------------- Click Here For The Free Lee Homepage -------------
I have created a new more accessible website. All photos, videos, and other resources are now available to everyone. Click the above link to view the new Free Lee website.
MY STORY
Ok, so here is the deal. If you have found Free Lee you probably know what it is all about. However, if you do not, here is a little information to get you started. My name is Lee Harris. (Thats where the "Lee" comes from). I am a 20 year old mechanical engineering student at Iowa State Univerisity. On Semptember 12, 2005 something happened that changed my life. I was involve in a bad motorcyle accident in which I shattered my spine. I had surgery to put my vertabrae back together with pins and rods but the major outcome of the surgery is that I am completely paralyzed from the chest down and am now confined to a wheelchair. (For those of you who really know your stuff my injury is technically a "T-5 T-6 Asia-A") The doctors give me no chance of recovery. I however have a different fate in mind. After spending 6 weeks in the hospital, and another month or so at home with my parents I now live on my own. I go to school, I work, I party, I drive my own pickup. (If you want more info about me check out my Carepage , my carepage name is HarrisISU, or send me an e-mail. My email address is [email protected]) All of that is great, but my goal is to one day get out of this wheelchair. (Hints the "Free" part). The only way that we can find to do this right now is olfactory stem cell surgery followed by intensive rehab. The surgery is experimental and is therefore not covered by insurance. Although the rehab will be done in Detroit along with all of my preliminary doctors visits, the surgery is only done in Lisbon Portugal. Because of all of these complications I will be forced to come up with over $100,000. That is why I have this site. I am an extremely independent, strong and motivated person, but I can not do this alone. I need as much mental, physical, and financial support as I can possibly get. If you have read this all the way through you must have some interest in my quest and I greatly appreciate it, every message, dollar, and prayer I can get will get me one step closer to my goal.Thank You,
Lee E Harris
P.S. If you stumbled onto this site via someone elses, go ahead, add me, I need as much help as I can get my name out there.
THE FUNDRAISING
Well, so far I've got nothing, I am just getting started and feel a bit like a lost puppy at this point. I know my high school has made some efforts and there are talks of chili suppers and such floating floating about but that is in the future. One other idea I have is my logo, perhaps shirts, stickers, posters maybe with the logo on the. If anyone out there would be interested in purchasing or producing them please contact me. The benifit of something like this is two fold. Not only could it possibly help me raise some money, but it would also be a huge promotional deal and would really help the raising awareness part of my mission.
Update
We will be using the National Transplant Assistance Fund (NTAF) to help us keep track and manage our fund raising. Check them out, we still have to come up with how to raise the money, but they should be a big help. Soon you should be able to make a contribution to my fund on this site as well, but give me some time, I'm still working out the kinks.
Everything is all set up with NTAF. Check out the link to learn how to make a donation.
------- CLICK HERE TO DONATE -------
Update
The stickers are in, if you want one let me know!!!
Take pictures of your stickers stuck to, well whatever you feel the urge to stick them to, then send me the pics. I am going to try to get a slide show going on here but I need some material to work with.
CALENDER
October 10 - Meeting to discuss possible fundraising ideas. Ballard High School
November 11 - Dinner and Auction - Albia, IA
November 18 - Free Lee benifit concert - Huxley, Iowa.
February 9 - Game day, this is what all of the work is for. Lisbon, Portugal.
I will update this whenever I find out something new and can remember to post it. Thanks.
MY PROGRESS
If you would like to know about my hospital stay, the physical therapy I have done, or just how I relearned how to do all of those everydaythings that so many people take for granted, just let me know. I've got loads to tell but I'm not going to post it all on this page. Send me a message and I will bet back to you as soon as I can. You can ask me just about anything, so don't be shy, like I have said before, the more you know the more you can accomplish. If someone else who is suffering from SCI is reading this page I encourage you espcecially to ask me any questions you might have.
03/12/2006
Today is six months after my accident. I had to wait until today to do any contacting doctors about the surgery. They want to let my back heal as much as it is going to. Today is also a day of mixed emotions. I can't help but be just a little bit proud of myself for coming as far as I have. The journey from a hospital bed to where I am now has been a long and hard one. However, almost overwhelming my sense of accomplishment is the fact that this has been the most difficult six months of my life. Before the accident I could never have imagined how hard this would be, both mentally and physically, but all I can do is put one foot in front of the other (well figuratively speaking anyway) and move on. 03/14/2006
Today was my first doctors visit, it was just with my local general physician. We needed him to write the order for my CT Mylegram that I need to include with my written aplication to send to the clinic in detroit. He also got my medications straightened out what help me control my spasms and my bladder control. (If you want more info on that, send me message.) I am a little nervous with this being the first step in a very long process, but you can't make a journey without taking that first step. Also the exitement of the possible outcome down the road has me really exited and it is great to get the ball rolling.
03/20/2006
I had my CT Mylegram today. It went well, or at least I think it did anyway. I was in the hospital for a good portion of the day. Esentiall they do a spinal tap and inject dye into your spinal cord so that they can see it better on the scan. They insert it at the base of the spine, then tilt your bed so your body is as 45 degrees with your head down. (You have to hold on pretty tight.) They said some people get headaches but I had no complications. I did have to miss a day of class, but worse things have happened. It has been awhile since I've been in a gown on a hospital bed and I will tell you one thing, I do not miss it one little bit. I have a CD with the pictures from the scan, but I'm not a doctor, so as near as I can tell the show that my back is messed up (Duh). We just need to get the application finished up and get that and the pictures sent to Detroit and let somebody who knows what is going on have a look at them.
