Team Tym Stark - ABI Walk 2009

Thanks to all those who walked with us, donated to the cause and supported us in the 2009 ABI Walk! We had a great time and were so glad to have such a large team of walkers this year. Enjoy the pictures

Hello everyone!

It sure has been a long time since the last blog entry. Things have been very busy. It has been an entire year since the last ABI Walk:

http://stark-family.com/2008/03/23/tym%E2%80%99s-recovery-day-184/

Tym has been attending Coastline College for almost 1 year now. He continues to make great progress and is doing most everything on his own, needing very little help with anything. Tym’s speech and comprehension have improved greatly. Most people that have never met him before swear that he couldn’t have had a brain injury because he seems perfectly normal. Tym still loves to golf, and plays about twice a week.

I can’t write everything here (ok won’t). So if you want to catch up with Tym and family, come out and walk with us at the end of the month.

ABI Walk Information:

The 3rd Annual Walk for Brain Injury Awareness will be held at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley from 8am to 12pm on Saturday, March 28th. It’s about a 3-mile walk and dogs are welcome!

Location: Mile Square Park
16801 Euclid Ave, Fountain Valley, CA 92708
Map: http://www.coastline.edu/walkforabi/directions.cfm
Check in time: 8:00 am
Walk Start Time: 9:00 am

You can register online here:

http://www.coastline.edu/walkforabi/registration.cfm

If you are planning on walking with us, please RSVP to tym_stark@yahoo.com by Friday March 13 and sign up using the team name “Tym Stark”.

We would like to thank Harvey Wynne for setting up Tym and family with the opportunity to participate in some of the volunteer duties of the race. We had a great time helping out.

We were very glad to see John Steffens our hero and friend. He ran very well today, and he has already qualified for the Boston Marathon. Thanks John, and congratulations!

And thank you to everyone who gave us words of praise and encouragement, you made us all feel very welcome and loved.

UPDATE: Pictures!

 We showed up, got our t-shirts, helped out,

and then visited the accident scene

 Luckily we had time to checkout the mission.

We recommend it.

 Our job was to hand out the finisher’s medals

 John Steffens crossing the finish

Tym was invited to give out the awards

Tym was a local celebrity to many.

A great BBQ lunch ended this year’s event.

Thanks To All Of You!

-Tym

Please let us know if you are interested in attending.

More details at the Lompoc Valley Distance Club

http://members.impulse.net/~lvdc/index.htm

Thanks, Tym

We had some maintenance to do…

Some things got out of control…

Tym got to drive his truck, watch out!, whew! ok.

We met up with Joe Wambolt (Tym’s Boss)

We got to play around on the 50

(someone had too much fun)

We had some good food!

 We had some more motorcycle fun, then headed home

As you can tell we had a good time. Unfortunately we forgot the “number one priority”, the golf clubs Sorry Dad!

I’m in week 4 at Coastline Collage. I’m getting use to it. It’s designed for brain injury people like me.

Finally after months of being without a driver’s license, I glad to be back on the road. I’d like to be back on my motorcycle too, but I know I need to wait for it.

I’m going back up to my home in Santa Maria this weekend with Jeremy to pick up my truck, check out the house and get a few others things needed down here, like my golf clubs.

We recently received notice that Tym has been accepted to Coastline Community College’s Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) program! We went to an orientation on Sunday (03/30/08) and are very impressed with what the program has to offer. They have placed Tym in a group with peers that have the same setbacks and challenges that Tym does. Tym started school this Monday (03/31/08). He has to be there from 8:30am - 12:30pm every Monday - Thursday. We have an appointment at the DMV for Tym’s license test in 2 weeks. In the meantime, he will be taking the Access Bus to school.

Tym has been accepted to the Coastline ABI Program! Congratulations!

Dinner with the family. Thanks for visiting Grandma and Grandpa!

Starting school is going to present quite a challenge. The routine is rigorous and pretty unforgiving as far as absences are concerned. The classes focus on adaptations, strategies, and goals. Tym has a new notebook, his journal (aka - memory strategy), and will be receiving a PDA which they will teach him how to use. One of Tym’s classmates spoke at the orientation. She has been in the program for over 2 years. She was very positive, articulate, and encouraging for all the new students. We are grateful to be involved in such a quality program.

We also had the opportunity to visit with Tym’s parents as they wanted to come down for the orientation. Thanks for coming out, we hope you enjoyed your time down here.

Last Sunday we participated in the annual Coastline ABI walk for Brain Injury Awareness. There were many people walking for the cause, and it was a perfect day in the park. Unfortunately I had to travel on business shortly after, and just now have the chance to make the update. I’ve been trying to get my Dad to make some posts on the blog, because he’s doing much better (as always ) but you should encourage him if you want to hear about his views.

Coastline’s ABI Walk for Brain Injury Awareness

Warming up with some Frisbee and snacks

Starting off the walk…

The finish and then lunch with Steph

Our sister/daughter Stephanie wanted to walk with us, but she had to work. Luckily, we got to meet her for lunch right afterwards. The ABI Walk is a great event, and it is really easy to do. If there’s enough interest, we can get a team together next year and walk and/or raise money for the event. This year it just came up on us too fast to get everyone involved. Hope you all are doing well. Happy Easter!

So we went bowling again. This time we cannot post the scores to protect the innocent, so we’ll let the pictures do the talking…

Everyone Seems to Enjoy the Roll

But, Some People Hide Afterwards

Others Get Mad and Ready to Fight

And Some Just “Dance” Their Way Back to the Seats

We had a great time bowling again. Tym has been staying at home taking care of Doctor’s appointments, and college applications (Coastline ABI Program). He has also passed his Hospital-Administered Driver’s Evaluation. Congratulations Dad! It’s a 3-hour course that tests all aspects of driving, recognition, cognition, and reaction. This shows that Tym has made and continues to make great progress in his recovery. He still has to work with the DMV to get his license back and may have to take the drivers written and driving tests again. This process can take up to two months!

Classes at Coastline ABI start next month, so Tym is working on keeping his skills up in the mean time. Please feel free to call, e-mail, or visit as he will be very busy once classes start. Hope everyone is doing well. It’s great to hear from you in the comments. Thanks for the encouragement and care!