First and foremost, THANK YOU for all your love, prayers and support of our family. Most of you have been carrying us , with your support, since my Dad was diagnosed with cancer in 1998! And , today is my sister Lyn's birthday. Most of you know she passed away after a courageous fight with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. We miss her very much. You all have loved us and helped us through so many years!!!!!! Thank you.
Tommy's update: February 1, 2010
MEDICAL UPDATE
January was a really busy month.....and a GREAT month! We have lots of really good Tommy Mallonnews to report! From a medical perspective things look good. He continues to be pain free and the halo wounds have finally cleared up and resolved. He did not need to have a surgical procedure on his scalp to close the wounds. He has another CTScan next week to evaluate the fracture lines and the bone stability. As long as the fracture displacement remains stable and he remains pain free the need for surgical intervention remains on hold. We still hope he will never need a surgical fusion but we are grateful for the progress he has made thus far. We will update you after the scan next Tuesday.
COLLEGE UPDATE
With the great progress he has made medically he was able to begin classes at University of San Diego last week. It is a beautiful small school set on a hill in San Diego overlooking the ocean/bay. The faculty ,staff and good friends have been wonderful in helping him adjust to campus life. Thanks to the incredible care he received from Peter Schultz at Scripps Hospital and Judd Laraway at UCSD Tommy has decided to follow their career path. He hopes pursue a career as a Physicians Assistant. He has a new found respect for human suffering and the desire to help. As far as the sport of Lacrosse..... he has been asked by the USD Lacrosse coach to help coach the USD team. We are grateful for their willingness to involve him in the sport even though he will never play again. He still loves the game.
ADVOCATES FOR INJURED ATHLETES UPDATE
Thanks to Riki , the High School Athletic Trainer we have Tommy with us today. As most of you know in October we officially formed Advocates for Injured Athletes , an organization committed to helping families and athletes who suffer trauma injuries www.injuredathletes.org. We are extremely humbled and honored by all the donations that have been made in memory of Will Wardrip. Thank you. Please keep the Wardrip family in your thoughts and prayers.
In the month of January Tommy and I have traveled to Sacramento to support Youth Safety in Sports. Tommy testified in Sacramento on January 12th regarding the vital role Riki played in saving his life post injury. He is pictured with a group of Physicians, Athletic Trainers, Parent Advocates , Educators and Leigh Steinberg an Attorney and NFL Sports Agent( he was the inspiration for the movie Jerry McGuire). Leigh is one of the major forces behind the need for the NFL to address concussion management. This need is imperative at the college and high school level too. We were asked to return to Sacramento last week in order to tell Tommy's story and help introduce two youth safety bills proposed by California Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi. We are hoping the time we are investing in telling Tommy's story will save the life of at least one athlete. We have met some incredible people over the last month. We also have heard some heart breaking stories because proper care was not given post injury. Please visit www.youthsportssafetyalliance.org . Our organization Advocates for Injured Athletes will be joining the list of supporters. Tommy's story is a positive one thanks to Riki. All athletes deserve the same access to good care.
Okay, that is enough info........if you even read this far!
Love to you all and THANK YOU!
Tommy has just started an Advocates for Injured Athlete Facebook....he will be managing and updating the page. Please let us know if you want to volunteer to help our mission. Also PLEASE let us know if you hear of an athlete that needs our help.
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