03/22/06
We got the application all wrapped up last night and the scans together and we are putting everything in the mail today. (Including a check for $150, small price to pay for success I suppose, but it still sucks) It will be a couple of weeks before we hear back from them so in the mean time keep in touch and pray for the best.
03/23/06
I had an interview today for an article in the mechanical engineering alumni newsletter. It is an article featuring yours truly and my turnaround since the accident and my return to school. It went well. It is the same story I have told many times, so chances are if you have read this far you already know it. Still I will try to post the article or a link to it after it is published as most of you will probably not be reading the alumni news letter.
Also I spoke with Kimbra (My physical theripist in Des Moines) and we set up therapy sesions starting April 3. The reason for this round of therapy is to learn how to walk with long leg braces. (KAFO's) Well its not really walking, it will be more just swinging my legs through crutches, but I'll let you know more when it happens. The main goal from this is to be able to order my own set of leg braces for use after the surgery, assuming all goes to plan.
03/24/06
I got some feedback supporting the idea of shirts and stickers and so on. I ordered the stickers today. They are 3" by 5" screen printed vinyl stickers with the logo and website printed on them. (There is a picture uploaded in My Photos ) The design looks pretty good, and I think the sticker will be a real quality product and turn out looking nice. I ordered them from Contagious Graphics , they worked very well with me to get my order taken care of and gave me a great deal too. I haven't decided on a price yet, but they will be cheap, so tell your freinds. I should have them in about two weeks.
04/03/06
I had my first day of therapy this time around. This time I am learning to walk with what are called long leg braces. Basically what the braces do is keep my legs straight, so my ankles and knees are locked. I can still move my hips, well I can't move them, but they move, which makes is hard. If I can get my hips popped foreward and my shoulders back I can get my legs to support my weight. Today I used a loaner set of the leg braces and worked in the parallel bars for about an hour. Next week I go to get measured to get my own set of braces. Once I get those I will go back to therapy and learn how to use them more. What it comes down to is it is an extreme amount of work for my upper body, and as far as using it to get around will really not be efficient. It could be useful for doing things like working on the pickup or other thing things you need to stand up to do. However, the biggest reason for doing it is that if I get to have my surgery it will give me a great start for the rehab that will come with that.
04/10/06
I went to spectrum orthotics in Des Moines today. I went there so that they could fit me for my own set of braces. The trip was pretty uneventful. I went down there and they took a bunch of measurements and made some plaster cast molds of my legs. Assuming everything goes through insurance I shouldhave my braces in a couple of weeks. After I get my leg braces then I can start therapy with Kimbra again. Until then I will just wait.
Also I got an email from Contagious Graphics and the stickers haven been shipped they should be here either this week or next. 04/17/06
The stickers came today and they look great. If you want one let me know and I will see what I can do to get you one. I have plenty. I have decided that I am not going to set a price for the stickers. So, if you want one, I will give it to you, but donations will be accepted as usual.
05/08/06
I got a letter from Detroit today. They have reveiwed my films and have sent them off to Portugal. Once they review my application over there they will be able to tell me whether or not I am able to move on to the next step of the process. The next step of the process it to go to Detroit for additional testing and meeting with doctors. Only after that can they tell me if I get accepted into the study. But as far as I'm concearned just knowing that the process is moving along is a good thing.
Other than that I have just been carrying on with life as usual. I am just going over a three week long struggle with a rather nasty little UTI. But I seem to be over that now. School ended up well, I had a 4.0 gpa this semester. I opted not to take any classes this summer. I will be working at Lowe's as well as Kreg Tool this summer and expect to keep plenty busy. Other than that I plan to just keep moving on and trying to keep the ball rolling on my ultimate goal.
05/12/06
I went to the doctor today to get some final mesurements so they can finish making my leg braces. The should be done in the next week or two, then hopefully I should be able to get going on learning how to use them in therapy. I'm exited it will give me some added mobility and help me get back into doing some of the things I used to do.
06/03/06
I know I haven't updated this thing in awhile. I appologize. I have been very busy, but medically, there has been very little going on. I have been working to jobs and keeping very busy. I have also been fighting uti's for a few weeks now. All of this finally caught up with me wednesday. The current usi I was fighting got into my blood and created an infection in there and caused me some real trouble. I was at work and felt cold, my hands went kind of numb, started shaking, got light headed, got a headache, bad case of nausea. I went outside to try get warmed up, it didn't work, all of the symptoms got a lot worse. They sent me home from work and I went to the doctor and they ended up sending me to the hospital. The got me on some IV fluids and antibiotics, as well as some morphine to get rid of the headache, it was a headache like I have never had. I finally got discharged yesterday and sent me home with some more anibiotics. But while I was there they did an ultrasound of my kidneys and bladder and I have two bladder stones. One and inch in diameter and one an inch and a half. These are probably the main source of all the infections and incontinence I have been having. So I have to go back to the hospital soon to either have them broken up and removed or surgically removed so they will stop causing me so much trouble. But I'm feeling better now and hopefully I don't have to do that again.
Other than that whole ordeal a few other things have happened. I went to choice medical and ordered a new cusion. I ordered a rojo air cusion instead of my jay jell cusion because I have a pressure sore on my tailbone I am sick of fighting, that should be here soon. Also I got a call from Spectrum while I was in the hospital and my braces are ready for the final fit, so hopefully I will have them next week. As far as Portugal and Detroit go I have heard nothing more, just more waiting and wondering.
