Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Chili's Event Super Success

There were so many positive points to this night, it is hard to know where to start.
Chad "the Dad" Schoppa came up with the idea. Most people I ask to come was not aware that Chili's allowed benefits such as this... GOOD FOR OUR NEIGHBORHOOD CHILI'S! Thank you!!!
Chili's created the email poster and sent it to Chad, who printed, distributed and emailed it and then the poster exponentially multiplied like crazy. Debbie Schoppa, Chad's Mom helped coordinate the evening as well as having her whole office in attendance!

Molly wanted to come. We were unsure until almost the last moment because of the tests and other things going on with her medically. I was informed that Ride Away (a company specializing in special needs transportation) would allow us to "test drive" one of their vans to get Molly back and forth to the event. We had a Chrysler Town and Country special. Push a button, the side door opens and the ramp descended. Molly was able to power wheel her chair into the van and away we went!!!

Molly was apprehensive. How would people react to her? Would they stare? Would children be afraid of the chair?
Molly stated on the way that she would not eat because she would have to be fed. She took some pain medicine prior to getting there so she would feel good.
As we arrived, she did not want me to pull up in front of the building because what if she had trouble getting the chair out? She wasn't sure she could get it down the ramp without running off the side.
Well....
We finally got out safe and sound and were immediately surrounded by friends!!! For the next two and a half hours Molly was the star of the night! (she later told me that she felt like a movie star cause everyone wanted to talk to her!)
Many members from her care team at TGH were in attendance. There was a great out pouring of past swimmers and coaches from Carrollwood Village Swim Team. We were touched to see so many parents from the swim team days!!
Lake Carroll Baptist friends were abundant; many of these have been "life friends".

All night, one after another waited in line often for 15-20 minutes just to wish Molly health and happiness. Hundreds must have passed by. And still they came!!!
It seemed like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Fourth of July all in one night.

To eat... count on 45 minutes to an hour to be seated... and it went on all night! Many left without eating.

Chad had put a big jar at the end of the table where we were, simply marked Molly's Trust Fund. By the end of the evening it was stuffed with cards, checks and cash... you truly are the most generous people in Florida!!! Even the servers at Chili's gave in excess of $100 to the fund. We, the Doyal's and the Schoppa's are blessed to have friends like YOU!

On behalf of Molly she thanks you for all the wonderful support. That was therapy worth a million bucks!

Friday, August 7, 2009

Chili's and Molly

Dear friends and neighbors,

Chili's at the corner of Fletcher and Dale Mabry is teaming with Molly this coming Tuesday, August 11th from 5pm till 11pm.
10% of your order that night will be donated to Molly Doyal Santiago Irrevocable Trust.

You must bring the attached flier with you and give it to your server for the credit to go toward Molly's medical expenses.

errr....Because I can't get the flier to stick to this blog, please e-mail tdoyal20@msn.com requesting a file of the flier so you can print it out and take it.

Thank you for remembering Molly.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Day 58

The care team at TGH had said that Molly would come home tomorrow. Because of the continued medical problems, Molly's discharge date is now August 20th.

Yesterday Molly passed out during physical therapy. There has been a continued drop in her hemoglobin count. Last week she took 4 units of blood and everything seemed fine but now it is declining again.
Drs are concerned about the blood clot enlarging in her left leg.

After many tests and searching the blood loss seems to be coming from the GI tract in the pelvis area and sinking to the leg. At least that is the way I understand it. Surgery will take place soon to correct this.

Despite the setbacks where Molly cannot do her work in physical therapy nor occupational therapy, she has continued to make some strides.
Her right arm continues to build strength and range of motion while her left arm is unencumbered from the support brace she had been wearing. The left elbow will require surgery down the road in months to come as there is little range in movement due to the unexpected bone growth that occurred there following the breakage.
Molly was able to be placed in a harness that enabled her to be held in an upright position similar to walking. She cried tears of joy.

Biggest news is that Molly has been able to slightly, and I mean slightly... able to move her left thumb!!!


58 days ago
she was not able to move anything except her eyes and mouth. She has made remarkable progress.

Work on Samy Dr continues. We have now cleaned out the garage as well as the living room/dining room area of our home.
There is no furniture to speak of the the LR/DR to make way for living quarters for Molly. Living room sofa, chairs, coffee table... gone! Bakers rack, gone! The dining room table and chairs... gone! Even the old big screen TV (console style) in the living room will be gone on the next load out of town (to the dump)!

A mechanical bed and lift are being installed to take their place. This will be her living area for the next couple of months when she is able to come home.

"The project" was emptying the garage! Tons of stuff!!! This is getting ready for the builder to start turning the garage into Molly's long term digs. A special needs roll-in bath will be installed that will allow Molly proper care with greater ease.

Doors will be widened through the house as needed.

We are still praying that some money will become available so Molly will have the opportunity to have extended physical therapy and learn more life skills that she will need on her road to recovery.

We also pray that sometime in the near future Molly will have the opportunity to attend The Miami Project To Cure Paralysis. This facility at the University of Miami was founded by Nick Buoniconti and Dr Barth Green after Nick's son suffered a spinal cord injury (not too different from Molly) while playing college football.
Today the Miami Project is the world's largest and most comprehensive spinal cord research center. They are taking innovative approaches to curing paralysis.

Thank everyone for your generousity!