Jerusalem

Ilan finally went to Jerusalem last Thursday!

Before he left for Israel Ilan made it clear that he wished to meet with the President of Israel! So we did our best and therefore first visited the outside of the President's residence. We then visited the Cotel where Ilan was overwhelmed with emotion as we approached; it began to drizzle as we got near the Cotel and then it poured as Ilan stood against the wall and made his wishes and prayers. It did not bother Ilan in the least that he was getting soaked - he behaved as if it was an expected event.

We then went to a beautiful new mall called "memeellah" (I think I got that right) where two of his friends (see picture above) made a special effort to visit with him there - Ilan was extremely excited to see them. Later we visited family and Ilan absolutely was in heaven as there were over 20 young children there that Ilan talked to and played with.

Ilan's therapies are moving along very well - his gains in all therapies are quite obvious thanks to the conscientious effort put forth by staff at Beit Loewenstein; they do not give up and continue to plan new therapies to offer Ilan potential improvement till his last day of therapy.

Just this morning I was speaking with Ilan about the activities we will be doing outside of therapies before we leave Israel (which include going to Massada and the Dead Sea later this week) and Ilan reminded me that I must not forget he wants to see his friend Tal before he leaves Israel!! This blew me away as it shows me how far along he has progressed in his memory recall capability that has been improved by the many games/puzzles that his occupational therapist has helped him persevere with!!!

The physical therapists are busy stretching his ankle muscles and Ilan has responded positively by improving his walking movements/gait!

We return to Los Angeles in about 2 weeks and hope to post at least one more blog before then.

Ilan's challenges will start all over once we return to Los Angeles as it will probably be difficult to find and keep up with the progress he has achieved in Israel.

Please call or write us if you know of a structured, social (study or work) program that could benefit Ilan in his quest to return to the funloving, motivated person and achieve all (and more) of the skills that he had before his accident. We would appreciate hearing from you

Our best wishes to everyone. See you in Los Angeles soon.