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November 2011
Recently Alvin had a big surprise at the Pomona Raceway. The Darrell Gwynn Foundation donated both a new custom power wheelchair and a manual wheelchair to Alvin. Due to our health insurance not providing wheelchairs or other durable medical equipment, Alvin was stuck using wheelchairs that weren't custom fit to him. These old wheelchairs did not allow Alvin to sit appropriately. Because of the poor positioning in these wheelchairs, Alvin had to get out of his chair frequently through out the day to prevent pressure sores. This in and out of his wheelchair did not allow Alvin a lot of time to be the active teenager that he wanted to be often having to say "no" to invitations to participate in after school activities with his friends. With these new wheelchairs, Alvin has the freedom to hang-out with his friends on and off his high school campus. Alvin will be able to use the manual wheelchair to play wheelchair sports and hang-out locally. He will use the power wheelchair for trips to Disneyland and other activities where he used to get too tired to participate. These new wheelchairs will open up a new world for Alvin. I am excited to see him realize his new possibilities!
Check out this wonderful foundation:
Darrell Gwynn Foundation - Spinal Cord Injury Awareness
December 2010
Alvin joined our family a week before Christmas. He was originally adopted from Liberia, Africa. His adoptive parents literally saved him from what would have been a premature death had he remained in Liberia. At the age of 11, Alvin was in a car accident where he suffered a spinal cord injury. The amazing part was immediately after the accident Alvin was able to walk away from the crash. Unfortunately, because he didn't receive a quick evaluation and treatment, his incomplete spinal cord injury became permanent paralysis. The Liberian hospital was unable to provide appropriate care for Alvin so he developed life-threatening pressure sores and infections. His plight was posted on adoption sites and Internet blogs where his first adoptive family heeded the pleas to save Alvin's life. While Alvin's adoptive family knew they were not a likely match to parent Alvin, they also knew that they were the only chance that Alvin had to stay alive. Once Alvin was airlifted to the United States, he spent most of the next 16 months in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and at home with nursing support. Once Alvin was recovered for his initial infections and received the rehabilitation he needed to move forward, Alvin's family went to work looking for another, better equipped, family to parent him.
Now Alvin is here with our family. As I get to know Alvin, I realize that although his body is healed he still has many emotional issues to deal with. In the apst four years Alvin has spent most of his life in the hospital, He has lost his biological family, his birth country and culture, his adoptive family, and, of course, he lost the ability to control his lower body. Dealing with paralysis alone is a big deal, but dealing with all of the losses Alvin has suffered is major. Currently Alvin is quiet and withdrawn. We know it will take time but we hope that Alvin will begin to trust us, to open up and to enjoy his new life.
View younger pictures of
Alvin
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