The latest news.
James
and Sarah got engaged and moved into an apartment. The owner of the apartment was approached to
see if he would permit them to modify the apartment for wheel chair access etc.
It turned out he was a friend of a friend and modified the whole place for
free. James has sworn he will walk down the isle. (see video on the Puffin
website.) James plays tennis (with a racket tied to his arm, loves to cook (he
says the kitchen ends up a mess because his hand
control is not the steadiest.) He is learning to drive a specially modified
car! Amazing but he is a Gribble. He also works with the aid of a walker. He
still has trouble monitoring his body temperature as he cannot feel anything
below the chest and he has spasms in his legs he cannot control. What an
amazing young man.
Roger Gribble. James' father and a really close friend,
finally had a knee replacement. He had suffered chronic pain for years and one
time on his boat, as we were crashing through the sea, I turned and asked him
how he was feeling. He turned and, with tears in his eyes, answered
"great". Roger's first concern
had been James. He went to most of James' physiotherapy sessions and I'm sure
Roger's pain continued at every turn. I asked Roger how his own rehabilitation
was going after his knee operation. He just said great but he did not realize
how much effort was needed to use a wheel chair and how much upper body
strength was needed just to get in and out of the chair.
Dee
is still teaching as a librarian and seems to be loving life and her family as
much as ever. If there was a problem in life Dee would be the first person on
your doorstep with assistance as though there was nothing more important in her
life.
The
support for the James over the years has been amazing. Fund raisers have been
numerous. Special black tie balls for hundreds of people in both England and
Australia, art exhibitions, running marathons, white collar boxing events,
ballet evenings, charity auctions, golf tournaments (James says he will play
golf again and knowing him he will and I'm sure he will beat me soundly ....
again.) Supporters of James have even swum the English Channel, climbed mountains
and hiked all over the world.
James'
brother Martin kayaked for forty nine days down the Murray river in Australia.
He raised almost $18,000. With temperatures reaching 45 degrees centigrade (113
degrees Fahrenheit) Martin paddled 2,200
kilometers (1,367 miles)
James'
sister Penny hiked the Kokoda trail in
Papua New Guinea with four of her girlfriends for eight days . The Kokoda trail is one
of the toughest treks in the world and covers 100 kilometers (62 miles) The
mountain range reached a height of 2,250
meters (7,400 ft.)
Why a Puffin -
especially Across America?
The
first real live puffin bird James met up close with in Iceland had only one leg and he was dubbed "Peter
Puffin". Since then an embodiment of Peter
in the form of many hand puppets has travelled the world far and wide
with James and fellow Puffin Magic Foundation supporters.
Quite
the well-travelled Puffin, Peter and James have fished the mountain brooks of
Scotland and surfed the coral atoll breaks of the Maldives. Equally at home on
a Berlin dance floor as marlin fishing out at sea off Broulee, Peter is a versatile Puffin. Not
unaccustomed to a night out Peter has also made quite a few friends the world
over and nursed many a sore head in the morning.
Peter
Puffin is the essence of fun, compassion and adventure to James and has been by
his side since the accident. Peter
Puffin will now travel across America on the handlebars of a Harley. He will be
seen at the Golden Gate Bridge, Yellowstone National park, Mount Rushmore and
motorcycle bars in Sturgis South Dakota. (The big question is will Peter get a
tattoo?) Peter Puffin will end his journey at the Atlantic ocean just three
hours north of Boston in a place called Port Clyde, Maine which has a
.............. (you guessed it ) ......... a puffin colony!
Read the blog at http://puffinacrossamerica.blogspot.com/
and join if you want to. If you have Facebook log onto www.facebook.com/PuffinUSA
and if you wish to be inspired by James
Gribble read www.puffinmagic.org.au
No comments:
Post a Comment