Hannukah Party

Last Saturday, a bunch of Ilan's friends came over to spend time with him. The highlight of the day was a video they put together just for Ilan, which had friends and teachers from Milken wishing him a happy Hannukah. Ilan really enjoyed watching the video, but I think his favorite part was seeing familiar faces and being a part of the excitement. I'm attaching a few pictures of the fun day.


I figured now might be a good time to update on Ilan's progress, as it has been pretty amazing. Ilan's control of the left side of his body is getting better every day. He can move his arm pretty much on his own (into shirt holes and to arm wrestle with one of us), and he can bend and move his leg with ease. As some of you may remember, we used to communicate with him with blinks. Now, he has incredible control of his head in moving it from side to side so we try to use that instead. For example, instead of asking Ilan to blink twice if he wants to watch the Laker game, we now ask him to look at Michal. It makes it easier for us to understand what Ilan is saying, and also gives him good practice working out his neck muscles.

Ilan has some pretty amazing therapists working with him (some of whom might even be reading this). The big exercises for Ilan in physical therapy right now are sitting holding himself up on his own with his arms, and rolling his upper body over. He is also working on holding his head up on his own and doing more things with the right side of his body.

Thanks for reading and Shabbat Shalom!

- David