Tori Schmanski is our beautiful, brilliant, talented and vibrant 16 year old daughter who sustained a ABI (Anoxic Brain Injury) in an automobile accident on Fathers Day, June 19th, 2005. The accident involved Tori, her sister Whitney and two of their cousins. The vehicle they were all in rolled 2.5 times and landed upside down in a canal and everyone except Tori was able to swim out of the vehicle.

Brittany made a wonderful tribute video for Tori that I would like to share with all of you. Select the YouTube link or the Windows Media Video link below and enjoy!! Please tell all of your friends and let's see how many YouTube views Tori can get!! Thank you so much Brittany for your support and this touching contribution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91zPfCGZeCE

http://www.pray4tori.com/miscGuy/tori2.wmv

Hello again,

Today marks three years since Tori's injury and it seemed to have much less prominence in our thoughts as the previous two anniversaries. Having it not fall on Father's Day also helps keep that day celebratory as it certainly should be and it surely was this year.

Tori has been through a lot over the past three years and has certainly made progress in her recovery. It has been painfully slow and we have encountered numerous challenges but we continue to try and move her forward as best we can. Keeping her as healthy and comfortable as possible remain as top priorities as well and we have been blessed this past year as Tori has not had a serious illness. Again, we remain committed to caring and helping Tori in every way we can and we will never stop trying.

I described trying times for Maria and I in my last update primarily due to the fact that Tori should have and would have been thoroughly enthralled with life having her high school graduation, college preparation and basic entry into adulthood in full swing. It would have been truly exciting times for our entire family as well.

Hello again everyone it's been way too long since my last entry...

Tori is doing well and there are no issues with her to report. Her daily routine continues with various therapies throughout the week and it is finally getting warm enough to bring her outside again. She is spending more and more time now outdoors on our deck. We will also begin getting her out and about more on shopping trips and excursions to movies and the like. Tori still loves the summer just as she always has!!

The past couple of months have certainly been more challenging and difficult for Maria and I in relation to Tori. Seeing and sharing with all of her friends who are graduating from high school, from their various dance teams and seeing them carefully planning their entries into adulthood makes us realize just how much Tori, and all of us, have lost in this life... The college offers also continue to arrive during the week but I don't have the courage to respond that Tori will not be attending. I just can't. It seems lately the emotional ups and downs are in their vicious cycle often and all we are trying to do is remain as steady and as focused as we possibly can without dwelling too long at either end. All we can do is attempt to manage the loss, pain and sorrow that is always present and always will be.

Good afternoon,

Tori’s health and overall demeanor remain well and her daily routine of home health care and therapy sessions continues. She is now fairly consistent in her whistle blowing and Meredyth has been working with Tori to make her exhale more forcefully for increased loudness of the whistle. This may prove meaningful in the future because it could possibly lead to a form of communication where Tori would rely on a whistle to garner our attention. Whether she has the cognitive ability to achieve this action remains in question but we have to keep trying for any consistent communication medium to truly know. All of us want to believe in Tori and hopefully there will come a day when she will prove to us what she truly knows and can do.

Cari did some more range testing on Tori’s joints and limbs and recorded her best measurements post the China trip in January of 2007. The continuous PT sessions and efforts are working and it would be wonderful to get her the levels achieved during her 32 day stay in China where she received 2 hours of PT and acupuncture each day. Definitely progress on this front!!

Jake continues to visit Tori for three days a week and does various activities with her. I’ll provide a more detailed description of those in the next update but most are classroom centered whether it is French, comparison activities in math and English and Tori’s favorite fashion.

Our local newspaper had another article on Tori and her progress. Here is the link:

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/259878/17/

Hello again,

For all of those still questioning or not quite convinced on the promising future of stem cell usage please watch this video: A 2-year-old showed fewer signs of cerebral palsy after an infusion of his own stem cells Whether using your own stem cells or those of others the extensive research and eventual clinical evidence will validate their use in medical treatments. For all of those having children please try and store the cord blood stem cells if you have the means. You can never know what obstacles and challenges life will hand you.

Tori blew her whistle today during her ST session with Meredyth and she did it several times and rather loudly each time. I actually thought it was Brendan playing with a whistle until Meredyth called me into see Tori try it. She clearly did the best she has ever done with this exercise and it also reminded me that I haven't posted an update on her in a while... Sorry about the dry spell but here I go now.

Cari has also been having very good PT sessions lately and Tori has 'loosened up' once again since the sessions are now twice per week as before. I am seeing a 90 degree bend in Tori's right leg and her left leg is improving as well. You can really see the difference when she is in her wheelchair and her legs are now bending at the knees instead of remaining straight as an arrow.

Jake continues to do great work with Tori and his latest teaching exercises involve watching and reading short stories on the computer. I haven't had a chance to witness this exercise but Tori pays very close attention to the reading (with words on each page) and the page turning. It can keep her attention for a full hour which is quite good for her.

McKenzie, Tori and Mollee smiling for the camera!!

Good evening,

Thank you for your patience and for the many emails informing me that Tori's site was down. As Guy mentioned in his earlier posting to the site, there were some unscrupulous and malicious individuals who exploited Tori's site for fraudulent activities. It saddens me to know there are truly pathetic people out there trying to take advantage of not only Tori's site but many others just like it... It has been a long, long time since I have approved any new users to Tori's site and that it is due to actions like this. It will take a personal introduction email to me after applying for an account before access will even be considered. So once you apply for an account you will need to reply to the email which is automatically sent to you with information about yourself and why you want to participate on Tori's site. I'm sure there are many more of you who would like to contribute and this is an unfortunate precaution that must be taken. Now onto what this site is all about - Tori.

Tori continues to do pretty well but has had a few 24 hour flu type days since the last update. Slight temperatures, some vomiting, agitation and just feeling miserable like all of us feel when we are ill. Tori likes it about as much as we do... Maria, Whitney, Brendan and I have all fought through the same symptoms at times during the past three weeks as well. I'm happy to say that as of right now no one in the family is ill and we hope it remains that way.

Bonjour everyone, it has been a while since pray4tori.com required so much attention.

Someone took advantage of our site to do fraudulent activities online which required me to spend the last 4 hours updating a lot of software on it.

There is no way to tell what I have possibly broken right now but at least it seems to be back online. We will continue to monitor and stabilize the new version over the next days.

Best regards,
-Guy (going to bed)