I wanted to tell you guys about a friend of mine that is absolutely incredible. His name is Alex Malarkey and he is an awesome kid. Alex is 10 years old and was in a serious car accident a little over three years ago. Alex sustained a C1 level injury and was lucky to be alive. Alex’s progress has far exceeded the expectations of his medical doctors and he is truly a miracle of God.

I first talked to Alex when I received a phone call in April from Alex’s mom. During that day, I just got off the airplane in Washington D.C. and I wasn’t having the greatest of days. I didn’t have any excuses, but I just wasn’t in a good mood after flying all day. I then got the chance to talk to Alex on the phone. Alex is on a ventilator and talking to him, as he rose above the ventilator limitations, was truly remarkable. Talking to him turned my bad mood into a very inspired great mood. We have continued to stay in touch over the months… I haven’t gotten the chance to meet Alex yet, but I have a feeling that I will in the coming year. Alex heard about my wound, wanted to give me some words of encouragement. He definitely got the job done. After talking to him, I knew everything would be fine. He even made a video for me of both he and his brother singing “Take Me Out To The Ball Game”. It is an incredible video and will definitely inspire you. Alex Malarkey is an incredible individual and truly a champ… Please keep both Alex and his family in your thoughts and prayers. God Bless!!!

Matt C

Here is the video link of both Alex and his brother singing “Take Me Out To The Ball Game”…:

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=5695d58fd136adda770c

I recently spoke at the Farm Bureau Officers and Leaders Convention on July 22 in Springdale, Arkansas. There were nearly 600 individuals in attendance as I shared my message on how ‘Nothing Is Impossible’. The theme of the conference was ‘The Landscape of Arkansas’. It was neat to share my story with such a great group. This speaking engagement was a little different than the others because I had a lot of my family members in attendance. My father, grandparents, aunt, and 15 year-old cousin were all in attendance. The main message that I tried to instill at the conference was one that an individual passed on to me last year. Pat Rummerfield, who has become a great friend of mine, has overcome numerous obstacles. Pat, as many of you know, was once a quadriplegic with little hope of a normal life, but now is walking and a true miracle. I asked Pat last July, which was the first time I met him, if he could tell me the most important thing that drove him towards defying the odds. Pat responded with these simple words, “Visualize where you want to be, step out of your comfort zone, and achieve your Goal.” That simple message has helped me get back on track and achieve numerous goals. This was the theme that I talked about at the Officers and Leaders Convention. “Visualize where you want to be, and DO IT!” I am very thankful for all of the support from the individuals at the Farm Bureau Officers and Leaders Convention. I want to send a special thank you to both Mr. Stanley Reed (who introduced me) and Mr. Gary Keathley who made sure all accommodations were OK. I look forward to continuing to share my message on how ‘Nothing Is Impossible’ to other individuals… Thanks to all of you who make these things possible and God Bless!!!

Matt C

Here is an article by the Northwest Times about my speaking engagement at the Farm Bureau Officers and Leaders Conference:

http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/67411

My therapy came to an end for my short term visit. I was planning on staying a month, but with my wound limiting my therapy, I am going to go home and let it heal up. I will be flying back to Arkansas on Monday. I have a speaking engagement in Springdale on the following Tuesday. I will be speaking at an Officers and Leaders Insurance Convention, which is supposed to have approximately 500 individuals in attendance. I am very excited about sharing my message.

This past week of therapy went really well. I did a lot of trunk work and am really sore in my abs. I also did some standing in the standing frame. Even though we had some limitations on the amount of different things that we could do, I still feel like we got a lot accomplished. It was also great to be there during the same week as my little friend Sarah. We had a great time playing with each other… She keeps me on my toes and is an awesome little girl. I am going to miss her a lot!

I was also featured in a magazine that Kennedy Krieger Institute publishes. It was just released in the past few days. It is an article about my progress at Kennedy Krieger Institute along with my public speaking. I had to come up to Baltimore earlier this spring to take pictures for it. The link is at the bottom of the post for the article.

I am looking forward to my return home to Arkansas. It is always great to come home. I am going to have a busy August as I get ready for school. I want to thank all of you for all of your thoughts, prayers, and continued outpouring of support. You guys are amazing and I know that none of this would be possible without you. Thanks again and God Bless!!!

