It's me, Jamie!

Hey viewers, it’s me Jamie and I’m here writing my first blog post. What a crazy wild ride I have been on and I am so glad to be home with friends and family. As you all may know, I have been in outpatient rehab at St. David’s. I have the best therapists to help me with walking and strengthening my hands to use in my daily basic activities. My physical therapist, Kerry, and I have been getting up and walking off of the parallel bars, and onto the walker. We are at the beginning, but as everyday goes on with my progress in physical therapy, I gain strong beliefs that I will be up and dancing in time for ACL. Then there is one-armed Bob. I am so lucky to have my occupational therapist, Bob, because we have a strong common ground that we can both relate to. It is a powerful thing to have someone like Bob to help me overcome my day-to-day struggles, when I know that he is one to understand my incapabilities. But with a team like Kerry and Bob, I know that nothing can stop me.

Now that summer is coming to an end, I am saying goodbye to my friends as they go on into their third year of college. I have to say that it was pretty convenient that when I was released from the hospital, all of my friends were back home for the summer to help maintain my sanity. Coming home from the hospital, I was filled with fear and nerves because I knew that I was coming home to a completely different life with new challenges. But as the summer went on, I began to feel like my challenges were only minimizing, as if I was heading back to normalcy.

I am also writing to thank all of you for your nonstop support and prayers. It’s pretty amazing to get support from people I wouldn’t expect to hear from, like people from Clint’s church down in Blanco, Texas, my old nurses from the Houston hospital, my sibling’s friends (including their families), strangers who only know me through TV news broadcastings, families all the way up into the depths of Amarillo, Texas, old teachers and friends from middle school and even elementary school. I also want to thank my Papa Gene because without him none of this would have been possible. The support is endless and I am eternally grateful. I know that there are many people out there that I’m not thanking in this post, but just know that I love you all and I’m so glad you’re with me on this journey, Without everything that you all have done for me, I wouldn’t be the same person as I am today and I thank you, for I am proud to be Jamie Schanbaum