07/01/06
The last few weeks have been pretty uneventfull with not a lot going on. I did get my new cusion and my pressure sore is getting better. But in every other way the cusion is kind of pain in the ass. It makes transfering much more difficult, it's kind of like sitting in a five gallon bucket. Also when I would sitin the cusion it would flatten out and rub in my wheels. I had skirts for my chair but they stuck up so high that they hit my but when I transfered so I made some of my own out of some clear 1/4" acrylic. They work really slick and if you aren't looking for them you don't even see them. I also adjusted my chair to put some dump in it because my chair had none in it at all. However the axle was already all the way to the top up the adjustment, so I had to flip it upside down and backwards. But when I did that it moved the center of gravity foreward and I was always at risk of going over backwards. Since the axle was already adjusted all the way back I had to desing and machine some spacers that would slide onto the existing tracks that the axle slid on and still get the distance I needed. I designed them on the computer and had one of the machinists at Kreg Tool make them for me. There are deffinately some benifits of working there.
Medically there hasn't been much happening either. I still don't have my braces. The date just keeps getting pushed back but I am supposed to go monday the 10th, so hopefully nothing will change between now and then. Once I get them will start therapy the following thursday. I had a pre-op physical yesterday and I am having surgery next wednesday to remove my bladder stones. Hopefully they can get those all out and I won't have to fight with uti's quite as much as I have had to fight them so far. As far as Portugal and stem cell sugery I haven't heard anything new. I will just have to keep waiting on that one I guess.One final bit of information. This may really only pertain to other para's and quad's but anyone can read it. I did find out last weekend that I do not float very well at all anymore. I went to Manson, IA with a bunch of my buddies from school and while we were there we decided to go to the pool. I have not been in water since I have been hurt and decided to just wheel up to where the pool is about four feet deep and just jump in, so I did. But once I got in I figured out I do not float well at all. Treading water using nothing but your arms is really somewhat difficult, especailly when you have to do it in even three feet of water, but I suppose the more I do it the easier it will get.
07/11/06
Well, I have had a few things that I have had happen since my last post that I thought you all may want to know about. The first thing is about my new cusion. I mentioned previously that it was a pain in the ass, well apparently it really was a pain in the as because I have two new pressure somres bringing the total to three. It turns out when I got the cusion they didn't put enough air it for me and thinking they were the experts it never crossed my mind to double check. I should have known better. I did however get it fixed myself and all three sores seem be healing up.
My surgery went well, they got my stones broke up with the lazer and out of me without cutting me open and I got to go home the same day. I recovered pretty quickly and and was back at work the next day. I think I may have a little bit of infection now. I have been fighting some bad temperatures, headaches, major lack of energy, and a few other symptoms, but so incontinence. I went to the doctor today and he seemed to thing I am doing all right, so I am not too concearned.
The final thing I have to mention pertains to my leg braces. I went down and did a fitting with them monday afternoon and the fit pretty well, but they did need just a little bit of adjustment. They are supposed to be done and waiting for me at the hospital thursday so I get started on another round of physical therapy. I will let everyone know how it goes.
07/19/06
I have had a few things happen recently and I think it might be time for another update. First of all for those of you that don't know I was part of the top story on the Channel 5 news at ten last night (07/18/06). The Senate passed a few stem cell reasearch bills yesterday and the news was doing a story and they interveiwed me yesterday and I talked about the difference between adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells and what effect the passing of these bills could have on me. If you would like to watch it, the story is posted in the My Videos section of my myspace page. I only had about 40 minutes notice before the interview, but I think I did ok, and we even got the appartment clean in time. The news team also did a very good job with the story and I am happy with it, so check it out.
On a medical note I just wanted to mention that I had my first therapy session with my leg braces last thursday. It was very hard work but I made quite a bit of progress. I would really call what I do walking, it is more like hopping, but I did it in both the parallel bars and with a walker. There I are a few picture posted in the My Photos section of my profile and I am hoping to have a video soon. I will do some more withe the braces in coming weeks and I guess I will just have to see what sort of progress I make.
08/07/06
I got some good news today. I got an email from Dr. Lima in Portugal and he said that everything looked good to him and he had forewarded everything back to Detroit. So now I just have to get in contact with them and get some tests and those sorts of things set up. But now unless something unforseen comes up the surgery is a go and the fund raising begins, so keep checking to see what sort of things we have planned.
Other than that I have just been keeping really busy working and doing therapy with my braces. Things are moving along with that, I'm not sure how practical they will be, but the workout is good, and it is good to try something new. Also I went to the Breaking Benjamin concert last night with the crew from Lowes. It was about 100 degrees in there and there were thousands of people in there, but it was an awesome show and we had a good time. The only problem was I couldnt hardly see anything. Well it just so happens that the woman in front of me was a physical therapist in davenport and she wanted me to let her help me stand up against the gate so I could see over everyones head to the stage. I told her no, but like most therapists, she was relentless. So I lifted myself up agianst the fence and she helped hold me there and I got to stand up and see the stage for a few songs. I guess what they say is true, where theres a will, theres a way. Other than that just keep in touch, hopefully things will get moving along with the surgery and getting ready for it.
08/29/06
I know I haven't posted in awhile, I have been really busy going back to school and working. I just wanted to let everyone know that I finally heard back from Detroit, and that they have put a hold on accepting patients to send to Portugual until they can review their screening and research processes. They didn't give me any sort of a time frame, but judging by the email, it could be quite some time. There is still a possibility that I could work directly with Dr. Lima so I suppose that will be my next move. Also we are just finishing getting my NTAF stuff set up and hope to start fund raising very soon. I will find a way to get surgery, or whatever I need, a setback like this is just a bump in the road an is not going to stop me.
09/07/06
It's official, the fund raising has begun. I just got word from NTAF today that they finished up the paperwork and everything was accepted and my fund has been set up. They are working on setting up my website, and as soon as that is done I will be placing a link onto my page.