Matt C

Here is the link to the article: http://helpkids.kennedykrieger.org/patients/matt.html

It has been awhile since I have posted, so I thought I would let you guys know what is going on. As you know from my Mom’s last post, I have a wound that is limiting my therapy. It is frustrating because the healing of this wound is out of my hands. I can control how hard I work doing my therapy to achieve my goals, but with this wound, there is nothing I can do to make it heal faster. I have been going to Kennedy Krieger Institute at 9 am for therapy. I do therapy for a couple of hours and then head back to the apartment and lay on my stomach to relieve the pressure off of my wound. I am about to go insane from the boredom… Haha!

It is good to be back in Baltimore and see some of my friends. I have been working with my therapist Claire at Kennedy Krieger Institute. We have been working on a lot of abdomen and back exercises to strengthen my trunk. With my wound, I can’t get up and do any walking. The wound may be a blessing in disguise because I am really getting some good trunk work in, which is very valuable and something I can’t get enough of. Today was a special day for me at Kennedy Krieger. As I came into the building, I saw my little friend Sarah that many of you remember from my last visit in December. She was full of smiles and it was so great to see her. I am so proud of her… She is doing so good with all of her walking and therapy. She is also getting so big and is so adorable. I am so glad that she is doing therapy during the same time frame as me.

I will have therapy again in the morning. I am looking forward to getting back to doing more abdomen work… I am going to have some ‘Six Pack Abs’ before too long. Thank all of you for all of the thoughts and prayers. I am so thankful to have so much support during this period of my life. Thanks again and God Bless!!!

Matt C

Matt started  therapy at KKI on Monday. He had his evaluation with Dr. Sadowsky Tuesday. It went well and we have the highest respect for her knowledge of the spinal cord injury patient. She is the best doctor and we are very blessed we found her. Matt has a wound that is not healed. It is healing…but very slow. The doctor and nurses think it looks good. If you have to have a wound then it is described as a “good wound.” We found out today that his new wheelchair cushion also helped the skin to breakdown. He scraped on his wheelchair tire and that is how he received the abrasion. Therapy has not been as exciting as the last times we were here. We were so excited to get back because Matt was probably in the best shape since his injury. He had been going to the parallel bars and standing without his braces. He was working on moving the feet which was beginning to happen. We just have this setback and he will be back to that stage soon. Claire has had to readjust her therapy program for him. Matt is very fortunate as this is his first setback since he started his therapy at Project Walk and KKI.

We come back to the apartment and Matt lays down for the rest of the day. He has to keep pressure off of it to heal. I am sure that airplane ride didn’t help any. Matt is very frustrated about not getting to do the activity based restorative therapy. He has had better days for sure.

KKI is a wonderful place and we are so elated to be back. It is like our 2nd family there. There is so much hope and they do work miracles with SCI patients. It has been great to reconnect with other patients and moms as well as meeting new ones. I glanced around the therapy gym today and everyone was working so intently on relearning what had been lost through their SCI. It is amazing to see the small gains as each day… they do a little more and more.

We do thank Lorraine with Chase Street Properties for always finding us the perfect apartment at an affordable price. She is great!

Hopefully, Matt will write something soon. Please keep him and the other patients in your prayers. We are praying on God’s healing so he can do this intense therapy that works so well for him. One of my best friends always has the right words in any situation. I know she won’t mind me posting something she wrote in an e-mail as the words meant a lot to me.  “ God always can make good out of bad so we just have to keep the faith and let him work his miracle.”

Love and God Bless to all,

Sancy

I am sitting here in the airport and thought I better let everyone know what is going on in the life of Brian Matthew Courson. I am flying out to Baltimore in a couple of minutes for more therapy at Kennedy Krieger Institute. I am going to be staying for a whole month for therapy. I am excited to get back up there and continue my therapy. I have not been able to perform therapy at home for the past couple of weeks. I scraped the upper part of my leg and it has developed into a wound. I have been trying to stay off of it to let it heal. It takes quite awhile to heal due to the fact that blood doesn’t circulate as well below my injury level. I have been laying on my stomach trying to keep the pressure off of it… I have been going insane from not being able to work out! It is almost well and I am hoping that with the care of the Kennedy Krieger nurses, we can get it all healed up. I am looking forward to seeing all of my friends and experiencing the sights of Baltimore… I am sure that a ballgame will be thrown in there! Well it is about that time to board the plane and depart to Baltimore. Thanks a lot for all of the thoughts and prayers you guys continue to poor out… I feel very humbled to have so much support in my journey forward. God Bless!!!

Matt C