Carmen Gottfried (Ken's Father)
I took Ken for a 50 minute walk in the park today. As I was
preparing him to go he was sitting in the wheel chair and I asked
him to lift his left foot so that I could put his shoe on and he
immediately lifted his left leg (he seems to be lifting from the hip
and his knee isn't bending yet). I got a little choked up with joy.
We can hardly walk 50-100 yards (probably meters in his vocabulary)
with out him signaling me to let him write something down. So I
stop, he writes, and then before I can put the notebook away he
points forward with his finger and says with a loud drawl " keeeep
mooooving". He doesn't like stopping to watch anything as he is
always writing down that he is looking for a Convenience Store. He
wants to buy Robaxacet (Doctors told him "no antiinflamitories" as
it wouldn't be good for him right now). The route that we take for
his walk is mostly concrete and asphalt and he doesn't like the
bumps and is always pointing to them before we get to them in hopes
that I'll push around the bumps. Some of the areas require us to
drive over gravel and the other day while on an outing he wrote
"gravel sucks".
Ken had another restless day today while in his room. We think he's
bored and frustrated that he's not allowed to do much. They are
short staffed and overworked in the Stroke Unit where he is but they
are doing the best that they can. They really aren't trained in
rehab. We're hoping that he'll soon be moved to Saint Mary's of the
Lake soon as they have a phenomenal reputation and success rate for
rehab. In his restlessness and moaning and what appears to be a
delirious state he sometimes throws light punches and then pulls me
down to his face and kisses me, as if to say "I'm sorry and I love
you".
Ken is in a lot of pain at times primarily in his head and back. My
prayers are now directed at asking for a full and complete recovery
as well as specific needs for Ken. I would appreciate your prayers
as well as passing prayer requests on to your friends, prayer chains
and other contacts asking for specific healing such as : Ken's
restlessness; success in rehabilitation at St. Mary's; an end to his
back spasms and pain in his head; moving his left leg arm and hand
fully; getting him off of morphine (he has already written that
"It's not good for me"; and future succes in surgery to reinsert a
piece of his skull bone approx. 2"x4" known as a bone flap which has
been left out to allow for swelling of his brain. Lets continue
putting the power of prayer to work and see some more miracles
happen to Ken. Remember "Ask and ye shall receive".
Friends have formed a committee to enable us to give back to the
community in the form of a Family Day of Fun and Entertainment
called 'CONCERTS FOR KEN'. Our goal is to motivate and inspire at
least one child with good family values so that they can make good
choices in life. Mark your calendars for August 9th at the
Brockville Memorial Centre. We'll be having old fashioned games for
the young children, music for all ages and our friend Wentworth
Sharp ( a mental training coach) who works with athletes young and
old teaching the young athletes visualization and positive self
talk. We'll also be having MacNutt the clown as well as live music,
my good friend Paul Torkoff sharing his DJ skills, a slow pitch
co-ed baseball tournament and much more. Please pass the word by
mouth and email. We will send you more info soon.