Update for Baby Micah (Who is not a baby anymore!)

March 6, 2013

Dear Friends & Family
It has been so very long since we have updated on our grandson, Micah. I hope this update reaches most of you who walked with us during those first few years of his challenging life. We want to update you once again so you will know how your prayers have affected sweet Micah and his mommy (Stephanie) and daddy (Chris).

Micah is now 6 years old! He is a darling boy with a bright smile and great disposition. He still has many of the physical challenges he had when you last heard from us. He is still only about 21 lbs, still does not sit or stand or walk. He can army crawl at a snails pace but is gradually increasing his speed and distance. While he still has a feeding tube in place, he eats most of his meals by mouth. He says a few words : "good morning", "much" (when his mommy says to him "I love you sooooo --" she pauses and he says his word for "much").

Micah is still attending the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelphia twice a year with his mommy. They go there so Micah can be examined and assessed by all of the brain injury specialists in each area - physical, intellectual, nutritional, visual and respiratory. After the assessments, Stephanie is given a new set of therapies to do with Micah on a daily basis. The physical therapies take four people to do each day. Stephanie is always one of those people, and then three more are needed. I will explain further later.

During the course of Micah's life and treatment from the Instititues, Stephanie has been teaching him all sorts of things. As you may remember, it began with 12 x 12 note cards with a single word written on it in bold print - and Micah would be taught 50 words like this per week, and 11 phrases on large cards per week. At the end of each week, those words and phrases would be retired and a new set would be introduced. This would be done each and every week. Also Micah was taught counting and simple math by on 12 x 12 cards in this same way except that the numbers were illustrated as dots. Math was taught much differently than any of us had learned. All of these lessons continued to progress through the years as Micah grasped the knowledge until, at this writing, Micah is deemed a college level speed reader and understands advanced mathematics (algebra, pre-calc, etc.)! It is quite astounding to know this! Each time he goes back to the Institutes, they test him on the things he is learning, on his ability to understand things and answer questions correctly.

Because Micah is unable to communicate with verbal speech, he learned long ago to communicate by using a facilitative communication board. That is a little square board that has the letters of the alphabet divided into squares. He basically taps out the letters of the words he is trying to communicate with his mommy supporting his wrist. While this is a wonderful way for him to communicate, it is a very, very slow process and can take quite a while and a lot of energy for him to do this. Just recently, we were able to rent a computerized communication system called Tobii ATI with eye gaze technology. It is a technology that is calibrated to a person's eyes and then a person can look at the letters and numbers on a keyboard and the computer types the letters on the screen as it is being done. You can even add a voice to the computer so it speaks the words. This technology can not only enable a person to communicate more effectively and quickly, but can enable them to surf the internet, turn on the tv or any other device it is programmed to do. It could really open up Micah's world so much more. We rented this equipment for two months to see if Micah would be able to grasp how to do it. If he was successful, then we would all move forward to try to purchase this for him. However, initially in the first month, Stephanie found it very frustrating because she could not get a good calibration on Micah's eyes. It calibrates to both eyes and Micah has a problem with convergence in his eyes. His eyesight is perfect but both eyes are not always focused the same, so he was finding it very difficult. Just as we were thinking about sending the computer back and trying again in six months, Micah had a few very successful days with it. He began playing a matching game and one time, got every single match perfectly! So, we HAVE sent the computer back, but only because we are going to buy a brand new Toby computer for him. We are hopeful that one day Micah will be able to communicate more easily with anyone he wants to.

Micah and Daddy

 

 Micah's health has been nearly perfect! He almost never gets sick (which is completely contrary to what the doctors told us when he was born - they said he would be in the hospital most of his life with respiratory illnesses, etc.). This past week he had a sinus infection which came with a mid-level temperature for several days, but he is well on his way to health and smiling again!

