June 17, 2009 One Year Later

It has been a year today since Chris was injured in the accident, a lot of things have happened in the year. as of now he is doing very well. A quick recap of the year for Chris, he was injured on June 17th, flown to the U Of U burn center, received multiple skin graphs in a 5 hour surgery, remained in the hospital for almost a month (much shorter then anticipated by the doctors), returned home and began a grueling physical therapy plan so that he could play football, (that the doctors said he would not be able to do), he made the teams first practice in August and played in every game on a football team that went undefeated through the regular season and was one game a way from the state championship, he was the leading scorer for his basketball team, and most recently the railroaders baseball team played in the State championship game where they lost a close game, He graduated on May 29th with the rest of the class of 2009 from Carlin. A year ago anyone that seen Chris including the Doctors were unsure he would be able to play sports again, but Chris set his goals and was determined to make the best of his senior year. Chris has shown a lot of people the true meaning of being tough and what determination, and courage really is, He

has been through what I hope is the toughest thing he will have to face in life physically and mentally, but if not he has proven to me and a lot of other people that he will over come about anything. In early May Chris was seen by the burn center at the University of Utah, the Dr and Physical therapist was very happy of how his scarring has turned out, he no longer has to wear the garments that he has had to wear pretty much 24-7 for almost a year only, protect his skin from the sun. I am impressed of how everything looks, he will have pretty significant scarring the rest of his life but from what it could have been, it is really amazing how he has healed. ( the U of U burn center is a very special place and have special people working there, we are thankful that they were available for Chris). We have a lot of people to thank for their support the last year, from the teachers and coaches that supported Chris through all of the ups and downs of

the year, The EMT's and Dr's that got Chris through this, to our families, friends, Co-workers the community and everyone who has supported Chris and us through this, again a big Thank You. This is not the last time the blog gets updated, but as Chris moves on through the challenges of life we are leaving it up to him to keep you all informed of his progress and where things go from here, he plans on attending School in August and plans to get his pilots license.




Chris will still be required to see the Dr from time to time, and I am sure as he and his body changes there will be some things that need to be looked at, but again he looks good and is doing good, I have attached some pictures from throughout the year. Remember to not overlook the little
things in life, things can change in seconds.

March 2, 2009

Chris is doing very good, a lot of his scarring is starting to flatten out and his attitude as always is good, Basketball season is finished, a little disappointing but that's life, Baseball Started this week so Chris is busy again after a week off from sports. A doctor visit is scheduled this Saturday March 6th so we will see how they feel he is doing, I think he is going to require some stretching from physical therapy for a while it seems his skin will tighten up if he does not stay stretched out properly, but they told us this would happen. During spring break we will take Chris to Dillon Montana so he can try out for the basketball team there and then on to Oregon so a couple of schools can look at him for Baseball. With graduation quickly approaching Chris is extremely busy with school activities and preparing for college, he has started taking a first responder class here in Carlin and seems interested in taking this to a higher level, EMT, Paramedic etc. We still have a lot of support from everyone and people are always asking how he is doing and how is he healing. I have attached some recent photos, but he is doing good, he has some scarring on his face and ears, and still is unable to open his mouth as far as he should (sometimes this is a blessing) he still performs all of his exercises and stretching routines. He is a very motivated kid and is prepared to do what it takes to get back to as normal as he can, and I expect that he will. Well that is it for now, if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them and Chris, Tiff or I will answer them.

January 4th, 2009

Hopefully everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Great start to a Happy New Year, we as most of you have been busy, between basketball games, work, and taking care of the usual holiday experiences. Chris has had a good break from school and basketball, the regular season for basketball starts the 8th and the team seems to be struggling a bit, but again they have a lot of talent so I think they can have a good season. As for his injuries Chris is doing good, his voice is still a bit rough but everything seems to be healing well. We are now starting to take care of Senior pictures, graduation announcements, and all the other things that goes with graduation, I have attached a picture out of the Elko Free Press of Chris playing basketball against the Independence colts last month, you can see he is still wearing his garments which is pretty uncomfortable for him and he catches a little flack from the other teams and people that do not know what the garments are for but he tries not to pay attention to them. Again I will try to keep the blog updated with Chris's progress and also the basketball season.