Espy Award

Thanks for the date correction!

To All, I wanted to provide an update for all who have been following my brother Aole's story since April 2010. It's been over a year since the accident and Aole has made a tremendous amount of progress. Given that most of you have not actually seen him throughout the process, it is really difficult for you to grasp what that really means. So to put it into perspective, the benchmark here is that the initial diagnosis from the doctors was that "it would be a miracle if he ever recognized us again." For a doctor to say that, you can imagine how bad his injuries were and continue to be. The current status is that he is able to communicate effectively. Keep in mind, he has substantial brain injuries. He remembers I'd say 85-90% of everything from before the accident. His speech is difficult to understand, at times, but he continues to work hard in speech therapy to improve. He is still wheelchair bound, but working hard in physical therapy to relearn how to walk again. This process will take some time. He says it is very difficult to retrain the brain to do many of the task that we are accustomed to doing, like walking. He said that at times his brain will tell him things that are completely false from reality. For example, his brain will tell him that he is falling over when trying to stand, when in actuality he isn't. He said that ignoring those false messages is one of the most difficult things he's ever had to do. The progression with is walking has gone from him barely being able to stand to now where he is able to stand upright and walk with assistance from the physical therapist. He definitely needs assistance at this point, but he has shown marked improvements in his ability to support his own weight. He remains very aware of his condition and is working hard to get better. He remembers how he was before the accident and given his level of awareness, it is crazy how positive he has remained throughout this process. The approach to his treatment is still day by day and there is no certainty as to how far or how much of a recovery he will make. Having said that, he continues to show progress as of today. He wanted me to tell everyone thanks for all prayers, donations and positive thoughts. Lastly, we are planning on a JCCS visit this year on September 10th! Aole said that he wanted to go to the show, so we are planning to make it happen. Hopefully we will see most of you there. If so, stop and say hello and let him know you've been following his story on ratsun. Thanks to the community and feel free to hit me up on a PM for future updates.

This is Aole's brother Khary and I wanted to take a minute to provide an update on Aole's current status. It's been roughly 10 months since the accident and Aole continues to progress. Let me preface things by saying the nature of his injuries are very severe and like with most brain injuries recovery is a very long and uncertain road. More clearly, there is no way to tell how much he will or will not improve except for continuing with work and therapy around the clock and waiting to see if improvement occurs. All brain injuries are different and very complicated. To date, while there have been many changes in Aole's condition, some visible, some not, however, month #7 is marked as the month with the biggest visible accomplishment. My family and I were graced with the pleasure of hearing Aole's voice! After 7 months of near silence he started talking again! His speech was and continues to be difficult to understand at times, but the majority of his words are understandable. It gets better......he even remembers much, if not all, of his past! While I cant guaranty that he will remember how to put together a KA24 DET, I frequently test him to see how much he really does remember and he continues to amaze me. In fact, he even remembered the password to his I-Phone! THIS IS A HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT. To put things into perspective guys, the original diagonsis from the doctors that I will never forget was that "it will be a mircle if he ever recognizes me again in a meaningful way." I guess its safe to say that I believe in Miracles!! They happen. On the physical side of things, while he is still confined to a wheelchair and has very limited use of extremities, he does continues to show subtle improvements as a result of the physical therapy. This piece will take lots of time. He has more use of his right arm and left leg, then the opposites. Will he ever walk again, we dont know the answer to that and neither do the doctors. What we do know is that it will take lots of hard work and effort in order to get there. Aole is home with my mother now and has been for several months. She primarily takes care of him and is able to take him in for physical therapy appointments. One other thing that I wanted to be sure to point out is that Aole is very aware of his current condition. He remembers how he was before the accident (does not remember the accident). As you can imagine, going through this is very difficult mentally. Aole has maintained a very positive attitude throughout the entire time. He is mentally in good spirits and wanted me to thank the 510 Family for all their support!! Special thanks to LBG, Luis, Mark and Ray as well as Mario for all the support. DATPAK Much Love.