pray for Peter!

please join me in praying for Peter Jessee who is currently paralyzed from the waist down, Kramer our youngest son played hockey with Peter for several years. About 3 weeks ago, Peter's parents, Bud and Janet stopped by the house...I visited with them as they were excited about a pending move a couple of blocks over and Peter was planning to attend the University of Oklahoma in the fall as he had just graduated from Broken Arrow High School...all seems well, then something like this...speaks to the fragility of life and our health that we take for granted...I will love on my family today!...evidently there are a very limited number of cases of non-traumatic Myelopathy making this even more difficult to treat...

the story below is from the Tulsa World, Thursday 6/5/08
Ex-BA kicker paralyzed: Peter Jessee, a placekicker for Broken Arrow the last three seasons and a Tulsa World All-State honorable mention selection in 2006, is currently a paraplegic, suffering from Surfers Myelopathy. On Wednesday, he was transported from Honolulu to Denver. He was admitted to Craig Hospital’s rehab center, where he is expected to spend the next 45-to- 60 days.

“He has no feeling from his bellybutton on down,” said Jessee’s father, Bud, on Wednesday. “His spirits are good. There’s a girl here from Long Beach who had this happen to her in Maui and she is walking again after being paralyzed from the teeth down. We are hoping that will happen for Peter. He has always been a competitor.”

Jessee’s ailment, which struck almost two weeks ago on a trip to Hawaii just after graduation, usually strikes first-time surfers. There was no blunt trauma involved. Blood flow can be cut off from the lower spinal cord by the way a surfer arches his back, stands up on the board and looks back over his shoulders.

“He had been taking lessons, we had a surfing instructor and were at a place where the waves weren’t very big,” Bud Jessee said. “When he finished surfing and began walking on the beach, he said that he was in tremendous pain. Forty-five minutes later, he couldn’t walk.

“This is a nightmare and we’re all waiting to wake up. We appreciate all the calls, text-messages and prayers. Peter told me he will walk again, even if it takes him 20 years.”
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if you would like to send Peter a note and let him know you are praying for him you can do so through Facebook (Peter Jessee)...