Clearly it’s the school holidays, and we girls have a little more time on our hands than usual, so it’s the second report in a couple of days, courtesy of Rachel being organised and me being the chaotic one. But I’ve been catching up! So, here’s an e-mail from Rachel this morning at 9.48 am:

Hi everyone,

Matthew had a big week this week. He conquered the ‘big stairs’ this week….his sense of accomplishment shown in the attached photo. Mountains conquered daily in this world we are in. We are so proud and moved by him every day.

Matthew and his team are focusing on stability, range of movement and general strength and a great deal of creativity is going into daily gym work. Matthew’s engineering brain is going into overdrive as he works with his crew on ideas. He has eased off a few meds and as a result is feeling sharper and more alert. He said he is not getting a lot of sleep as his mind goes to work on solutions! I asked if he gets haunted during those sleepless nights and he looked at me hard and said, “no, I dont seem to go there…too busy trying to work things out” in what was a surprised voice.

I celebrated my birthday on Saturday. In visiting Matthew on Friday, he did get a bit soppy in saying he was sorry he couldn’t do much for my day. Well, on the day he gave me the best present ever. I got a text late in the afternoon saying “Happy Birthday, love Matthew” from his mobile number. He had used SIRI on his mobile to send me the text all by himself. Made my day.

Matthew visited Mum and Dad’s yesterday, arriving with Luke and Ben in the maxi taxi. Di had a well deserved break for the afternoon attending a 40th, and the kids split between ‘na and pappa’ and Matthew. They arrived, Matthew in charge with backpack hung over the back of the wheelchair. We were joined by Kerry and Ted, good family friends. The madness and noise of cousins together reminding us that normality does exist, as we all had a small champagne. Even Matthew. After a lovely afternoon and dinner, with many moments of Emily climbing up for hugs with Daddy, Matthew went back to rehab in a taxi with Luke, Ben and Will as the three boys were having a sleepover. They had great night and were in the gym with Matthew at 10.30 this morning when Di went to pick them up.

Di and Matthew would particularly like to express their thanks and gratitude to some pretty special people who have helped with the boys, particularly Christine, Roy, Kate and Jason, Jenny, Cheryl, Gwen, Nicole, Mel, Karla, Claire, Margaret and Raph.

We would also like to thank those who have been to visit and brighten Matthew’s days. Rod and Emma came all the way from Sydney just to visit Matthew! Ruth who is coming over from NZ for the second time to see Matthew which will be a very special time.

School holidays the next two weeks. No knowing what Matthew will get up to! A few exciting things planned by his rehab team. You will have to stay tuned until next week for the update.

Take care,

Rachel

Here is a little video of Matthew and his latest achievement on the trampoline:

Pretty cool, huh?