In other news I have been contacting Carlos Lima directly and working out what I am going to have to do to get the treatment I need, Detroit or no Detroit. As soon as I get any more info I will let everyone know.
09/12/06
It is hard to believe it has been a year already. I just want to take the time to thank everyone who has been helping and supporting me. I know you will all continue to help in any way you can and I greatly appreciate it.
Also I want to let everyone know I have the site that you can now make a donation to. Just click the link below or go to the NTAF website and type in my name. Thanks.
------- CLICK HERE TO DONATE -------
09/20/06
I have recieved a bunch of different information from Dr. Lima in the last few days. We have been sending emails back and forth and her is what I know now, starting with the most exiting. Appartently my surgery has been scheduled for quite some time for October 27. Considering I found this out today, I assumed 2007, but no, 2006. Apparently I am supposed to be having surgery in a month. However, just hearing this for the first time today, there is no way I can be ready, I don't have the money raised, I don't have my passport, I'm in school and numerous other things. I am a bit frustrated that I didn't know sooner so I could be ready for October, but more excited to know that things are actually moving on. So I am going to get the date rescheduled, but things are going to be happening sooner than any of us thought.
Now this is a really great thing, however, it is going to take a huge effort on everyone's part. Mine, my family's, my friends, and all of you who read this page. The day we have been waiting for has come, now it is time to step up, get the money raised, and get to work.
I will let everyone know as I get more information but I just wanted to let everyone know that THINGS ARE HAPPENING AND THE TIME IS NOW.
09/21/06
I had another very busy day today. I got a call late this afternoon from my mom and she was down at my high school and there was a news crew there to film the football game tonight. Well it just so happens that they were looking for something else to do a story on, my mom was there when they said it, and so I got a phone call. So I went down and we filmed some stuff and did an interview. They put together a pretty good story and part of it aired at 6 and the whole story aired at 10 on WHO TV 13.
I gave away a ton of stickers tonight, so I am sure there are alot of you reading this website for the first time. I want to thank you all for taking the time the time to check it out. If you have read this far and are still not sure what is going on, I appologize, but I'm not sure you are going to figure it out. That is a joke, so nobody send me an angry message about it. Other than that there have been a ton of fund raising ideas thrown out in the last few day and I appreciate all of them. We are currently working on getting some of them in concrete and dates set, and you can be sure I will let you know as soon as I do.
09/25/06
I just got word from Dr. Lima today and the surgery is scheduled for February 9, 2007. Now that we have a date we just have to make sure to have everything ready to go.
As far as update on fundraising the only thing concrete is going to be November 11 in Albia we are doing a dinner and dance night sort of a thing with an auction. Also, October 10 we are having a meeting at Ballard High School to discuss methods of fundraising. Anyone is welcome to attend and give their two cents worth. There are a few other things in the works, so keep checking. Also, about fund raising, Family and Freinds are helping out a lot and the carepage may get updated with something that is not on this one, so be sure to check both.
10/13/06 I know I haven't posted for awhile but I have been really busy with school and work for the last few weeks. The fundraising planning meeting went well, or at least that is what I'm told. I had test that evening and was not able to attend. People had lots of interesting ideas and ambition to carry them out. As things get confirmed with dates and more exact details I will get them on the site.
As you all know the fundraising has begun and we have had one group really meet the challenge. The The Mid-America Group has made a significant donation of $25,000 in response to a request submitted by Robin von Gillern, an employee of the Mid-America Group. She is also a freind and coworker of my aunt Julie. She had requested the the company match what the employees raise, and they decided to do better. On behalf of myself and the whole team I want to thank Robin and Mid-America as a whole. We are all very moved by you generosity, we really can not thank you enough. This will give us a very good start to our fundraising as well as big boost toward achieving the final goal. Thank you.
One other final note, I growing increasingly frustrated with my myspace page. With the amount of information I am posting on it, it is becoming somewhat sloppy and hard to read. Also, if you are not a member you can not see any of my pictures or videos. As a result I have created a new page which can be accessed by clicking HERE . It has most of the same info as this page but is organized and looks much more professional. When I make a new post I will put it on both pages, so don't worry about missing one. I am still working on getting the site all put together, so some links and things may not work right. So if you get a chance check it out and let me know what you think. It should be a big improvement over my Myspace page.
10/17/06
This is a copy of a post from the carepage that my mom made this morning. It brings up a pretty important issue, so if any of you have any tips or contacts that might be able to help us out, let us know. There is some contact information in the post. You can contact her, or any of us, all of our information is on the contact page.
Ok guy's the fundraising is progressing, but we need someone's help out there. We have two fantastic items we want to raffle, plus we have a whole basket program but we are hitting a brick wall with the State of Iowa for a license. Does anyone out ther have a connection with a group or church who may have a current 501C permit from the State of Iowa that includes a raffle clause? We are totally stuck if we can't identify someone since the first fundraising event is coming up on November 11th. Please helps us out if you can. Either call me at home 515-769-2436, cell 515-231-2436, or work 515-294-6343. You may also email me at [email protected].
10/25/06
First of all I wanted to let everyone know we got the permit taken care of. Iowa State University has one and we are going to be able to utilize it for our raffle. Our main raffle item consists of the following:
- St. Louis Rams vs San Francisco Football game on November 26, 2006
- 4 luxury suite tickets with refreshments provided during the game.
- 1 night accommodations for 4 at the Adam's Mark Hotel in St. Louis.
- St. Louis Rams gift basket.
- Hummer Limo ride to the game.
