I'm not sure I'm blogging or whatever correctly...however...

There was an article about Tori in the Ventura (CA) County Star Newspaper this morning, and I clipped it to place with all the others that have caught my eye in the last four years. I visited the Pray4Tori site--what a beautiful young lady she is! My thoughts and prayers are with you for a successful journey.

My daughter was in an automobile crash June 24, 2002, at the age of 16. She was an exceptional athlete (soccer, high jump) attracting college attention. There are many similarities between her and Tori. A car accident the summer after her junior year changed her (and our) dreams in a heartbeat. As she entered an intersection, a truck broadsided her, resulting in a three month coma, one year in hospitals, traumatic brain injury, and left hemiparesis. Our lives have been changed forever.

She was not expected to live, much less to prosper. But we did NOT pull any plugs, and Jenna defied the predictions of never leaving a facility or breathing and eating on her own. She is in wheelchair most of the time, but is taking junior college courses, and is breathing and, definitely, eating on her own. There is plenty of short term memory loss, and, of course, she is not playing soccer or high jumping. But her attitude is positive, and her sense of humor is intact. (When she was first told that a wheelchair would be a part of her life, I cried. She wrote [she wasn't yet talking at that point],"Mom--we'll be able to get the good parking spaces at the mall!")

I will be following this site diligently and praying that the stem cell surgery will benefit Tori. God bless you all.

Linda Prewitt,
Jenna's Mom

Tori, Tim and Maria have boarded Air France AF027 bound to Paris.

It wasn't without a scare though. Tim and Maria were told 90 minutes before boarding that the ground crew wasn't sure they will be able to let Tori board the plane. After several discussions with the Air France doctors and a few faxes later they were finally all aligned and ready to let them board.

Yours,
-Guy

Thanks for adding the updates Guy!! I toured the Washington Dulles airport and I am now borrowing some wireless network bandwidth from outside the NorthWest Airlines World Club Lounge - Thanks Northwest!! :-)

Guy was accurate in describing the trip so far. Tori did exceptionally wellon the first leg which is by far the smallest of the three. She cried slightly at one point and was agitated slightly at another. She spend her time watching 'Shrek 2' and 'Over the Hedge' on the DVD player.

I wanted to take the time to thank Delta airlines and the SLC TSA agents who were very, very accommodating and professional and made the first stage of our trip actually quite uneventful and almost pleasant. Arranging the personal assistance well in advance is paying dividends and I only wish I could do that when I travel alone on business!! :-)

We made it through the SLC TSA just fine and they secured our carry on luggage at the gate and let us enter the Delta Crown Room as well so we could change Tori and administer her medications. We then boarded first and basically Maria and I picked Tori up and placed her in seat 1B because it didn't have the full bulkhead so Tori could extend her legs out fully and place them on a travel bag we brought along specifically for that purpose. Again, Delta was very helpful and let me pick which seat would work the best. Thanks again to Cory and the rest of the Delta personnel who assisted us.

Once we arrived at the Washington Dulles airport we received the same great treatment as the assistant helped with all of our luggage and guided us to the Air France Lounge where we remain at the moment. It is not looking well at the moment for getting in the earlier, 6:00pm EST flight so we'll probably need to hang tight until the 10:00pm EST flight. Oh well, the lounge is comfortable and the Air France personnel even said we could stay inside even when they closed it to board other flights. So thank you to Air France as well!!

Alright, that is all for now and I'll try and post an update later and when we arrive in Paris if possible. It will be tight in Paris though since we have less than a two hour layover...

Tori, Maria and Tim made it to Washington Dulles airport!

They are all sound and safe. They even found out that Tori's chair fits through the aisle of that domestic jet aircraft.

Maria said that Tori didn't sleep and chose to watch movies throughout the flight. Tori is now resting in the lounge.

Right now (2pm MST) they are sitting in the Air France lounge. They are trying to get out of Washington earlier on an Air France flight leaving in a few minutes but Air France is making it difficult.

Thank you,
-Guy

All,

I figure that many of you would be very interested to know how Tim and Maria are progressing on their way to China.

The preparation really started yesterday and continued on until 5:45am this morning when we got into the cars and headed up to the airport like Tim's latest update illustrate.

After a short drive to the airport, we loaded up all the luggages on a skycap's cart and rolled it to the International check in counter.

They helped us load and unload bags (not a small task) while Tim and Maria talked to the check in agent to get everything sorted.

I was extremely surprised how streamlined everything was while Whitney, Tim, Maria and I stood at the check in counter getting every bag labeled and readied for X-ray inspection. Tori was not agitated at all, she was even falling asleep in her chair while all this was going on.

Tim and Maria were joined by a cameraman from Fox13 as they arrived at the airport. He captured the entire check in process and went with them to security.

In order to actually make it through security in one piece, Delta had dispatched a person to help them with that. Very thoughtfully, he arrived with a TSA agent. Together they made sure that all the paperwork was in order. Tim managed to answer all their questions correctly and in no time they were on their way.