This past September, Stephanie moved down to South Orange County (Mission Viejo) to be closer to us and our network of friends and family. She wasn't able to get enough volunteers to help with Micah's therapies each week where she was living. Some of Micah's physical therapies are done twice a day for one hour each session. It takes four people to do them - Stephanie and three volunteers. Once Stephanie moved to Mission Viejo, we were able to enlist many volunteers to help with Micah. We need a total of 42 volunteers each week and we currently have about one-third of that. After Micah started getting more of his physical therapy sessions in, we began to see more rapid improvements in his respiratory abilities, in his physical endurance and muscle memory, and he even began gaining weight. All of this is a result of more therapy sessions. It is so exciting to see the direct benefit from the loving time that our volunteers give to helping Micah. If you or anyone you know would be interested in helping with Micah, one hour per week, we would SO appreciate hearing from you.


If I could only say one thing about Micah it would be that he is a very happy little boy! He loves his mommy and daddy, and all his grandparents. He is adored by all of his aunts and uncles and cousins. Basically, Micah brings such joy to everyone he meets! None of us can even imagine (or remember) what our lives were without Micah. He has been the brightest light in our lives since his birth and continues to fill all of us with so much happiness and joy. Every little milestone he makes is celebrated by all who have followed his life story. And the beautiful thing is, Micah's life story is still just beginning. I wonder where God will bring him in this next year. What healing will He do in Micah? What healing will he do in so many of us who have learned to trust and believe even more because of what we have seen God do in and through this precious little boy?


I look expectantly to the future for what it has in store for Micah. One thing I know for sure is that Micah has been used like his namesake, Micah, in the Bible to draw people back to the Lord. We have received letters from so many of you who have shared how Micah's life and the miracles that the Lord has done in him has drawn you to Him. One letter a woman shared how she had been mad at God and hadn't been to church in years, but because of the love of God poured out on Micah, she had decided to go back to church and start taking her children with them. One precious person we had never even met made a handmade blanket for Micah when he was still in the hospital during his first month of life and she had delivered it personally to him. She shared that she had not been able to make anything for a few years due to circumstances in her life, but that she was inspired to make a gift for Micah. Families have come together in intimate moments to pray for Micah and his parents, giving parents opportunities to share the love of God to their children and teaching them about the power of prayer. We even received a letter from the Vatican that we had to have translated telling us that they were praying for Micah. Honestly, there are hundreds of emails we have received and kept that have been a testimony to God's love and power, and also to the strength of the prayers of His people who come together for the sake of a little child.



I hope this update reaches those who had been so faithful to remember Micah in their prayer. Please pass this on to anyone who might have been on your forwarding list. If someone wishes to refresh themselves on Micah's story, you can go to Micahstatus.blogspot.com to get past updates. We would love for you to keep Micah and his parents in prayer. We would love to hear from you, too. I will write again soon with an update on his mommy and daddy and what has transpired in the past years in their lives and I will also share an amazing story about what Micah says about Jesus!


PLEASE PRAY:

- That Micah will be able to learn to communicate more easily - perhaps with the use of the Tobii system.

- That Micah continues to grow and strengthen his muscles and respiratory system.

- That Micah begins to crawl more - faster and further.

- That he would have healing in his legs and arms and hands, and that he would one day be able to purposefully use them to stand, walk and hold things.

- And very importantly, please pray that we could enlist more volunteers to help with Micah's therapies.


Thank you - again - for your past devotion and dedication to our grandson, Micah. You have been vital in his healing and the victories in his life.


With love and thankfulness,

Gary and Teri Stache

P.S. We wanted to share with you that a few years ago, Micah's mother, Stephanie, received the Lord and is a believer and lover of God now! WOOOOO HOOOOO! Thank you to all of you who prayed. Xoxoxo

P.P.S. I am actually considering writing a book about Micah's journey for our families and plan on including tons of photos and clips from the multitudes of emails from those who have written to encourage and bless Micah and our family. I think it would be a beautiful thing to be able to give to Micah one day. If I end up doing that, I will let you all know in case you would like one as well.