Update - 10/13/08

Hi All,

I just wanted to bring you all up to date on Dominic's progress since he returned home. Dominic has continued to show great progress both physically and mentally. He is walking almost everywhere (even though he is still a little unsteady on his feet). We escort him when he wants to walk in an area where there are no objects to brace himself on. We also have to keep on him to exercise caution in some of the activities he tries to participate in. His strength and confidence are returning rapidly, but there’s still a lot more work to do.

His right leg and arm are still weak and he has a tendency to favor his left hand and arm while dressing, playing, etc. He needs to learn to use both hands in an effort to regain the strength and dexterity he lacks in his right arm and hand. Recently he has begun to use his right hand more when attempting to play his video games. This should help him regain some of the dexterity he lost. I can tell it’s a struggle, but he’s putting a lot of effort into it. His speech has also been steadily improving. His annunciation is much clearer and his vocabulary has also shown improvement in the weeks since he came home. Dominic still enjoys doing all of the things he used to. He loves to watch movies and play games. He loves candy and playing with our dogs. He still longs to ride his bike again, but that will be a long-term goal. He’ll make it there eventually.

Dominic has begun to grasp the circumstances of his injuries, but they are a bit skewed in his memory. He believes somebody ran him over with a car because they didn’t like him. We’ve explained to him that this wasn’t the case. What happened was not intentional and it had nothing to do with him personally. He has no recollection of the accident, so he feels compelled to create his own scenario in an attempt to understand what happened. This is also something we’ll have to continue to help him come to grips with.

In short, Dominic is still charging forward with his recovery and shows no signs of letting up. We’ll continue to keep you informed of his progress. We should have some new photos posted sometime soon as well. For those of you who have donated to his recovery fund but have not yet received a personal acknowledgment from our family, I apologize. We’ve had some difficulty keeping tabs on all the donations that have been sent in over the weeks. We’ll try to contact each and every one of you with a personal thank you, but please know that if your name has been lost in the shuffle, we are deeply appreciative of your support. I hope to have more good news to deliver in our next update. As always, thanks for stopping by. :)

David Loperena & Family