Slow and steady...strong and calm.

Yesterday was a HUGE day for me. I had my 4 month doctor follow-up after breaking both distal (near knee) femurs last July. Kurt took time off work and drove me...I like it when he is with me, and he can help ask the right questions. My doctor was super happy with the x-rays; the hardware was in place, and it showed good calcium bone growth...where there was not any before! REHAB BEGINS! My doctor wants me to start working on bending...SLOWLY!... using only gravity to work the knees. At present the right knee bends 60 degrees and my left is less than 30. My doctor said I have a 50% chance of being able to bend my left knee 90 degrees, enough to where I would be able to ride a bike. I had a knee replacement before I was paralyzed, and the break is at the knee level. My fall really knocked the replacement out of whack, making the left knee more complicated and difficult to repair and to heal. I will be using my rented wheelchair with my legs straight-out for 2 more months, and still no swimming. Today, I woke up and started "passively" bending my knees. I'm gonna ride that bike. Slow and steady...strong and calm. Thank you all for checking in on me. kelley

Words cannot express my Gratitude.

Last Friday Oct. 23, there was a fundraiser held in my honor...but it is I, who is deeply honored to have such special friends.

Whew!!! I am completely overwhelmed! Dear Tiffany Shiro, thank you for taking that spark of a dream and making it a reality. As well as Steve Shiro, Sarah Canfield, Janet Debret, Janice Stanley, Michell Sage, Kay Osborn, Sue Campbell, Bessie Jackson, Chris Spaulding, Howard Penn...(I am sorry if I have left anyone out) words cannot express my gratitude...thank you all so much for your generous gift of love by taking the time to put together such an event!!!

There are still so many many people I want to thank for making the event possible. Everyone who gave their time in preparing for many hours, days, and months. All the people who donated the auction items and trips...I am so curious of who won the Molokai, Costa Rica, Baja, and Tahoe trips!!..thank you for the food and drink donations; merchants and businesses that sold tickets; Howard Penn for having such a great place to gather at the Sierra Nevada House; and all the wonderful musicians who performed and gave their time.

My dear friends and family, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support in coming to the Jam Fest benefit...I was truly overwhelmed and was so happy to have gotten the chance to say hello to so many!!...and I am sorry for the ones I didn't. I was sitting relaxing in the sun over the weekend, recovering and reflecting on our Friday night, trying to remember All the folks I spoke with or just saw from a distance hoping to say hi. Remembering off the top of my head...of all you wonderful people who are part of my life...

Thank you for coming:

Kurt and Mom "Lee"~thanks for bringing me to the event!; my sister Kim & Lance; my cousins Marvin bukema, Steven & wife Suzanne Franklin; there were friends from high school: bless you Rogar Watson; Cathy "McIntire" (love to Doris-mom) and Larry Patterson; Dana Foy Pedrizzettis~thanks for your gift and yummy candy!; Ricky Day; Gina & Leanne & Kim; Steve Abel; Ron,Leslie Vardanega & beautiful daughters; Katie "Mulligan"; Mike Paiva; Lisa & coach Bruce Boyle; Linda Chavez; Carol & Mark Water; my Girl Scout leader Donna & daughter Tony "Conley"; my trainer Sean Cheng xie xie; Vince & wife thank you for your kind words and awesome music!; River bros Jimmy Katz and John & EJ Kipping; Mike & Jan Turney; Pat Lehey; Thorn Barrager; Howie & Pamela Hammermann~a special thanks; Abigail (miss you Juju); Tanya & Sherrie; Doug Stadler & mom Heike and dad; Kelley & Eric Ahola~yummy brownies thanks!; Charles Albright; Wilbur say's hi to Lynn and Dorthy & husband; Mike & Hildi Fentress; Eric & Moira Magneson; Erin Davis; Kay Osborn and daughter Shannon & darling daughter; Jayne & Allen; Mark Hauck; Michell Sage; Sue Campbell & Mary; Randy,Jen and Tanner Calvin; Tiff & Steve Shiro and Mom; Jim Bauldini; Pat Lahey; Jonas; Louis & Janet Debret; Tom VanNord & Susan; Terry & Tommy Anderson; Tim & Patso Madden; Phil & Mary DeRiemer; Sarah & Spencer~so good to see you Spenc! and sweet daughters Cassidy & Dana Rubin; Caroline Paul & friend Wendy; Janice Stanley; Tina Coleman; Sue Norman thanks for being there for me always; Lisa Dearing~thanks; Laura Bowle~thanks & friend Lisa; Kerry & Judy; Linda Whitney; RB Clark, son & daughter Sienna (maybe we'll go skiing); Renee, aunt & mom; Miki Miyashiro; Kim & John Green; Phil Boyer and mom Patty & Beau; Kiwi Andy; Robin King; Mo Daly; Heather Snow; Wesley(hi to Mo); Brad & Bessie Jackson; Erin Jackson; Julie Stanley~thanks; Marty Booth; Bill Center; and there were others there supporting me who I met for the first time...I'm so sorry if I forgot your names.