The tickets are $100 each and only 100 of them will be sold. We should have them ready to go by the end of the week. If you are interested please contact us. Also we are hoping to have them at the Ballard High School Football game friday night, so if you are interested come and find us there.
One final note on the raffle. The drawing will be held November 11, 2006 at the dinner and auction in Albia, Iowa. However, you do not need to be present to win, but just know you may be contacted that night.
Another subject I wanted to bring up is T-Shirts. They have been designed and ordered and will hopefully be here before the 11th. They are black T-shirts with the logo, website, and surgery date on the back, and Free Lee on the front chest. The cost will be $15 and we will start selling them as soon as we have them.
There have been some questions pertaining to the calender. There are events coming up that are not on there. This is because the detail have not been worked out yet. One big event is a Free Lee benifit concert that will be held at the high school and will feature local Rock talents. The admission will be $5 and there will be food and snack available for purchase. The original date set for the concert was November 18th, however, there is a girls basketball game in ankeny that night, so the concert will have to be rescheduled. I will post it as soon as I know.
One last note. Chet Culver was on Iowa State's campus today durring a University campaign tour. I was able to talk to both him and Selden Spencer today and give them all of the information about me, and the surgery in general. We also capitalized on the fact that there was a few different media sources there, so hopefully you will all see Free Lee around different places.
10/29/06
I just wanted to post a quick message this morning. Everything seems to be going pretty well, everyones generosity and willingness to help out is really helping us along the way.
Monday I will be in Des Moines. Michael J. Fox will be in town as will Senator Harkin, and I have a front row seat. I will let everyone know how it goes.
One final note that I have is one that I am passing on from Mid-America Group and reads as follows:
Also, the Mid-America Group contribution of $25,000 is a challenge. They are matching funds raised by employees and sales associates up to $25,000. Together they are committed meeting this match. President of Coldwell Banker Mid-America Group, REALTORS, Carolyn Helmlinger and her husband Conrad have started the group out with a personal contribution of $1,000. On Friday, Mid-America Commercial committed to $3,500 and Broker Associate Dean Weitenhagen donated $500. We are inspired and humbled by this generous group of people. We will keep them and all of you in our prayers.
I just want to take this opportunity to thank Mid-America Group and everyone for all of your support.
11/10/16
I know I haven't posted for awhile, I have been very busy. I just wanted to post and let everyone know how things are going. The stem cell rally in Des Moines went well. When Chet Culver was speaking he mentioned me and my misson, so that was nice. Not to mention following the speach I had four or five people waiting to have interviews with me, and I think I was on the news again.
We had what I would call our first real fundraising event yesterday. We had a pizza lunch in the chemistry building at Iowa State. It went better than any of us imagined. Between the pizza sales, t-shirt sales, and donations recieved durring the event we ended up profiting over $2500 for the Free Lee fund. I am continually amazed and energized by the generousity of those around me. Not just those I know, but from people who I have never met. I want to thank everyone.
If you haven't heard yet the t-shirts are in. The cost is $15 and I personally think they look pretty good. The guy who designed them must have known what he was doing.
We have our dinner and auction in Albia tomorrow night. For those of you attending it should be a very enjoyable time. For those of you who bought football raffle tickets, the drawing is tomorrow, so don't be surprised if you get a phone call. For any of you who have not purchased raffle tickets yet, they are still available today, so if you want one, let Renee, Julie, or myself know ASAP.
Other than that I'm doing pretty well. I am keeping very busy. School is going well, rather difficult, but well. I am still working both jobs, however, I don't work quite as many hours as I would like, but I find it increasingly difficult to find the time. Both companies I work for know my situation and if they weren't so understanding and generous I would probably be out of a job, so I want to thank them. There was an article on the Iowa State web page about me that was written very well, so if you get a chance check that out.
One final thought, and it is more of a rant really. For those of you who are in Iowa, you already know the current weather sitituation. But for those of you who are not, two days ago it was 75 degrees. Today we are recieving multiple inches of snow, only in Iowa. I will leave you with that, thanks again everyone.
12/04/06
Sorry I haven't posted for awhile I have been really busy. The fund raising has been going really well. We have raised almost $85,000 so far and still have more fundraisers planned. The next one scheduled is planned for December 16. It is a pancake breakfast in Kelley at the fire station. I have two more weeks of school left and hopefully after that I can update my page a little better to let everyone know about everything that is going on. I have been in the news a few time since the last time I posted. Channel 5 did a two part story which can be viewed from their website. I also did an article for the Iowa State Daily, and the Iowa State News Service, both of which can be viewed at their respective websites. I have also done a few other interviews. It seems that we are doing a very good job at getting the word out, not just about me, but about stem cell research as a whole. As busy as I am it can sometimes become to forget the big picture and I encourage everyone to show their support not only for me, but for stem cell research in general.
One thing that a lot of poeople are asking about is the T-shirts. We have the shirts now. The cost is $15.00 and you can get them from either me or my parents. If you don't see either one of us, you can mail us your donation, and we will ship your shirt to you, just send me an e-mail if you are interested.
I have updated the calender with a few more upcoming events so check those out and hope to have a link up to a page soon with auction items for January 20. Thanks again everyone.
12/30/06
I first want to start off by explaining what is going on with my surgery. It has been postponed. The exact reason for this is explained in the following post. As of right now we do not have a new date for the surgery but I still have every intention of having the operation. However, because of the delay, I have chosen to enroll in school this spring and hope to be going to Lisbon this summer. I will be sure to you let you know as soon as I do.
Also we had our poker tournament today, we had about 25 players and we had a good time. Brent Jones won the tournament with Dylan Walter and Dusty Loy following second and third respectively.
