{Karlton Bontrager}

Since the time I regained consciousness in the Dunedin Hospital system, I have waged an uphill battle towards my recovery and rehabilitation. I have made remarkable strides, but I feel there are gains I can yet make.

Sunday, July 4th, 2004, marked the two-year anniversary of my traumatic snowboarding accident in New Zealand. Two years on, and I am still moving onward and upward! To provide a status report, here is my current situation:

The two biggest foci of my life now are rehab and school. In rehab, I decreased the frequency of my sessions to two days per week starting at the beginning of June. Now I am expected to create my own goals because I achieve many goals as my therapists can create them. In Physical Therapy, I have focused recently on jogging. Although my running may never appear the same way it did before my accident, I have worked to increase both my speed and fluidity of movement. This process began with hopping to strengthen my leg muscles in the movements used in jogging. As hopping improved, I started jogging short distances indoors and outside.
This outdoor exercise led to a goal of jogging continuously for three to five minutes. The first time I attempted to jog around the rehab center, I reached less than half-way before I fatigued. Since then, I have succeeded in jogging the perimeter of the building, only to learn that this consumes fewer than two minutes. To surpass this goal, I remained indoors with my therapist and jogged repeatedly in a big circle for a total of three minutes. Maybe by next year I can try to run the Boston Marathon!

As for school, I have been attending The Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) since fall 2003. I hope to enter the Occupational Therapy (OT) program and eventually work as a therapist. I completed a General Psychology class earlier this summer with a grade of a B, and am currently taking a Developmental Psychology class. In another 3 weeks, I shall have completed 6 of the 9 prerequisites needed to enter the OT program.
Anatomy, Physiology, and an English class are the only courses that stand between me and application to the program.

I am pleased with the progress I have made in the last two years. I appreciate the support I have received from family and so many friends. You will never know how much your encouragement has meant to me.