Jeff Snyder, Oh My Gosh!! Jeff surprised me and filled me with so much emotion, I was touched and speechless. During the silent auction Jeff bid and won the most beautiful painting, that he himself donated! Jeff had acquired this painting for $3700 at a previous fundraiser held for me. And to top it off, later in the evening Jeff gave me this most awe-inspiring piece of artwork, an oil painting of women outrigger paddling in Hawaii, with velvet green mountains as a backdrop...when I look at it, I can imagine, me getting into that canoe. And as I do, I can feel the perfect warm soft water where it meets the sand washing over my feet and toes. Thank you Jeff, your gift gives me Hope and Faith that I will walk again. Mahalo, Aloha Jeff! The painting was originally donated in the previous fundraiser and painted by Ronald Macedo, a good friend living on Maui with his family (hi Naldo, Jen, Summer, & Ocean I miss you all).

"It has been 2 years since I have been paralyzed and not a day goes by when I have not thought about how deeply grateful I am to the people who have contributed to helping me physically, spiritually and financially. I continue to get better everyday, and everyday there is a new light of hope". For so long I have been wanting to write....and with that I wish to convey my belated expression of my deepest gratitude to Sue Norman, for being there for me every step of the way...and thank you for blogging my story and being my voice!

On another Note, but along the same line the fundraiser Showing "3 Women" on September 27th. I'd like to Thank very good friend of mine, Kitty "Couch" Tulga for organizing a great event; And Mark Tulga, Kathy "Hill" and her husband too, for all your patients and help...and giving your time.

To you all, thanks for helping me to be strong. I love you guys.
In Loving Gratitude, kelley

P.S.  Some of the final proceeds are still trickling in, but the bottom line is, it looks like a little over $20,000 was raised for Kelley's account with the NTAF, Spinal Cord Injury Program.  Kelley uses this account established through this non-profit organization to pay for her medically related expenses not covered by her insurance, including the essential and rigorous physical therapy she needs to achieve her rehabilitation goals, without jeapordizing the public assistance she is also receiving.  Your tremendous efforts and generosity have given her renewed hope and opportunity for recovery.( p.s.s.  I got one of the Costa Rica trips in the auction!)Sue

Jam Fest Fundraiser for KK

October 23rd, 6:00pm, the Sierra Nevada House in Coloma is hosting an invited Artist Musical Jam Fest. Music, silent auction, food & drinks.

The musical line up sounds GREAT, with music starting:
6:15 with local talent Tiffani Shiro, Robin King & Thom Bently
6:45 Robin King - Singer
7:15 Laura Bowly - Acoustic singer/songwriter
8:00 "In Full Swing"
8:45 Vince Di Maggio - Cameron Park soul/funk/groove musician
9:30 "Call Me Ugly" - Raggae band

Silent Auction options and item for KK's benefit:
Costa Rica, Hawaii, Baja, Tahoe and the Russian River, all vacation and/or trips you can bid on. In addition to these travel options, will be art and jewelry items, interesting local items, and tasty wine and food gifts. On the more practical side you may bid on construction help, organizational assistance, or a Camp Lotus pass. With over 70 items, there is surely something for every taste & budget...you can feel good about your choice, since bidding is just another way of donating!

$25 donation at the door & Kids 10 and under free. Includes hors d'oeuvres and beer & wine available for $3 while it last. Sierra Nevada House has special dinner menu offered for purchase.
Buy a ticket early, receive a complimentary beverage. All proceeds from this event go to assist Kelley in her recovery. For more information, view this YouTube interview or read her story in the Sacramento Bee.

