First let me offer our continued thanks to all of the “Charlie’s Angels” who w/o you none of Charlie’s progress would be possible. When Char’s sweet little body was neurologically devastated Angel and I were unsure how we would handle our straightened circumstances, but now after seeing the Herculean effort undertaken by over 120 of you “Angels” a way has shown itself. Every week 114 man-hours are devoted to helping Charlie’s circumstances become less narrowed. Our thanks will never be enough to show you how grateful we are for your labors but sadly it is all we have to offer.
We have been working w/ Charlie for just over two months and to appraise his progress one needs to understand his developmental progress/state before we started. His evaluated neurological age was 2 months old. His physical competence was non-existent w/o any movement that could be interpreted as meaningful. Vital responses to pain, sound or light were a no-go. Char basically lay around, cried and writhed in discomfort, which was invariably related to his extreme boredom. Those who have been gracious enough to assist Charlie in his convalescing have been able to experience first hand his marked improvements. He is now responding appropriately to tactile stimulus, his vision has become his most keen sense, he is using his arms a and legs in a meaningful manner and can motor down his slide pretty quick (should he be in the mood) and when he lays on the floor he’s gotten pretty good at holding his head up for short bits of time. His hearing is still a concern but a couple of weeks ago he started responding somewhat consistently to really high pitch noises. However all this aside Angel and I are most impressed w/ one thing. His awareness. All you have to do is spend a brief period of time with him and you can tell that the light is on. Smiles, grins and long sustained glances have become commonplace. But the funniest thing is that when he gets sad he’ll cry a bit here and there, then when he sees that your there he lets go with the most cute/pathetic cry that actually sounds like a normal kid crying w/ his little bottom lip all pouty. It’s awesome.
Our plan is to continue w/ the program until we meet our 6-month goal where upon completion we will evaluate whether or not the progress Char has achieved is worth the inconvenience we have selfishly imposed on you all. Our hope is that the benefits we see will merit continuance, and that as we continue you will press on w/ us in attempting to rescue any of our little boys native endowments that the Almighty sees fit to allow.
Below is the page from our families annual memory book that my eldest sib felt would be apropos for all of Charlie’s faithful following. (Click on it for easier reading.)
