{Karlton Bontrager}

The date July 4 has special meaning for our family beyond Independence Day for the United States. That is the date in 2002 (east of the International Dateline, at least) when Karlton had his snowboarding accident.
The last entry on the website announced Karlton’s seizure in 2004. He had been fortunate not to have any [...]

This meeting was called to renew Karlton’s plan for therapies. Such meetings occur every three to four months.
The director of the adult program began the meeting. She stated that Karlton has evidence of growth, insight, and direction during the period of the latest plan (that is, since 12/18/03).
The occupational therapist (OT) reported that one goal [...]

This meeting was called to renew Karlton’s plan for therapies. In a sense, it seemed to have marked another turning point for Karlton’s recovery as well.
The speech and language therapist started the meeting by stating that the staff had recently begun to question whether Karlton valued the individual therapies. Then, in the previous week, he [...]

This is a year of anniversaries. In July we recalled Karlton’s accident and the impact it had on each of our lives. This week we mark a year since Karlton returned to the United States on November 18, 2002. How proud he was, standing tall with a look of accomplishment in his eyes as he [...]

In September Terry called for a meeting because there had not been any meetings since just previous to Karlton’s experience at Shake-A-Leg. We in the family had witnessed tremendous improvement, and Karlton had evidenced a renewed interest in finding a job. So one purpose of the meeting was to get feedback from the therapists at [...]

It was exactly a year ago today that we got the news of Karlton’s accident. What an awful day that was. And how long we had to wait to get any concrete information about his condition. At first there was only a glimmer of hope; then a ray. That was followed by a series of [...]

It was not quite a year ago that I wrote updates to the website almost daily. Once I returned to the United States, however, I got caught up in the busy-ness of a new job and, later, having Karlton at home. There was so little time to write. But now the school year has ended, [...]

On Tuesday January 6th Karlton renewed his therapy at the Sargent Rehabilitation Center in Warwick, Rhode Island. He reports that he is relieved finally to be participating in therapy as an out-patient. We are all thankful for the degree to which he has improved, especially in as little time as it has taken.
At Sargent, [...]

Finally, after a 5 1/2 month stint at the Dunedin hospital system, Karlton was deemed fit for society and released (some of us know better, right?) Months of rehab, therapy, and determination culminated in an effortless flight from Dunedin Airport through Auckland across the Pacific Pond to LAX in beautiful California. (Karlton reports that LA [...]

Today is Karlton’s last day in New Zealand. Given that New Zealand is 18 hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zone, Monday, November 18th has already come to a close for him. Before long, he will say his last good-byes and fly to Auckland. Then, after a 7-hour stopover at the airport, he is scheduled [...]