We are heading to Pheonix this week for the golf tournament. We have to change planes in Denver, so hopefully we won't run into to many problems with weather. They have lots of big plans for the tournament and I believe there are going to be lots of participants, so it should be a really exiting weekend.
12/15/06
This is the same post that appeared on my carepage as well as my myspace page and explains exactly what is going on with my surgery. It is a setback, but is in no way stopping me from completing my goal.
Yesterday, Lee received an email from his surgeon in Portugal, Dr. Lima, stating that the Ministry of Health is requiring Dr. Lima and his team prepare a review of their procedures and do additional follow-up documentation on the 106 patients who have already had the surgery. The Ministry felt it was necessary to not have any patients at the hospital during the review so all patients currently scheduled for surgery are being postponed.
We are not sure at this time how long the delay will be. This will not affect our goal of raising $150,000 for Lee's recovery fund. We plan to continue with all of our events. This will give us the opportunity get some rest before the surgery. Lee will enroll at ISU next semester and be ready to go when we get the green light. We had originally anticipated him not having surgery until sometime late 2007 or early 2008 so this may put us back in to that time frame.
We were sad yesterday. Today our smiles, our determination, and our courage are intact and even stronger. Remember "Forever Is Not An Option."
Take care! Marc, Renee, Lee, and Cody
01/17/06
Hello Everyone,
I just wanted to post a quick note to let everyone know what is going on. I got a phone call from Dr. Lima this week and we was very confident that my surgery will be happening sometime late February or early March. I will hopefully have a date by the end of the week. We had no doubts that things would happen for us, but we are very happy to see things back in action again.
Another thing, I want to remind everyone that the dinner and aution in Slater is this weekend. Dinner starts at 5:30 and the auction will follow. It is located at the elementary school in Slater. To download an excel list of the items click HERE . It should be a lot of fun and I encourage everyone to come.
Lee
02/02/07
I just wanted to get a quick message up here for those of you who still check this on a regular basis. I got some good news this week. I will be having surgery either the 24th or 25th of this month. We will be flying out on the 18th and back on the 5th of March. After I am home for a few weeks I will be moving to Detroit to begin my rehabilitation and therapy and that could take anywhere from two to six months. Many people have asked me if am nervous. And really I am not that nervous, mostly I am just excited. This is the chance I have been looking for and I intend to make the most of it.
Other than that I haven't been up to a whole lot. I have been working a Lowe's and at Kreg Tool just about every day. Also I have been getting to the gym about three days a week in order to try to get myself back into shape before I begin therapy. Some of you may have seen the stories this week, but if you didn't, I did a stories both with channel 5 and with Fox 17. The more of those I do, the easier it seem to get. It is a good thing I am not too shy or to nervous to tell my story to anyone who asks. It will be interesting to see if anyone does another story before I leave, but if not I'm sure there will be one upon my return.
I will leave this message at that. I just wanted to kind of let everyone know what is going on, and kind of were I will be for the next few months. I will attempt to always keep this updated, and hopefully I will do a better job than I have the last couple of months.
Thanks,
Lee
04/01/07
Hello everyone, I want to apologize for my delay in posting. It has been a combination of being busy and procrastination. There have been quite a few more recent posts on the carepages. If you would like to check them, go to www.carepages.com and my carepage name is HarrisISU. There are a bunch of posts from Portugal to let everyone know how it went.
For those of you who haven’t been checking the carepage, I will try to sum things up. It was a very good experience. Doctor Lima was very nice and the staff was very attentive. The city was beautiful, but a very different from the cities back home. The surgery went well, Dr. Lima mentioned that there was very little scar tissue and the lesion was smaller than expected. He was very excited about my potential and felt that I was a very good patient for both the surgery and the rehabilitation.
I came home to heal for a few weeks. I spent some time working and saying my goodbyes once again. Now I am here in Detroit. Of all the places I thought I would live one day, the inner city of Detroit was not one of them. However, my apartment is nice, I have already met some of my neighbors (also patients at the rehab clinic) and don’t foresee any real problems. I had my initial consultation on Thursday and did a little bit of therapy. The people here seem to really know what they are doing and I have a lot of confidence that they will be able to help me. I look forward to working hard and making progress. I don’t know for sure how long I will be here. Right now it is looking like it will be two months, but that could easily become longer. I will try to do a better job of updating the page and want thank you all for your continued support.
04/17/07
I just want to post a quick message and let everyone know how things are going up here in Detroit. Therapy is going well. For the most part I am working on trying to develop and strengthen the muscles in my core. The stronger my abs and back are the more exercises I can do and the more likely muscles in my legs are to kick in. I spend a lot of time down one the ground on the mat doing different exercises involving reaching and sit up type of things as well as many others which are hard to describe. Also within the last week I have gotten back into working with my leg braces again. I think they were somewhat disgusted with my technique when I arrived and it has been totally revamped. Now with a stronger core I am able to stand much more upright and I am much more sturdy when I stand in the braces. Also I have begun doing what some may call “walking,†by that I mean that I now actually take steps one foot in front of the other in the braces as opposed to hopping. I think this is more a result of learning how to use and strengthening my core, rather than actually gaining any movement in my legs, but either way it is somewhat exciting. I have been doing it in the parallel bars and today did some in the next step walker. (Looks like a big baby walker.)
Now to attempt to answer a question I seem to get often. Have I got anything back yet? Good question. Well as far as sensation goes I have not noticed any changes whatsoever. However, when it comes to motor function I am not quite as sure. I am using muscles in my abs, back and sides that I was not using before. However, even though I am using them, I can not feel them. The only way I know a muscle is flexing is be either seeing it, or by having a trainer feel the muscle while I attempt to work it. So I am not sure if these are new muscles that I am discovering or if they worked all along and I was just unaware. Either way I am now using muscles that I was once told I would be unable to use.
