News about Ari

Got this in an email today:
----------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday 4th May 2005

There is good news to be told ! the sticks have moved
out, Ari can walk
! What a surprise awaited me one week-end as I joined
Ari and his parents
in Waterkloof ! To see Ari walk unsupported along the
deck, holding his
hands up in front of him, his head back and a grin
from ear to ear, well
that made me leap for joy ! Much practicing lies
ahead, 20 meters must
become 20 kilometers, and that will happen this year.

That's not to say we're out of the woods and back to
work quite yet though.
I know I always make everything seem optimistic and
easy as pie, but now
that Ari is becoming more cognitively aware, he also
has to face the
reality of where he is now - and that is something he
refuses to do. Still,
for him, the accident happened to someone else, and he
just happened to
have taken over this malfunctioning body, and left his
wife, kids, family
and friends behind. He says everything here is
different to where he used
to be, because we are, a year down line, we are
different, and so is he.

Luckily fish aren't predictable anyway, so catching
them is still no
problem for Ari, with less and less help from Gavin -
who mans the Garmin
walkie-talkie for rescue purposes, and deliciously
smokes the unlucky Trout
for supper.

I wish all you fisher-people out there fantastic
winter warming fishing,
and lots of fire-side fun !

Ga=EBlle Bert - leaving you with some of Ari's thoughts.

This letter is about me....

I were to be honest I would tell you what i think and
do despite everything.
1=2E everything you find gettable has been taken away
from me, this includes
myself, my wife and kids, in fact I'm here on my own
to be, without anybody
who cares or does anything i expect them to.
2=2E everything has been changed slightly, in fact
everyone, including Gaelle
and kids.
3=2E i need to know where I'm going because I'm confused
and think because
i'm wrong.
4=2E In fact i need to know everything including what is
wrong or right with
me. i want to and will leave everything i think is
wrong, but everything is
shown right the way you think to and for me.

In fact I need to know everything which you can't give
because it doesn't
make sense to me. I think alot of things which are
shown to be right which
I can't believe because what I know shows them wrong
to me. Despite
everything. I'm cross with myself because in my mind i
have left anything
and everything. In fact everything has been changed to
show its best for
me. In fact everything i say has to be checked to see
if you take it wrong
or not. As a matter of fact my head needs to be
checked to see if
everything comes out right.

the people who i think look more like what i left
behind a
Justin, who looks like some people, i left behind

and that is all.

If I'm serious, I would say that it feels and looks
like I've changed
dimension. But I know I've changed something.
Everything is the same, but
slightly different. I would and will go to the or an
afterlife, because it
is in my mind, with everything else, which looking at
you and those who are
around me and surround me, makes right. Everything is
alive after what
people say is death, but it makes right , and is a big
word or words for
Ari, who learned everything else. But I know the
difference, which is
small, but there.

"Good luck in your recovery, and remember that you
can manage anything if
you try hard enough. Rome was not build in one day."
(Jaco Bakkes)

Yup, good luck is the one thing i look for...

I was sick, But have thoughts that you will find out
soon enough.
So g'bye
And-uh see you soon.

Regards
Ari Bert




Ga=EBlle Bert
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 236 5308
Home: +27 (0) 11 882 8537

NB: New e-mail address:

Fax: + 27 (0)11 882 8537

Postal Address: P.O.Box 79067, Senderwood, 2145, South
Africa
************************************************** *************************=
*************************

--riverman

On 5 May 2005 06:18:59 -0700, "riverman" wrote:

Got this in an email today:
----------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday 4th May 2005

There is good news to be told ! the sticks have moved
out, Ari can walk


Good news, indeed. Too bad about the confusion he's got, but he may
get out of that, too.

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
email: lid (strip the .invalid to email)

Well, being *aware* that you are confused is a damn site better
cognition than many people I know who weren't in a coma. And being able
to try and express it lucidly is a step above that...

The email also included a photo of him walking....shocking image to
see. When he and I fished together 2 years ago, he was a strapping,
strutting confident guy, only a little shorter than me (I'm 6'4", he
was about 6'1") but with a presence that made him seem much taller. His
TV show and business was rocketing upwards, so he had that self-assured
cockiness of someone using sponsored gear, wearing sponsored clothing,
driving a sponsored car and enjoying a growing celebrity popularity. He
had very big arms, strong legs, and we rockhopped the big boulders
below a dam with ease.

But in the picture, he has shrunk many inches....he looks only to be
about 5'6", his legs and arms are shrivelled to straws, his hands and
wrists are 'hooked' from disuse, and he looks anything but
self-confident and cocky. And he was being cared for and nursed by the
same people to whom he was the provider and boss of only a short while
ago. It was a sharp and severe reminder of how fast it can all change.
I will be astounded if he regains the level that he was at when he had
the accident. It was a long way down, its a long way back up.

--riverman