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Tim wanted to let you all know that there is an Internet access outage at the Hospital.

He may not be able to provide udpates for a few days. He will let us all know once he is online again.

Thanks and a great day to all of you,
-Guy

Hi everyone,

The sun finally appears the day after I complain about not seeing it since we have been here!! :-) We then took advantage of the sunshine and went into downtown Hangzhou and I will describe the experience later in this update. But now I will focus on Tori and her progress. Tori appears to be well adjusted to her schedule and our time change and generally sleeps through the entire night and has an afternoon nap after acupuncture and EMT.

James continues to push her greatly during the PT sessions and we have been giving Tori some Motrin the past few nights to help her with joint and muscle pain. Tori's muscles were extremely 'loose' during the Wednesday morning PT session. James was able to move her arms, wrists, hands and fingers in directions that didn't seem possible before. He kept asking me if I gave her any extra medication and I assured him I hadn't given her anything. So he took advantage of the situation and got some really great stretching in!! :-) Tori didn't stay loose for long though because when James started on her troublesome knees and ankles she became very tight, vocal and grimacing during the stretching once again... She continues to use the stander after each PT session and lasts for about 5-10 minutes at 52 degrees before she can't tolerate it anymore. It is her left foot that becomes painful and I know if she could stand on it correctly like her right foot she could do much better. She does acupuncture and EMT in the afternoon. The PT session has been great lately because Jenn is also helping James so Tori gets double the attention for 1.5 to 2 hours. The Chief Neurologist of the Xiaoshan Hospital visited Tori today and he asked me about her improvements since the stem cell treatments so I told him what we have been observing so far. I believe at times, Tori has more control of the muscles in her arms and hands and she has demonstrated this by doing new movements for us. I also believe Tori's muscles are 'looser' more often than they were previously. Before, Tori had tight and flexed arms and hands almost 100% of the time unless she was sleeping. Now I would say there are more times when she is fully awake and her arms and hands are quite 'loose'. Again, nothing scientific to really prove the observations and perceived improvements and we don't know if they are related to the stem cells treatment directly, the therapies or a combination of both. It's ALL so good for her!! :-)

Hello all,

Tori was 'wound up' and agitated quite a bit Monday morning and we had to give her a xanax and zanaflex dose to calm her during the PT session with James. Since she had her second stem cell treatment scheduled for later in the afternoon we opted not to perform any strenuous PT on her during the morning session. It basically turned into an hour and a half 'massage fest' for Tori and she really enjoyed it of course. We don't want her to think she can get away with that everyday though ;-)

Tori was late getting into her stem cell treatment as they had issues with other patients throughout the day. She ended up entering the sterile surgical room at 5:00pm and returned to our room at about 6:15pm. The procedure went well according to Dr. Shi and Tori slept for 3 hours afterward while the IV based NFG and stem cells were administered. Then we created her 'vertical movie environment' and she watched two movies with headphones on while lying flat on her back. The second one was the 'Ice Princess' which is one of Tori's favorites. After we started it, Tori softly then loudly began moaning and 'aaahhh'ing for our attention while looking at us as well. It turns out the volume to her headphones was accidentally turned off and she was just letting us know. Once it was turned on she was calmly watching once more. It's small signs like that which constantly remind us that she is indeed 'in there'. We didn't elevate her again until about 2:00am and she slept very soundly the entire night.

Tori's temperature on Tuesday was a little high once more at 37.4 degrees Celsius but by the end of the day it was back down to normal or 36.8 degrees Celsius. That trend will probably continue after each stem cell treatment. James really worked Tori hard during Tuesday's PT session because Tori had about three days off. Tori was screaming quite loudly as James worked on her knees again... James decided to do a range measurement on her right knee and it came in at just over 40 degrees so I was very close in my 45 degree estimate from the last update. Her first measurement on the second day we were here was 7 degrees so that is quite an improvement!! James didn't want to measure her left knee as he wants more time on it. Tori then went in the stander again for two 5-10 minute raises of 52 degrees.