Another question: Am I happy with my progress so far? The answer is yes. The therapy here is extremely intense and not to be underestimated. My rather vague report here in my blog really does not do it justice and the only way to really see how hard all of the patients, including myself work while they are here. I continue so see progress in myself each visit, and look forward to my next session. Also, I am still a relatively short time out of surgery, I am still not hardly even into the timeframe of starting to get return, so I am still hopeful for that in the future.
One last question I have received from a few people is when I will be coming home. The short answer is memorial weekend for Cody’s graduation. At this point I have not decided whether or not I will return after that. With the progress I am seeing myself making at this point, I think that I probably will. I am confident in the quality of care here and really think that it will be beneficial for me as long I can stay here and rehab.
04/28/07
I just thought I would take some time to post another update. My therapies since the last time I have posted have not changed a lot. I am still spending time on the mat working my abs and other core muscles. Though I have not had any change in sensation, I have little doubt that the muscles in my core are getting stronger. I haven’t been in the second step with the leg braces much but I have been on the weight support treadmill. Basically you put on a harness and hang from wires while people move your feet on the treadmill. I am a person who enjoys more active types of therapy, and this is a bit passive, but I understand the benefits and I am certainly willing to listen to the experts and do what it takes to make progress. Also the harness really rides up, and I am less than flattering in a pair of shorts ridden up far enough to resemble daisy dukes. Also I have got a program put together for my days off so I am at the rehab center working five days a week which is nice because it means less time to be bored in the apartment.
Some of you might be wondering what I have been doing to keep myself entertained, some of you may not care whatsoever. But for those of you who do, I will try to give you some insight. In the building I live in there are a few other people who are in more or less the same boat I am. By that I mean they are living here, far away from home, and doing therapy over at RIM. We do manage to befriend each other from time to time and usually spend one or two nights a week hanging out and watching movies. I have also found here what seems, at least to me, to be almost like an adoptive family. Their daughter is close to my age and has a similar injury to mine and is going therapy at RIM as well. They first invited me to spend Easter with them after only talking to me one time. I ended up staying the night and with their insistence have returned since. I don’t necessarily do a lot there, but that it what I like. I am the kind of person that really enjoys just sitting down, hanging out, and conversing with new people. And the big chocolate lab named Boomer that looks just like Maddie gives their house a certain feeling of home. That may sound a bit strange, but I do enjoy my trips to Toledo and I am very grateful that they continue to have me. I haven’t gotten out to see much of the sights around here yet, but my stay here is still young. The weather is getting nicer and I hope to get out and see some of the parks and the lake and such. Also I am working on getting a handcycle and hopefully I will have it soon and will be able to hit some of the local trails. At some point I hope to make it to Canada. However, at this point I am waiting on my new passport. (As mine was stolen while in Portugal for those of you who may not remember)
One final thing I will mention is my vacation I am planning this summer. I only mention it because, well, quite frankly I am pretty excited about it. I plan on going to Australia. I am leaving the 25th of June and flying to Sydney. I will be meeting up with Greg while I am there and we have plans to travel the country for three weeks. I will be returning to the states on July 17th, but only as far as Los Angeles. Then Greg and I are planning taking a week to drive cross country and return home. I think this will be a well deserved trip after all of my work here in therapy. It might take every dollar I have, but I think it will turn into one of those life defining experiences, and with that, how can I afford not to go. Needless to say I am excited. I never would have thought that in a six month period I would have crossed two oceans and three continents. Not to mention the fact that it was done from a wheelchair. Now that I read that back to myself is sounds a bit like gloating, and I’m tempted to delete it, but I won’t. The truth is that I haven’t let this disability get the best of me. I am accomplishing just as much now, if not more, than I was before and I am thankful. Thankful for all of the support from my friends, family, and all of those who are neither really but still felt desire to reach out and help me. Until next time, Thank You.
06/04/07
I know many of you have been wondering when this post was coming, and here it is, finally. I really have no excuse as to the delay, I am a born procrastinator, what else can I say. However, despite my minor lapse in posting I have not neglected my therapies in any way.
How have things changed since my last post? Well in my last post I mentioned I wasn’t using the second step much anymore. Well that has not changed, that is because I have moved on to using just a regular walker. I am now up to being able to walk once all the way around the track without stopping and with very minimal assistance from the trainers. Just for reference the track is about 300 feet around. Also I have begun crawling since my last post. It is quite difficult and requires a rather large amount of effort, but I simply grit my teeth, catch my breath and go for it just like everything else. I think the furthest I have crawled so far is about 80 feet, but involves at least one or two breaks along the way. I have some videos of both the walking and the crawling and I’m sure there may be some of you interested in them so I will attempt to get them loaded and on one of my websites. In addition to these new things I am still spending time working on various exercises to strengthen my core muscles. I still have no noticeable changes in sensation, but my sitting balance has improved greatly and the walking and crawling would not be possible so they must be getting stronger. Also when I walk and crawl there are contractions in my hip flexer muscles. They are very weak and it could just be carry over from my ab muscles, but either way they are kicking in and aiding in my walking and crawling efforts. On top of my therapy and extra days working out I have begun lifting weights three nights a week with a former army drill sergeant that is now also suffers from a spinal cord injury. This puts me in the gym between seven and eight times a week. It is really helping to get me in shape as well as keeping me busy.
