The World: NOT WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE!!!

Okay, so you don't notice how non-wheelchair accessible the world is until that is how you get your child (or yourself) around.

Just as an exercise, pay attention to this in your day. Make note of when you climb stairs, when you go over a ditch, when you aren't on smooth ground. I never made note of this previously, but now it is a pain in my butt.

Today, for instance. I was at Occidental College, my alma mater. I LOVE this place. My Mom taught there, I went there, it is in my blood. Before I went up to speak to the theater students up at Keck, I decided that some of my Mom's old co-workers might want to support her grandson. So I went to drop off flyers for Soren's fundraiser to the Math department. Sounds simple enough, right?

Wrong. Fowler Hall, where my Mom worked, is the most inaccessible place! I came from the quad (which at Oxy is not the far from the building I was going to. It's a small campus!) I realized I had to go into Coons, the administrative building to get up to Fowler because, otherwise, I would have to go upstairs. Well, I took the elevator up in Coons and then had to go down three stairs to get to the exit. LAME!

I four-by'ed Soren down the 3 stairs. Got out the door. 5 more steps I then had to GO DOWN! Then I rolled us to Fowler. Well, almost. There were 4 more steps I had to get down. BUT there was one of those "lifts" now used for old, inaccessible buildings. Mechanical contraptions that try to make the world wheelchair accessible but just look terrible. And to make this clunky thing worse, it wasn't freakin' working! So I four-by'ed it again down the steps.

We then went into the recently renovated Fowler Hall. My Mom worked here since the 70s. They renovated right before (and after) her death. Her office, over those many years was on the 4th Floor of Fowler. Those words are emblazoned in my brain. My Mom walked up and down those stairs every day of her working life. Though as she got sicker, this got more difficult. To accommodate this, her office was moved lower and lower, though the Math department is on the 3rd floor, so there was still at least one flight of steps she had to climb.

When the renovations were being planned, my Mom insisted that they put in an elevator. She fought hard for this and won. Unfortunately, she never got to ride in that much-needed elevator. But, thanks to her, her grandson can! Though, to get to the level with the elevator, you have to go up 6 more steps. Fortunately, there was a lift thing that actually worked to get us up to that level.

So we got to the offices, handed out the flyers, and headed back down. The elevator, then the lift. We were back outside. And here we ran into trouble. Though it's possible to go down steps with Soren's stroller, going up them is nearly impossible. I tried and tried. No go. I tried to reboot the lift. Nope. So we were stuck on this little island with no way to escape. Finally I begged a student to help me lift Soren to the mainland. Phew!

Then I had 5 more steps to muscle up. These were less steep then the others. I was wearing a sun dress and wedge heels. I kicked off my heels (the one day I don't wear shorts and flip-flops!) and pulled that 40 pound stroller carrying my 30 pound kid up those stairs. And it was hot in Eagle Rock yesterday so I was sweatin'.

Next time, I'm sending an email.

Soren's Site at sorenrogers.com!

Soren now has his own website!
Now besides having this blog, you can read information on Soren and get updates on

Soren's New Website!

There you can

make donations

and

learn about fundraising events!

A special thanks must go out to Cindy Morrow who thought of doing the site, contacted Julie Talbert at the Talbert Foundation to coordinate the donations pages, did all the programming, and put it on the web! Thanks Cindy!

Currently we have two fundraising efforts in the works besides just straight donations. As mentioned in the two posts below, animation cels are up for the bidding on eBay. Bid now!

And Soren's second fundraising event is September 9th at a show called Easy Targets! Buy tickets now by clicking on the button to your right!

Amy

Now on eBay: Animation Cels for Soren's Cells!

Hello all,

Sorry I haven't written for a bit. We've been on a much needed vacation in Hawaii. But I will write about that later. Today I want to tell you about Soren's latest fundraising "event."

My high school friend Anthony Butler had the great idea to sell animation cells and have all the proceeds go to Soren's cells. He has generously given his time to set this all up and run it! Thanks Anthony!

Currently there are 5 cels up on eBay donated by my friends Chris Battle and Randy Myers.

There are two signed Duckman cels and three unsigned Powerpuff cels. To check them out go to

Soren's eBay Auctions

Tell others! Bid high! The money goes to (in my opinion) a great cause!

Amy

THROW SOCKS FOR SOREN!!!

SOREN'S HAVING ANOTHER FUNDRAISER! HERE'S THE INFORMATION!!!!

THE TALBERT FAMILY FOUNDATION AND OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE PRESENT...

EASY TARGETS: THE SOLO SHOW THAT LETS YOU THROW!

“We perform horrible solo shows. You throw socks at us. Seriously.*” (*socks provided)

When: Saturday, September 9th at 8 pm
Where: Keck Theater at Occidental College
1600 Campus Road, L.A., Ca 90041
(Keck Theater is on Coons Road. No. 45 on the Campus Map.)
Price: $20 — includes a bag of socks for the throwing!

Bring extra cash to purchase more throwing ammo!

PRESALE TICKETS ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE THRU THE TALBERT FAMILY FOUNDATION. TFF IS MATCHING THE FIRST $5,000 WE RAISE. HELP US MEET THAT GOAL!
FOR TICKETS, GO TO

Throw Socks for Soren

TICKETS ALSO AVAILABLE AT THE BOX OFFICE THE NIGHT OF THE PERFORMANCE!

Thank you EVERYONE for your support! We hope to make this fundraiser a HUGE success!

Seizure-Free Sunday

Today was very, very different, in a good, good way.

Soren woke up talking, happy, and hungry. Aaron made blueberry scones for breakfast, which Soren enjoyed--both the batter and the fully baked scones.

He ate well, chatted, and moved his body about pretty much all day long. He took a cat-nap or two, as usual. He even tolerated his exercise regime set out by the the lovely ladies at Bright Minds (by that I mean that he didn't cry or fuss TOO much).

We actually had a lovely, mellow day. No seizures. Not even the threat of one.

I don't know why yesterday happened. I don't know that we'll ever know. I just know that I kept having thoughts of surgery and wishing that Soren was a cadidate. I cried a bit. Wished for any help for my dear boy.

But today was better. We even saw some smiles when we tickled him.

Amy

SAD-TURD-DAY

Well, our Satuday sucked-ass. Pardon my French, as my mother used to say.

Soren had 3 seizures, between 12 pm and 4:30 pm, today. Tonic seizures. Holding his breath and turning blue. And then knocking him out (post-ictal).

We contacted the pediatric neurologist on call who gave us the "okay" to increase his Lamictal 5mgs tomorrow morning. Let's cross our fingers that that does the trick. I'm all for trickery.

Any good thoughts and prayers would be appreciated.

xo
Amy