I am a total stranger and I think of Tori daily! She has left such a special place in my heart! You have an amazing family that more people need to strive to live like. I look up to you and your wife for everything that you do for your sweet Tori. I pray that everything keeps going well in China. Miracles happen and will happen to Tori! Keep the faith.

With love,
McKayla Shockley

Dear Schmanski Family
Let me introduce myself quickly. I am married to Rick Porter who is first cousin to Sharon Harris. If I remember this right, Sharons hubby is Maria's brother??
We lived in Hinckley, Utah for years and just recently moved to England (where I'm from) to be closer to my family for a while! I was in Hinckley the day of Tori's accident and it deeply affected me. I have been following her progress on your site since then. You have such a beautiful family and are so dedicated to them. You have left a great impression on me. I just wanted to let you know that there is a whole bunch of us in England that pray and care about Tori.
Love from Jane Porter and family

Hi Tim... this is LaNae Maughan - I remember you from your days at Novell. I am in the IT department there. A friend alerted me to your site a few weeks ago, and I have been watching with great interest. Thanks for all the detailed information that you share with others.

My husband and I just passed our 21 year milestone from his accident date on January 20th. I had three small children at the time, and no health insurance. He had a severe brain stem contusion and a prognosis that he would not live. He had lost all ability to control the involuntary functions of his body such as temperature, breathing, etc. He was in a coma with a Glascow score of 3-4 for well over a week. Through the power of faith and prayers, he came out of his coma and started to heal. He was completely paralyzed at the time. He now is able to walk (although he is not stable, and it is slow). We have been able to live a somewhat normal life and have raised 4 children in the process (we had one additional child join our family four years after the accident).

The reason I am writing is two fold - one to let you know that prayers are answered and miracles do happen! The other is to let you know that I want to communicate with you and find out more details of how we could proceed with a 'China adventure' of our own. I have waited 21 years for science to develop a solution that will help Dan. I always knew that an answer would surface someday, and I am greatly encouraged by your example of courage and fortitude to look for your own answers and follow your heart. Thanks for all you do...

We are praying for Tori and for her recovery. I pray that the stem cells will live and form new neurons in her brain and that the progress you see will be significant. I pray that she will smile and that you will be able to communicate with her. Please let us know if there are other things that we should specifically be thinking of. Please keep in touch. -LaNae

Hello again,

Tori ended up sleeping almost all Friday afternoon and Friday evening as well. When she woke up Saturday morning she had a slight fever of 37.1 degrees Celsius or close to 98.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Normal body temperature for humans is 36.5 degrees Celsius or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. This varies slightly according to such factors as the individual, the time of day, state of metabolism and physical activity, and temperature of surroundings. With Tori's anoxic brain injury and the increased and ever constant muscle tone associated with it, Tori usually runs a little warmer than the rest of us. She normally hovers around 37 degrees Celsius or slightly under. I've been trying to communicate this to the doctors and nurses here and I think they finally understand but Tori definitely did have a slight fever and that is typical after the stem cell treatments from what I've been told. By noon on Saturday her temperature was back to her normal range and it has been there ever since. A fever of 38 degrees Celsius or above would not be good as it might cause harm or destruction of the stem cells that were placed... So we are continuously monitoring Tori's temperature to say the least.

We also keep our room temperature on the cooler side for Tori and ourselves and we are very comfortable at about 72 degrees Fahrenheit or just over 22 degrees Celsius. Tori usually has a sheet or blanket in addition to her clothes and is fine. I walk around in the mornings and at night with basketball shorts, a t-shirt and slippers and Maria usually has pajamas and slippers on. It's funny because the medical staff here believes we are just crazy!! :-) Thinking back when I was chased around by three nurses carrying a blanket and with the concern viewed daily here, we finally figured it out and it is because they all have the typical misconception about temperature causing or influencing the common cold. A Google search on 'common cold myths' and I quickly found this accurate explanation:

