Those of you that were at conference this past year will remember meeting Elsie M. We've been calling her New Jersey Elsie so as not to confuse her with Florida Elsie. Grin! Well, New Jersey Elsie needs our prayers and support. Her son has been in an accident and has lost the use of his legs - at least for now. Below is the article that appeared in their local paper. Pray for their family, for her son, and for Elsie. She's got a lot of medical problems of her own and this will make it even harder for her to deal with them. I wish I was in New Jersey so I could give her a big hug!
'I will walk again'
Paralyzed since storm
Thursday, June 19, 2008
By CHARLES HACKJOURNAL STAFF WRITER
\
It was a promise, not a prediction.
"I will walk again," Victor Muniz, 22, of Kearny, said yesterday during his first day of therapy, just six days after he was paralyzed from the waist down when a tree fell on him near his home during a sudden storm.
Muniz anticipates nine months of intense therapy at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange - the same center where actor Christopher Reeve spent six months after a fall from a horse left him paralyzed.
"I am not supposed to be walking," said Muniz, a 2004 Kearny High School graduate who was captain of the basketball team and also played baseball. "I don't believe that. I have a strong belief that after I have done this rehab, I will be walking."
Whether he walks again or not, Muniz said he wants to become an motivational speaker and spokesman for people suffering from some form of paralysis.
Muniz and a friend were trying to get back to his house on Devon Street last Thursday at the start of the storm that included high winds and lightning.
The pair were just a few blocks from Muniz's home when the tree fell on him. Muniz said he doesn't remember being injured, only waking up in Newark University Hospital unable to move his legs after emergency surgery.
Yesterday, Muniz wore a Yankees T-shirt and a neck brace while exercising his arms by lifting different sized blocks.
His occupational therapist, Cindy Nead, was impressed by what she saw yesterday. "It looks like he is going to do well with us," Nead said.
Muniz said he has had so many visitors that he hardly gets a chance to sleep.
His mom, Elsie Muniz, said she was at home when her daughter, Joselyne Muniz, 19, received a text message that her brother had been taken away in an ambulance. They only learned the severity of the injury when they reached the hospital.
Elsie Muniz feels "lost" and "empty" knowing that her son was so athletic and loved to play sports. But she's praying for a full recovery.
"You have to have faith and believe in God," Elsie Muniz said. "He really wants to walk and I believe he is going to."
'I will walk again'
Paralyzed since storm
Thursday, June 19, 2008
By CHARLES HACKJOURNAL STAFF WRITER
\
It was a promise, not a prediction.
"I will walk again," Victor Muniz, 22, of Kearny, said yesterday during his first day of therapy, just six days after he was paralyzed from the waist down when a tree fell on him near his home during a sudden storm.
Muniz anticipates nine months of intense therapy at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange - the same center where actor Christopher Reeve spent six months after a fall from a horse left him paralyzed.
"I am not supposed to be walking," said Muniz, a 2004 Kearny High School graduate who was captain of the basketball team and also played baseball. "I don't believe that. I have a strong belief that after I have done this rehab, I will be walking."
Whether he walks again or not, Muniz said he wants to become an motivational speaker and spokesman for people suffering from some form of paralysis.
Muniz and a friend were trying to get back to his house on Devon Street last Thursday at the start of the storm that included high winds and lightning.
The pair were just a few blocks from Muniz's home when the tree fell on him. Muniz said he doesn't remember being injured, only waking up in Newark University Hospital unable to move his legs after emergency surgery.
Yesterday, Muniz wore a Yankees T-shirt and a neck brace while exercising his arms by lifting different sized blocks.
His occupational therapist, Cindy Nead, was impressed by what she saw yesterday. "It looks like he is going to do well with us," Nead said.
Muniz said he has had so many visitors that he hardly gets a chance to sleep.
His mom, Elsie Muniz, said she was at home when her daughter, Joselyne Muniz, 19, received a text message that her brother had been taken away in an ambulance. They only learned the severity of the injury when they reached the hospital.
Elsie Muniz feels "lost" and "empty" knowing that her son was so athletic and loved to play sports. But she's praying for a full recovery.
"You have to have faith and believe in God," Elsie Muniz said. "He really wants to walk and I believe he is going to."
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