Well I've given up on trying to email a pic I took with my phone yesterday so I can put it up here, but anyway, I dropped in and visited Brian yesterday at the Royal Talbot Hospital.
I hadn't seen Brian since Phillip Island a couple of weeks ago, I felt bad because I try to get over to see him once a week, but what with dead dogs, dead Triumph's and my dead-end job, time got away from me. No matter, it gave me more to tell Brian about, and as always, it was great to chat to him.
I was a little surprised that he wasn't in his room, but rather, he was in the rec room reading a bike mag and drinking a cup of coffee that he made for himself. Yep, that's right, he can dress himself, wash himself and even make some drinks etc now.
And he looks so bloody fit, his physio is really working him hard, and he's dropped around 80 pounds! No BS, I'm jealous of how fit he's become, I'm seriously thinking about faking a serious back injury just so I can go in and get fit and lose all that weight!
I had the pleasure of presenting Brian and Ev with another 1500 Aussie bucks on behalf of you guys. So far I've passed on 3000 Aussie bucks, (3231.85 USD, 2039.74GBP, 2457.10 EURO or 14,046.75 ARS, 'cos it sounds rude......) which is a fantastic result, and there's still a little more coming in from charity auctions and Sam's prints sales. Brian and Ev were ecstatic, and once again asked me to thank everyone here for your generosity. They really are just totally overwhelmed by the empathy and compassion that everyone here has shown and the efforts that Sam has gone to, to help someone that most of us hadn't met in person, before Brian's horrific crash.
But the best news of all, is that Brian can now stand! Yep, he needs a little help, and he's got a lot of nerve damage which is making things difficult, but he's really cracking on, it really is fantastic! You know, I've had a crappy couple of weeks and it got to me a tad, but after sitting with Brian, and seeing how much he's improved in only 2 weeks, I couldn't help but feel really good as I walked back to my car, even the rain that was thundering down couldn't take the smile off my face.
From my time in the Army I know that people are capable of performing incredible feats if their morale is high, and I firmly believe that the efforts of everyone here has helped Brian achieve a remarkable recovery so far. Sorry I can't post the pic, but I'll keep working on it. Thanks again everyone, you guys have done a great thing. Cheers, Terry.