Hi Maria, Tim and Tori,
We are so proud of you. You have inspired us to head in the same directions. Your pathway there, has made it easier for us to follow. We are working on raising the funds and getting things in order so that we can bring Travis there, hopefully soon. We pray for your family and Tori daily, and we are cheering for her. Im not sure if its just the lighting, but in your recent pictures, her coloring looks better, pink cheeks and more color in her face. Im not sure if thats my imagination, but she looks good. thats a good sign. We will continue to check on your daily happenings and progress, thanks for all the details.
The Ashton Family, Jed, Missy, Travis and the gang from Highland, Ut

Hi there,

Tori has successfully completed her first week here at the Xiaoshan Hospital in Hangzhou, China!! Only three more weeks left at this point and we'll probably start to count the days as we are really beginning to miss Whitney, Brendan, Grandpa Paul, Grandma Sandy and our dog, Tinker's the Yorkie... Even though we speak with them and see them through Skype video phone conferencing multiple times per day, it's just not quite enough. We also have a camera set up at home so we can watch all of the activity in the family room and kitchen. Grandma?? We have noticed Brendan sneaking into the fridge for snacks quite often - you are so busted buddy!! ;-)

Alright, now on to Tori who is making great improvements on the PT (Physical Therapy) front. In watching James aggressively massage and stretch Tori for an hour and half each day I realize that we have not done nearly enough for Tori in this area... The flexibility improvements we have seen in Tori's arms, wrists, fingers, knees and ankles have been very impressive and that is only after a week's worth of effort by James who we might just try to sneak out of the country and take home with us. Just kidding on that one but boy do I wish!! :-) Maria and I are admittedly far too passive when we perform PT on Tori because it's very hard for us to cause her the pain that is needed for progression and it unfortunately shows in the deterioration of Tori's body... We are truly sorry Tori. It is certainly not an issue for James though who clearly knows how to push her to the pain threshold then ease nicely back again. Tori often grimaces and at times will cry out at the top of her lungs!! We tell Tori she can hit James whenever she wishes and I swear at times that right arm is headed his way but it needs a little more control and velocity to be effective :-) James mentioned that Tori and Michael, who was just here as well, are the only two that have made him really sweat during a PT session because each of them is so strong and it takes great effort to move various parts of their bodies. James will also be rearranging Tori's PT schedule next week so he can have even more time with her. Thank you James.

Hello again,

During Tuesday Tori had more PT (Physical Therapy), Acupuncture and EMS (Electronic Muscle Stimulation) and at 4:45pm Wednesday afternoon, she went into a sterile surgical room for her first stem cell treatment. It went very smoothly as Tori was given some Valium once she entered the room and the procedure was done after about 45 minutes. She then had to lie flat on her back for at least 6 hours and to accomplish this we positioned her DVD player right above her so she watched movies while looking up towards the ceiling :-)

Now that Tori has officially received her first stem cells and NGF (Nerve Growth Factor) via intrathecal injection into the spinal canal and intravenously as well, I believe it is time for some biological and scientific detail on exactly what she is receiving. Below is an accurate summary and you can select the hyperlinked words for additional detail on them. In highly over simplified terms, we are attempting to build new brain matter in Tori to replace the damaged or dead brain matter that currently exists so that overall, Tori will have more brain matter to work and heal with.

Tori has received Umbilical Cord Stem Cells known as CD34+, CD133 and Mesenchymal stem cells. CD34+ and CD133 have been shown in numerous studies to be prone towards becoming white matter which is what neural stem cells and myelin are made of. Mesenchymals have been found to be inclined to be become numerous types of cells including but not limited to chondrocytes (a type of cell critical to tissue renewal particularly cartilage), liver cells, Kidney and neurons. Lab tests have also indicated that when Mesenchymal stem cells are combined with other cells such as CD34+ and CD133 they will boost the process of the transformation of other types of stem cells into becoming what they already have a tendency for such as white matter. These Mesenchymals also appear to be able to conduct repairs in relation to vascular disorders within the brain, ocular areas and throughout the body including but not limited to the heart, Kidney and pancreas.