Tickets are available in
Coloma-Lotus: at The River Store, Sierra Nevada House, The River Shack, and Gringo’s.
Placerville: at The Bookery, Main Street Music, and Fitzpatrick Physical Therapy.

Tickets will also be available at the door. Please click to download a flyer for the event (PDF). For more information, contact Tiffani Shiro at (530) 642-8517. [website]

I have the feeling this will be an event not to be missed. Kelley will do her best to be there.

About 2 weeks ago Kelley had her first follow up visit with the doctor who performed the surgery on her broken leg, and the news is good!. He says it is about half way healed, and he is very pleased with how it looks. She still has about 2 months to go, but the end is in sight. She is going to be able to ease into some exercising now, albeit very gradual and easy at first, just working on some easy upper body mostly and moving what she can in her lower body while sitting in the chair. She also had a great visit with some very old friends at her high school reunion last weekend, and about 20 of them came the next day to see the "3 women video". It was her first outing (except for doctors visits) since she broke her legs, and she really enjoyed it. She is planning on starting to go to the local gym with her mom this week, so moving forward....yet again.

I took advantage of an unplanned car break down in Sacto yesterday to help her out with catching up on her medical bills through the NTAF account. Good news on that front, thanks to the raft trip and other donations. Got all caught up on her bills, with a comfortable buffer for a little while at least. The Coloma fundraiser will really help ensure she can cover her expenses for the next year of rehab that hopefully can really kick in by around mid november. She also was able to finally complete the process to get her medical coverage through Medicare (primary insurance) and the state MediCal (secondary insurance) program and drop her Blue Cross account. This will probably reduce her regular monthly medical expenses by almost $1,000 a month (between monthly premiums and drug and doctor co-pays)... and her insurance was good....!. Sure gives you some perspective on this whole health insurance debate. She had to become financially destitute to qualify for Medicare and MediCal, and with the cost of paying for regular insurance with a condition like Kelley's you are about guaranteed to become destitute sooner then later.

But Medicare and MediCal still will not pay for much of the alternative and aggressive therapy, and supplements Kelley really needs for optimum recovery and health. So the NTAF account has been, and still is, critical for her since it can pay for that support without affecting her MediCare-Cal status (since the NTAF account is non-profit and only pays for strictly defined medically related expenses not covered by insurance).

Thanks to everyone that has provided this well timed and much needed support! Kelley, Kurt, Sean, Leona (Kelley's quiet but capable super-mom), and I hope to see many of you in Coloma in a few weeks. Sue

Well its been more than a month so this blog is a long one. The Tuolumne River Fundraiser was a resounding success. Many thanks to Bob and Jane Ferguson, the owners of Zephyr Whitewater Rafting who hosted this trip, and as a result will be donating approximately $6K to Kelleys NTAF account. We had 15 clients, largely consisting of an extended women’s posse of Kelleys friends, (and their friends) , and “The Family”. The family consisted of one of Kelley’s old friends Jim Elliot, his wife Laurie, and their two sons. The group energy was just great, including both the volunteer guides ( Joe Dengler, Didi Cioffi, and Janice Stanley) and the paid Zephyr guides (Bridget, Neva, and Rueben). The highlights of the trip for me was 1) paddling in the front of Joe’s boat, who since he hadn’t seen the river in ten years, ran it as a read and run exploratory, with precise and exacting moves from slot to slot. As he repeated at the top of each rapid, “Ok, now for this one… we are going to stay on top of the water…and go between the rocks.” Great fun, and created a totally unique “T” experience for me. 2) the joy of sleeping under the stars on a California river canyon in late august, in what feels like the very heart of mother earth and 3) watching Ben and Jesse Elliot just do what they do, particularly hucking the cliffs at the North Fork pools. Jim and Laurie have raised some adventurous, and socially engaging young men that were simply a delight to have on the trip.

