On many Wednesdays they brought Dan pizza and played the guitar for him. They even payed for our lawn care - for a whole year! They worked in our yard for hours because they noticed a branch down. They took care of many “honey-do” chores - and - they continue to offer to do more! They learned how to handle “transfers” with Dan so they could take him to watch football games, take him to dinner, and the like...and they might kill me for this but...these wonderful forever-friends are:

Neil Cowan

Stan Kearns

Mike Finfgeld

Knox Stacy

Chris and Robin Leahy

Nancy Sullivan

Susanne Williams

Brian and Susan Congrove

Steve McCall

Dave Archibald

Terry Jenkins

John Young

Every single small gesture, every kind word, every hug, every laugh, every visit, everything Team Testin and our family and friends, near and far, have done for us, has helped Dan achieve this.

We love you all - and we are forever grateful,

❤️ Dan, Karen, Davis and Ella