From both you and other
friends coming from your circles have come so many emails with such
thoughtful and heartfelt support. We so appreciate them, every one.
While we may not have time to respond to each one personally, we want
you to know that every single one is meaningful to us and we pass them
along to Seth and family as well as to all our
family. We have been strengthened and touched and really don't have the
words to adequately express the ever growing circle of love they have
created.
Today has been significant in that Caroline and the
kids have accompanied Katie on a medical flight to Johannesburg where
she can get better care and the whole family can be together. What joy
and comfort that will bring. In addition, family also arrived
today to support them all and lend help to Seth Wiggins who has continued to be the best friend anyone has ever had. Gratefully, Seth
has been moved out of the "high care" ICU to the neurological surgery
unit (bed E26, Sandton Clinic) and that means he is more stable and
making welcome improvement.
Before relaying the bad news of the extent of his injuries, we want to tell you that there is lots of good news as well and Seth
is not degrading, to the contrary he's making wonderful progress and
the potential of paralysis seems distant and unlikely. But it breaks
our hearts to read the medical report from the hospital, we can't even
relay it in print without a flood of tears. Seth
reports that he "looks pretty gnarly", and why not: he broke or
fractured nearly every vertebrae in his spine through the cervical and
thoracic regions, he has a contusion of the disks in the spine and
spinal cord along with one lung, his skull and scapula and nose and ribs
were fractured, and he has cuts and swelling in numerous places. He
reports that he has "racoon eyes" and feels like a "bobble head" -- not
funny Seth. How can a body survive so many
serious injuries? It is a miracle from start to now that he did not die
nor is he permanently paralyzed. Oh how our heart goes out to him and
to Caroline, Katie, Tommy and Cali for all they have been through and
the long road to recovery that lay ahead.
On the bright side -- surprising bright:
1. Seth
was fitted with a Miami J Brace to stabilize his neck and no surgery is
planned for the current time. A less invasive surgery/s than were
originally proposed will likely take place at a later date when the
swelling goes down.
2. Seth Wiggins sent the following: "Hey all, just a quick update: Today was by far and away the best day possible. Seth
slept soundly through the night, proudly displayed
newfound arm mobility (enabling head scratching), and overall felt
great. Very quickly this morning we learned that he was being moved from
high-intensive care to a more general ward, so we packed up and said
goodbyes to the nurses there. Upstairs is awesome - much less intensive
care, which is great. Then Seth's physiotherapist comes in and says she wants Seth to walk. Yeah me too. And then Seth
walks. Holy crap. After a nap, he does it again, going about a total of
30 yards. Yeah. Then Caroline, kids, and Katie show up. Not much time
spent at the hospital as the kids need to get settled, but still great.
They get to the Desilvas, then Seth and Katie
head to sleep. And when writing this [family from the US] shows up. Things are going to
get a lot, lot better here in the next few days, I'm excited to see it."
Of his walking, Seth Sherry told us that after the physiotherapist got him to stand, she said; "that's probably enough for the day." But Seth
said; "hey, while I'm up I'm going to try and walk" -- and he did,
about 5 yards before he was exhausted and had to lie down again. But it
sounds like he got back at it later in the day -- just amazing.
3. Seth held the phone to his ear himself while we talked - a first!
4.
Katie Raynor, who has had a very difficult time recovering in a poor
medical facility (by US standards - but the best they had in Zimbabwe)
was finally approved by insurance to be flown to Johannesburg and placed
in the same hospital as Seth. As mentioned
before, Caroline and the kids came also. Oh how important it will be
for them to be together and finally, Caroline who has carried such a
burden through all of this, will have some relief and be reunited with Seth and have more support from Seth W. and family from the US.
That's all for now. So many blessings amidst such
tragedy. We appreciate each and every one of you and your interest,
prayers, and extensions of the heart.
Love,
Annie & Tom
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