Of course my mind was filled throughout the trip of the many memorable experiences Kelly and I have shared with other friends on this river. My first trip down the Tuolumne was during what I think of as the “Summer of Love” of California river rafting, in 1983. This was the first year I came out to California to work on the river, and as many of you may recall that high water year, California river running was just outrageous, I was completely enamored by the whitewater and whitewater community, and after that summer knew I was moving to California! The peak experience of that season was a 40 person private trip of south fork river guides on the “T”, still running at over 5,000 cfs in early August. There are so many stories from that trip. Lets just suffice to say that it was just one of the first of many times when Kelley and Julie helped push me outside of my comfort zone, as I was drawn into their constant quest for adventure.

Watching the new generation of young river guides on this trip definitely reminded me of those magical years, and of course the tragedy of how much life has changed for Kelley. Joe and I stopped and visited Kelley on our way home, to deliver the tip money the guides wanted to donate and tell her about the trip. Of course we reminisced a little about the “summer of 83”. Kelley is hanging in there, but this is obviously a tough time. Not only is she on a complete hold on rehab, but the braces her legs are in seem to be stimulating a lot of nerve pain. Day by day, thats all she and her loved ones can do.

Upcoming Fundraisers: Some other news to report regarding fundraising. Sue Campbell hosted a small fundraiser in Anchorage, Ak, showing the 3 women DVD last month, and estimates they raised about $1.5K for Kelley's medical fund.

September 27th at 1:00 pm, at the El Dorado High School, Kitty "Couch" Tulga, a friend of Kelley's from High School, will be organizing the fundraiser - showing the DVD
"3 Women 300 Miles" - $10 donation at the door.

An invited Artist Musical Jam Fest, for October 23rd, 6:00pm, at the Sierra Nevada House in Coloma - $25 donation at the door. Tiffany Gomes and a group of folks from Coloma are organizing this Jam Fest Fundraiser and the line up sounds GREAT, no one famous, but talented and entertaining for sure. I have the feeling this will be an event not to be missed.

And lastly please check out the new link at the left of this blog. It features a short 3 minute video our friend Trish produced, to help tell Kelleys story. Hope to see many of you at the October event, to be with Kelley on the 2nd anniversary of when this journey all began for Kelley. It helps to know she is still not alone on this path. Sue

Well Kelley is healing. She had her first check up last tuesday and the doctor says the xray shows that the bad fracture above her prosthetic knee joint is healing. This is the one that they were really worried about. The femur broke just above her prosthetic knee, so they inserted two long thin metal rods half way up her femur that criss cross and "pinch" her prosthetic knee. They then pinned these two rods just above the knee joint so the rods really squeeze it. This is all supposed to knit the whole thing back together so her femur reattaches to the prosthetic knee. Complicated... and so far it appears to be working. Kelley spends a fair bit of time in her new chair, but is still taking it very easy. But at least she can move around the house, get outside and visit with friends. In this photo she and her Mom are visiting with Julie and Abigail. Wilbur has a little basket in back of the chair that he just likes to lay in so he always goes where Kelley goes.

Some funding has been coming into the NTAF account, thank you to everyone that has contributed, it sure helps with the insurance premiums and copays. The Tuolumne trip has filled! so that will also be helping making a dent in some of the backlog of bills, and hopefully help pay for a badly needed wheel chair ramp to the house. Please continue to send her your good thoughts, meditations,prayers, and emails, and stop by and visit. Your positive energies definitely help. Sue

How it happened. A lot of folks have been asking, and guess it’s better if Kelley doesn’t have to tell everybody the story over and over. She and Sean were leaving the house to go on one of their bike rides. Their house unfortunately is situated at the top of a short and steep slope relative to the street and sidewalk. There is no easy way in and out of the house for her, but in her knobby tired wheelchair she had developed the confidence to switch back down her yard to the sidewalk. It’s a class 4 (maybe 4+) move for sure, but you know how it is when you’ve developed some skills, and done something often enough, just doesn’t seem that risky any more. So she left Sean to lock up the house while she went down the slope. But right near the end of the slope her tire dropped into a large fist sized hole that she did not see or know was there, and the abrupt stop pitched her out of the chair. She came down on he knees in a deep knee bend. It is disturbing that this fall caused so much damage, because it just doesn’t seem like the impact was that hard (she went down on grass). But she does have very little muscular support to absorb the shock, and we just aren’t sure at this point to what degree the condition of her bones may have become compromised by the events over the past year. It will be one of the things that are examined in her follow-up to this accident. More later, Sue