More Of The Same - And Some Tango Possibilities

You all know that we haven't been updating quite as much as we used to. In some ways that is good as things are staying somewhat "normal." At least as normal as you can be trying to move back into the rebuilt house, unpack, deal with therapies, etc.

The girls have made it through their Extended School Year and have a few weeks off. They spent the last two days with Grandma M, came back home last night and then are off today for two days with Grandma A. Trying hard to get our Grandma fixes in while both Grandmas and the girls are away from school.

Rebekah continues to have some ongoing issues with behavior and speech. It is believed that some of the behavior issues are frustrations with her inability to communicate. We shared with you awhile ago about a wonderful device called the "Tango" from www.blink-twice.com that she was using at school with great success during a trial period. Since May or so we have beeing trying hard to find a way to buy one, with little success. We don't know how much, but it seems there might be a little bit of movement on that front and we wanted to share something with you that, even if it doesn't play out, brought us to tears that someone was caring enough to even try.

Daddy is involved with a great group of people from around the country. These are the same ones that he was treated to a trip to say "Thank You" to in Kentucky a few weeks ago. Completely as a surprise to us one of those guys wrote a letter to blink-twice on our behalf. We found out about it when somehow our email got pasted into a CC of their emails. The best way to try and explain it is to follow the email chain:

Part of our previous post was included in the email that was written to blink-twice:

For the past several months Rebekah has been undergoing a trial/test period to see if this device would work for her. The testing involved whether any communicative device would be helpful, and if so, whether this was the right one. The good news is that right at the end of the trial period she "Got It" and really started to grow and be able to use it, expressing things she can't in other ways.

And that is also the bad news. Now that she is at the end of the trial period they take it away. The local special ed district that is helping so much with Rebekah only has one to share between all the potential needs and it is given by the company as a trial. In order to obtain one for Rebekah we need to buy one - at $7,000.00!

He then added the following:

This little girl has been through a lot and may not make it to an adult. Please find way to help the Adam's family. To make things worst, their home burned down In Dec. 2007 day's be for her birthday. Their house is now rebuilt but the stress it put on the family.

Scott Adam's is a good father who is burden by ton's of medical bill's for his daughter treatment. He helps many other people as a volunteer firefighter and helping other family's cope with cancer. Please he needs this device to help Rebekah.

Any question's feel free to contact me.
Daniel

Then we got the following back from the sales manager with the company:

From: Josh Witt [mailto:jwitt AT EDITED blink-twice.com]
Sent: Friday, August 08, 2008 2:42 PM
To: family AT EDITED helprebekah.com
Subject: Blink twice follow up

Hello family,

I wanted to follow up with you on an email I received from a Daniel some time ago. You will find my response below and his email beneath that. I would like to assist in any way I can, but don’t want to be a bother at the same time. If you are still interested in obtaining a Tango please just let me know and I’d be happy to be of assistance.

Take care,
Joshua Witt

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello family,

I received your email and may be able to help. I have spoken to a
speech pathologist in the Portland area that specializes in AAC that
would like to assist. However, before we begin we need to know what
Rebekah's insurance is. Once we know this we can begin the next step
with the evaluation process.

Take care,
Joshua Witt
Sales Manager
Blink Twice, Inc.
Mobile: edited
Phone: edited
Fax: edited
jwitt AT EDITED blink-twice.com
http://www.blink-twice.com

And then just yesterday we received the following:

Thank you for contacting me. I have a meeting scheduled with my funding department early Monday morning and get back to you with the status. I will follow up with you just as soon as I have a clear understanding of the status of this case.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Take care,
Joshua Witt
Sales Manager
Blink Twice, Inc.

Now obviously this could mean A LOT or it could mean very little. But we are blessed that someone was even thinking enough about us to start that ball rolling and that www.blink-twice.com has even taken the time to consider us.

As always, your prayers would be greatly appreciated.