Update on Jared and a new Do

Jared finally let Sadie cut his hair and he shaved.  He looks somewhat like himself, just with puffy cheeks and very skinny legs.   

Jareds, friend from high school and roomate his first 2 years in college, Michael stayed the night with him Thursday 1/27/11.  It was real nice for me to be home with the all girls for only the 2nd time since Jared got sick.   Thanks Mike

Kyle stayed a couple weeks ago and I figure the staff can only handle them every couple weeks.  :)

This is a very nice email from Jeff Dowdy.  Thanks Jeff

I went to see Jared Penney today. He is the young man who had the Guillain-Barre syndrome last fall. He has been paralyzed for 130 days now and is in rehab. He has function of his arms but not his legs, yet. I am just wanting us to remember to pray for him as he recovers. He needs specific prayer for encouragement during these days when he improves so slightly. Also pray for his complete healing. Pray for his mom and Dad, Bill and Vicki Penney, and sister Alexandra. They have extra stress on them due to traveling to and from DeLand to Ormond Beach where Jared is located. Pray also for his grandparents as they assist in sitting with Jared.

I would like for us to rally around Jared and pray for him and his family during this time as he recovers.

Jeff Dowdy

Minister to Students

Stetson Baptist Church

1025 W. Minnesota Ave.

DeLand, FL  32720386-734-1991

Update on Jared some movement still no feeling below the chest

He is starting to get some movement in his legs and hips, however he still has little to no feeling below his chest. 

Update on Jared

Hello everyone

First let me start by saying thank you to everyone who is praying for our family.  It is truly amazing how many people stop me and ask about Jared and continue to reassure me they are praying for his full recovery. 


Now I would be remiss if I did not say thank you to everyone who helped out with Jared's room.  A big thank you to all who helped financially and those who did the work.  You are all a true blessing to our family.  The room is great and I think he will be very comfortable when he is able to come home. 

Jared has seen some improvement.  Although he still has no feeling below his chest, his muscles in his hips are getting stronger and as you can see in the pictures he can sit up now on the edge of the bed.  His legs and feet have the slightest movement on good days and as the doctors warned us it comes and goes.

His upper body continues to improve, although he still has a tremendous amount of pain in his elbows.  He can push himself up from the bed and is now doing much more of the work transferring himself from the wheelchair to the bed and vise versa. 

Many of you have asked about the rest of our family and how we are dealing with Jared's recovery process. Our extended family continues to be very supportive, coming to hospital daily and handling the things we need at home. 

Most recently we have been blessed by an long time friend who has offered to cover Vicky's salary for the next several months, this is going to allow us to all be better cared for.  Vicky will now have the time to care Jared and do the little things the girls need. This has really been a hard process on our entire family, most certainly harder on Jared than anyone, but all of us have Jbeen impacted.  So I say thank you and I can only hope to repay a small portion of this debt in some way, down the road. 

Looking forward our next big concern is insurance.  We have a meeting on Monday to determine if our insurance is going to allow him to stay at Peninsula Rehab, we are praying they do not make him move to a convalescent facility which will not have the same type of physical therapy he is getting now.  Please pray for us and that this meeting goes well. 

Christmas 2010 - Different but nice to be together