365 of 2014: May 2015

What a jam packed couple of months this has been... Let's start off with the medical side of life. Things have been going steady for me as usual with regular physio and exercise, and they have been going really well for Luke! He recovered well after the sinus surgery in February and went in for his next surgery only a couple weeks later. Luke has been referred to a great maxillofacial surgeon who removed a few problem teeth that were destroyed in the accident but more importantly cleaned up his right jaw joint (removed excess bone and damaged cartilage and tightened the plate) which has meant Luke can now almost fully open his mouth, before he only had about 40% of the range which made eating a good burger or pie pretty difficult! Luke also had surgery on his left hip to attempt to help the nerve pain. It wasn't a guaranteed fix so unfortunately it hasn't had much of an effect at this stage, but we will wait and see as it's a slow process when dealing with nerves.

Now to the big event... the incredible, amazing, absolutely fabulous Pinnaroo Fun Run, Walk and Roll!! The initiative of a few locals culminated in two great days with the school event on Wednesday 25th of March and the community fun run on Sunday 29th of March.

Students from Pinnaroo, Lameroo and Geranium primary schools as well as a group from the Pinnaroo Kindergarten met at the Pinnaroo Oval attended the school event on the Wednesday. (Murrayville students had planned to attend but unfortunately chicken pox was going around the primary school!) The day began and I had a chance to welcome them all and give a little introduction. I told them the basic story and it was pretty easy to explain that Luke's injuries were mostly broken bones but had spent all morning trying to figure out the best way to explain a spinal injury. I decided to not complicate it by describing a complete injury vs incomplete (which is what I am!) so it went along these lines -

Imagine your brain is a tap and the spinal cord in your back is the hose leading to all of these sprinklers in your arms, fingers, legs and toes. Usually you can turn the tap on and the water comes out right? But has anyone tried, or had a brother or sister(!) that has folded the hose or stepped on it to squish it? That's kind of what happened to me! I broke a bone in my back that is next to my hose so it squished it and the messages from my brain to my feet couldn't get through, just like the water to a sprinkler.

I then went on to say how the healing is like letting a bit of water through. A bit more thought went into that recount of my explanation but it seemed to make sense to the kids! A heartwarming story came a few days later after my mum told me that one of the kindy kids had gone home and told her mum all about how 'your brain is a tap.. and you squish the hose...and..'!!! And then she told it all over again when her dad got home! The fun run itself was awesome - the kids all started together, running laps around the oval and getting a tick on their lap card each lap. I grabbed a marker and joined in marking the cards... and wow I was exhausted just doing that! I have no idea where they got all of their energy! It was such a fun day, and a good bit of exercise for the kids! The Lions Club were great in putting on a sausage sizzle for the kids for lunch, but not even that stopped the kids - they would have a rest and a sausage before doing a couple more laps. The kindy kids (at 4 years old!) all did 6 laps and a couple of the older kids made it over 40 laps! One kid made it to 50! That's almost 15km!! In total the students ran, walked and cartwheeled 2450 laps!

We headed back to Adelaide on Wednesday night before being back in Pinnaroo on Saturday to enjoyed a barbeque with some family and friends that night before getting a good night's rest!

Sunday was a early start with the first walk/runners starting the 10km at 8:30am. As soon as we arrived I could see the number of people that were already there and it was incredible! I remember saying to Bec, the committee leader, in the early days that it didn't matter to me how much money was raised or if only 5 people turned up, it would be an opportunity to say thank you to the people that were involved for all of the love and support in the last 18 months. But there was definitely more than 5 people there! Luke and I started the participants with the air horn at 8:30am, 9am and 9:30am for the 10km, 5km and 3km respectively. In the end around 260 people ran or walked in the Fun Run! It was an incredible atmosphere at the finish line, with participants finishing their distances and then gathering around to talk, grab a bite to eat from the Lions Club barbeque, a coffee from The Fudge Fairy van, with the gorgeous Frankie & Dandelion (www.frankieanddandelion.com) pop up shop and beautiful Henna Happenings joining the fun. The kids were amused with a bouncy castle and entertainment by Tony from Cool 4 Kids. Click on their business names to go to the Facebook pages! I set up a few paintings for show as well and it was great to get feedback and a few sales! Don't forget to check out www.unlimitedfunctionart.com ! It was such a fabulous day, Luke and I were overwhelmed by both the fundraising effort as well as the attendance on the day, not to mention the well wishes from those who couldn't make it. We cannot thank everyone enough for their part in making it such a memorable day, we are so lucky to be a part this great community. Thank you to Ken Solley (Stock Journal), Deirdre Graham (Murray Pioneer), Miranda Hudson-Lloyde and Allan Edwards for attending and capturing the memories of the event.

A recent event that I can't resist sharing - I went with a friend to see a cirque performance, Le Noir, at the Adelaide Festival Centre last weekend which turned out to be an incredible experience. We arrived early and ended up in line for the cafe behind a performer. We chatted while in line and before he ducked off to get ready he told us to come to the stage door after the show and he would get a couple of programs signed for us. Not only did we get those but he managed to get us a spot to sit with the on-stage seating and we got to meet a few of the other cast members after the show! It was an amazing show, so amazing that I dragged my cousin along the next night so I could see it again!

So that about sums up the amazing couple of months we have had, but that's not to say the effect of the Fun Run ended once the final runner crossed the finish line. We are pleasantly surprised every day with the support we have around us and how far spread it is. Until next time we hope you are well and keep warm! ❤

Here are a few photos from the last 2 months!

Kylie and Kale's engagement party