He continues to work on walking and getting his brain to follow the right commands and building core strength up so he can support himself. Yesterday he did stairs with only one assist! His specialists are also having him do repetions of going from a sitting to a standing position. And he's graduated from applesauce to pudding! He told Carolin he liked the taste but thought eating in general was, "weird". Carolin confirmed this was pretty typical for someone with a TBI and I had to laugh just imagining him saying it. Obviously food has never been a big priority in his life!
We are really excited about the Ruby Tuesday's Giveback nights on Jason's behalf.
It is so awesome that they are doing this at not only the Ruby's where Jason worked but other ones as well. Here's a little Jason and Ruby's background:
After graduating from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a degree in Digital Art and Animation Jason decided he really didn't want to sit at a computer all day. (I'm sure you parents out there can relate to how we felt at that news!) So not sure what he wanted to do he applied for a job at the brand new Ruby Tuesday's being built not too far from us. Once hired he helped with all kinds of things as items arrived to set up the new location. He seemed to really love it when the restaurant opened and he was interacting with customers and they seemed to love him back. He won an award for getting a number of sent in comments. Next up he was trained as a bartender and continued to do great with customer interaction. And it wasn't just customers who he developed a great repore with - he had a great group of friends who worked along side him. Andy Chambers, who was the GM, seemed to see the potential in Jason and kept bugging him about training to be an assistant manager. He was considering it but not sure when a group of Ruby's workers went to play a friendly game of football. Another group of guys was playing, one that included some high school football players, and they challenged each other to a game. Jason went in for a play and the next thing he knew he was on the ground in horrible pain. His leg was obviously broken and several of his friends scooped him up and drove him to the hospital as quickly as they could. Unfortunately it was his femur that was broken as well as several bones in his ankle smashed up. We sat in the surgery waiting room late into the night while they put a rod in his leg and screwed plates into his ankle. My mother's heart just broke at the pain he was in. When he came home we set his bedroom up downstairs and had a rotation of friends and family visiting with him. Obviously bartending did not include any kind of coverage and it was so sweet when his Ruby's friends showed up with money they had collected for him. After several long months Andy was wonderful enough to put Jason to work in the office so he didn't have to stand and eventually Jason did decide to go for an assistant manager position. It was that decision that led him to Carolin as he ended up helping to run the Ruby's at Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg and it just so happened Carolin was working there too. And the rest as they say is history!
Andy Chambers is now managing the Martinsburg, WV Ruby Tuesday's which is how they got involved with this Giveback for Jason and Lancaster is participating since that is where Jason and Carolin now live.
Here are some pictures I found from as the people in them call it, "The Ruby Days".
Ruby's Picnic
Andy Chambers
Warren
Joy
Craig & Vicki
Chrissi, Vicki, Tom
Ruby's Crab Feast
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