So what else have I been up to? I know some of you wonder about this more than therapy itself, so I will flatter you and let you all know what is going on. My company has changed here at the international house, the people that were here when arrived have all since gone home and new people have arrived. This of course giving me the opportunity to make new friends. I have had the chance to get out and see some of Detroit and dine at a few of its better restaurants. I also still make time to visit my newfound family in Toledo. Also as some of you may know I made it home for Cody’s graduation and Memorial Day. It was a long drive, but it was worth it to be home for a few days and get to see some friends and family that I hadn’t had the privilege of seeing for the last couple of months. I flew Mandi out here for her birthday and so that she could ride home with me to keep me company. I think she had a pretty good time while she was here, but I guess to be totally sure you would have to ask her. And as for the company on the way home, well at least she didn’t talk too much, being that she slept the entire way.
Other than that there isn’t a lot new. I am planning on staying for another two weeks and then I am heading home. I will then be home for a few days then making my way down under. As that day approaches I grow increasingly excited. I will miss my new found friends here in Detroit when I leave, but I hope to keep in touch. Also I plan on returning again sometime in the next year for another round of therapy. Other than that I just want to thank everyone for keeping track of me through your reading of my posts and your sending of cards and care packages. I hope to post one more time before leaving the country but can’t promise anything and if I don’t, I will be sure to let everyone know how it went when I return.
10/30/07
Some of you may be wondering, where the heck have I been? Did I get lost in Australia? Am I back at school? And maybe even, am I still doing therapy? The answers to these questions are, everywhere, no but I wish I had, yes, and yes again. However, knowing that after not posting for almost for months, if that is all I post, I might get some hate mail, so I am happy to elaborate.
To answer where I’ve been, well I have been incredibly busy. I’ll just start at the beginning. I had an amazing time in Australia and even being there for 3 weeks, I was still not ready to come home. I spent a week in Sydney, then a week in Tazmania, then back to Sydney and the Blue Mountains for week. I got to see a lot of amazing things while I was there, pushed my chair about a million miles, and even got stuck on the beach. If you want to know more about that, you will just have to talk to me in person.
After I got home from Australia, before I could even get back to work, I got another really bad UTI. It began with a ambulance ride with a fever of 106.5, and finally ended after five days in the hospital. As some of you may remember I had this problem last year. Then it was caused by some rather large bladder stones, but this time was simply a UTI which had once again turned septic. I came out of everything ok, and was once again reassured as to exactly how much I dislike hospitals.
Following that excitement I returned to work at Lowe’s and spent the remainder of my summer working and spending time with my friends and family. Another thing that has been keeping me really busy as far as work is concerned is a non-profit organization which I have been a partner in creating called www.airplanetoybox.com. If you have time check it out. Also I have gone back to school to knock out another semester of mechanical engineering. I was recently initiated into Pi Tau Sigma, which is the National Mechanical Engineering Honor society. Things are going pretty well, but as is always the case by about this time of year, I’m ready for it to be over.
What have I been doing as far as therapy is concearned? Well I kind of took a break. I didn’t do anything while I was in Australia. When I got home I began hitting the weight room pretty hard three to four days a week. I was doing some core work and balance, but no walking at all, I guess you could say I had really lost my motivation and was having a hard time forcing myself to continue with it. However, with some pushing from my family, and a recent video of Dr. Lima which I had seen on the internet, I got jumped back into walking. I started a little over a month ago and quickly got back to the distance I had been walking when I left Detroit walking two days a week. Also when I was walking in Detroit, I had a minimal amount of assistance when walking from the trainers there, but since beginning again at home I have been doing it completely unassisted using only my walker and my leg braces. However, about two weeks ago, one of them broke and I am waiting to get it fixed. You can be sure that as soon as I get it back I will once again be walking twice a week, as well as continuing to lift three days a week.
05/17/08
As I sit here in Detroit, packing my things and fresh out of the emergency room, I felt it may be a good time to post. For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, I should probably elaborate.
Following the last post I went into finals and finished up another semester of school. It was a semester that at times seemed pretty rough, but ended up rather well with three A-‘s and a B. I will take that any time, especially with a semester consisting of differential equations, thermodynamics and dynamics.
Early on in the fall semester I had decided to return Detroit this spring. I felt I had made significant progress the first time I was there, and it was worthy of at least one more shot. So when the beginning of January rolled around and all of my classmates were headed back to…well…class, I continued working and increased my workouts to fill my free time. Then the beginning of March I packed my things and headed off for another Michigan adventure.
When I arrived, I found that the person who had been the head of the program when I left had since been replaced. The meeting with the new head was disheartening at best. I was told that therapy would not benefit me and that I would be better off to save my money and return home, but I knew better. Also, that if I did choose to stay I would not be allowed to participate in weight bearing therapy, i.e. walking, crawling, kneeling, or anything else really. So I decided go against his suggestions and stay for a few months, and see what would happen. Now I just needed that bone scan. It seems like a relatively simple concept, go to the doctor and get it done. However, due to conflicts with scheduling and with my insurance company, I had the pleasure of making the 20 hour round trip for the weekend to get it done. It did work out all right, though because it happened to be Easter weekend and my roommate had some of our friends in from out of town.
Once I got back and the doctor got my bone density results there was relatively little headache before I was back in full swing with my therapy. It again consisted of a lot of, coupled with PNF therapies, working on a slide board to improve hip flexer and glute contractions, crawling, tall kneel crawling in a second step, and KAFO walking. I don’t have enough room to get too specific about these things in this particular post, but if you have any questions, let me know. A typical three hour session may consist of any combination of these. I have been walking about 600 feet at a time, tall kneel crawling about 300 feet, and crawling about 150 feet at a time, all of which are improvements of the las