That's when Tim and Maria said goodbye to Whitney and I. They faded in the crowd heading to security as we walked out of the door.

Grandpa was not waiting for us outside anymore... He had been told by airport security to move the cars many times and had to drift all the way to the far end of the terminal. He whistled at us as they were about to tow our cars... Nothing at all considering what Tim, Maria and Tori are embarking into.

We had 2 very brief phone conversations with Tim after that.

1) He said that getting through security was quite easy and his tone of voice seem to indicate that as well. They were heading to the gate.

Hello again,

Only 8 hours left until Tori, Maria and I are airborne!! Yes, Tori's passport and our visas DID ARRIVE at 10:00am Tuesday morning as anticipated!! That was quite a relief. We have packed 8 very large and heavy bags, 3 packed to the maximum carry on bags and 3 backpacks that will count as our 'handbags' though we won't let them pick them up ;-) The van and car are filled already with the majority of them and we'll be on the road to the airport at 5:30am and we'll need to be up in about 3 hours to make that arrival time.

We are as prepared for the journey as much as we possibly can be. Now we just need to complete the travel time safely and hopefully comfortably. The well wishing, numerous and supportive phone calls, emails, instant messages, comments on this site, visitors to our home and new donations as well have just been tremendous and so greatly appreciated!! It really is all so wonderful and it certainly inspires, drives and helps us move forward in helping Tori on her journey. With so much love, prayers and support for Tori she is surely going to make great and progressive strides in her recovery and hopefully break new ground for many others in similar situations to follow a stem cell treatment path. Our post stem cell treatment goals for Tori are for her to gain more control of her body particularly her arms and hands, more consistent chewing and swallowing so she can eventually have full meals, more awareness and stamina, more methods of effective communication like actually saying 'yes' or 'no' and finally for all of us - seeing that beautiful and radiant smile of Tori's once again. That alone would mean the world to us.

Tori has done great during the past couple of days even with all of the commotion revolving around her. Meredyth arrived today for Tori's speech therapy just in time to get on FoxTV 13 tonight :-) Thank you for everything you do for Tori Meredyth!! Tori also started selecting her card exercise answers by lifting her right hand and pointing or directing it towards the correct card. We hadn't seen that until this past Monday so hopefully it is another good sign of things to come. She is still very accurate in all of her answers. Lastly, when 4 of Tori's dance friends came to the house to wish her well I tested her once more. They surrounded her bed and I asked her where 'Annie' was and she immediately turned her head right and looked at her. Then I said "Here's Abi standing next to me" even though it was really Nicole. She looked at Nicole, then looked at me like I was crazy and finally turned her head right an looked straight at Abi. Yes Tori, we know you are in there and we want to help you come out of that unfortunately damaged body of your's... It will take some or more than likely alot of time, love and effort but it WILL HAPPEN!!

Alright, I guess I'll try and force myself to sleep for 3 hours. I'm not sure how successful I'll be because my adrenaline is running high at the moment. Maria and Tori have been sleeping for a couple of hours and that is most important anyway. During the travel time and stay in Hangzhou I will try and provide updates when I can but they might be sporadic for a little while. We shall see.

Thank you all so much for being here and for sharing and contributing in Tori's journey. I mean that from the bottom of my heart as your positive impact on Tori and our family truly cannot be measured.

The Schmanski Family
Tim, Maria, Tori, Whitney, Brendan along with Grandpa Paul and Grandma Sandy

Hi,
My name is Jamie and your story touched me and is so close to home. I just wanted to wish Tori and your family the best wishes you could possibly have. My little brother was in a car accident 2 1/2 years ago and has a tramatic brain injury, has a feeding tube and can not communicate and do much of anything for himself. Our family has also talked about stemcell, he is 19 now and was 16 when it happened. I feel so much for your family as I know too well what you are going through. My parents take care of him at home too. His name is Jess and I thank you for your story, it gives me hope that someday soon our family can also try this to help him too. All that I have read about it, I do believe in it and I pray for your miracle, she is beautiful and you all sound amazing it takes special people and families and parents to do what you are doing for your daughter. Thank you for that. Good luck and my thoughts are with you in china.

Sincerely,
Jamie Campbell

Sending our thoughts and pryaers as you get ready to travel to China. Best of luck in your traveling and for Tori's progress and treatment. You all are an amazing family with great love and Where there is great love, miracles happen!
in His love,
Diana Palumbo

Tim,
Just wanted to wish u a safe trip to china and I am praying to my dad in heaven that all your wishes come true!!!
I was happy to see tori siting up in the newpaper article!!!! Tell her to keep fighting and work hard!!!
I will be checking to see how tori is doing in China!!!
Best of Luck
Kristen Rusignuolo

Tori on FOX13 TV Utah tonight at 9:00pm for all of you in Utah. I'll post a link to the segment when FOX13 TV uploads it later to their site.

Thank you!!

-Tim