Christmas Miracles

A couple of months ago, Rae told Forrest that what she wanted more than anything for Christmas was to hear his voice.  At the time, it seemed like a bit of a long shot.  Forrest was faintly humming occasionally, but was unable to do it on command. With an enormous amount of effort, he was just beginning to be able to move his tongue, but again, it was limited.  He was communicating with hand signs and slight nods.  Then came his Dynavox, a speech generating computer that Forrest nicknamed “Frank”.  Forrest and Frank soon became partners-in-crime, with Forrest using the computer to type and then “speak” various messages and communicate with others.  Frank is loud and clear enough that even friends could hear it via Skype and FaceTime!  It was amazing to see Forrest’s sense of humor come out in his thoughts and jokes and to watch his typing skills become faster and his spelling and word choice become more complex. Sometimes he would share his frustration, typing "There's no word that can explain the way I feel." and "Why can't I talk normally?"  But even with all of this, Forrest’s voice remained silent, still only humming occasionally.  

That is, until last Wednesday.  The day started like any other...Forrest’s mood had been happy and energetic all week…it was as if he knew he was about to surprise us all with the first of our Christmas miracles.  During music therapy on Wednesday, Forrest was working so hard to make any noise, but was clearly struggling.  We decided to try the hug trick.  Forrest tends to hum when he gives and gets a hug – I always tell him that it is his way of saying “hi” or “good morning”.  So, I leaned in to give him a hug, asking him to tell me “good morning” with his voice.  I was expecting to hear a slight hum, but in true Forrest fashion, he did something quite different.  He very quietly whispered “good morning”.  What followed was a flurry of activity and excitement as Forrest began mouthing and sometimes whispering a word we asked him to.  It was mostly silent, but he was very clearly mouthing words and it was easy to be able to determine what he was trying to say.  We were basking in this new step and celebrating the advancements Forrest was making…but Forrest was not done with the Christmas miracles.

He next began humming more consistently on command, a new skill.  Then he started opening his mouth while humming to quietly say the word “mum”, which made Rae's homecoming yesterday truly extraordinary.  Then last night, during physical therapy, when asked how many pull ups he wanted to do, Forrest quietly but clearly stated “ten”.  A simple word, but filled with promise of amazing things to come.  Forrest, however, was still not done with his miracles!  While sitting around talking about all his great accomplishments, someone stated that Forrest was awesome.  Forrest nodded his agreement, and then with prompting and encouragement, clearly said his first sentence, since May 25, 2011, “I’m awesome”.  The ManCave exploded with cheers and whooping as amazement and excitement filled us all.  Forrest really IS awesome – bringing us a Christmas miracle and making Rae’s Christmas wish come true, all with two magical words.  

 
We can't wait for  Forrest to share this life changing new step with friends and family over the holiday season.  Contact Tami or Austin to get yourself on Forrest’s social calendar!

With excitement and the warmest of holiday wishes,

- Tami