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Sunday January 3rd. 2010 .
Where has the time gone , hard to believe that it is now over 30 months since we got hit by the shock of all shocks , Stephen Murray broken neck in 3 places , crushed spinal cord , on a life support machine and paralysed from the shoulders down over and not expected to survive .
We knew this would be the marathon of all marathons and set about seeking medical knowledge and making connections through the [Christopher ] Reeve Foundation in order to keep Stephen alive and get him the best treatments possible .
20 weeks on a life support machine , being told his injury was so bad that he may not be able to survive without it , drove Stephen on to dig deeper and deeper until the day finally arrived when he could talk again [ enough to have a 15 minute conversation with David Beckham when he called Stephen in the Denver Hospital ] and then at last , get off that life support machine and start breathing himself by learning how to use his upper chest muscles . [ his right diaphragm is paralysed and his left diaphragm only has partial movement ] That 20 week period on the life support machine was probably the most worrying and scary for everyone .
Stephen's wife could not cope with the situation and literally caused more problems for everyone than those of Stephen's injury , so much so that we had to go to extreme lengths in various ways to ensure that she finally left Stephen in August of 2008 to go and live elsewhere . How did we do that !
Stephen now had to be responsible for his 2 young sons living with only him and the boys had no mother in the house to help with their upbringing . Cynthia , Martin and myself know the 11 hour flight as well as anyone knows it now , Virgin Atlantic courtesy of Sir Richard Branson writing to Stephen via Cynthia , have been a really big help to all of us .
From that time on , the Murray Family had legal issues to deal with and this caused us to stay quiet with your updates on B.M.X. Talk , we simply could not give out information which could cause legal problems for Stephen in the California Family Courts .
I can NOW explain that Stephen issued Family Court proceedings against his wife in October 2008 and was awarded temporary legal custody of his 2 sons . Over a 12 month period we went back to Court on 8 more occassions and I am proud to say that Stephen was always granted continued temporary custody of his 2 young sons on each of these court hearings .
Wednesday 9th.December this year we were in court again for the 10th. time , a lengthy 4 hour hearing , but needed to go back for another 4 hour hearing on Friday 11th. December when the Judge made his permanent judgement that the boys [ Mason now 5 and Seth now 7 ] continue to live with Stephen and that Stephen is the primary parent , that their mother is the secondary parent with visitation rights only as laid down by the Court . A man paralysed from his shoulders down as the primary parent , a first for California and a tribute to Stephen as a caring Father .
I am now really pleased to say that Stephen has a new partner in his life , a lovely girl called Kristi who has known Stephen for 5 years , moved into his home just before Xmas . This photo outside Oakley H.Q. shows Stephen with sons Mason 5 and Seth 7 , Kristi with her 2 daughters Alyssa 6 and Kylie 11. ------ Happy days ahead please .
For all of this 16 month period , with the boys living at Stephen's , he could not leave California and continue treatments with ex Superman Doctor , John McDonald 2500 miles away in Baltimore , therefore his rehabilitation therapies more or less stopped . It goes without saying that Stephen's health suffered horribly and only now do we feel that Stephen can start to pick up from where he left off all that time ago .
For over a year the neck pain had become worse and worse , and we had desperately looked at all sorts of options before finally locating a spinal cord injury specialist , Dr. Suzy Kim , 40 miles away in Orange County . This amazing lady has been paralysed herself for over 10 years due to a lower back injury and lives in a manual wheelchair so has experienced a lot of the problems that Stephen has to live with . Very quickly Dr. Kim concluded that the power chair Stephen had been using for 2 years was causing deteriation in his spine and thus contributing to massive neck pains which would get even worse if Stephen continued to use his chair .
1 week later Stephen had a body mould made from his bum to his shoulders , then 3 weeks later just before this Xmas [ at a cost of $43,000 ] Stephen was riding in his new made to measure power chair
which is already making a difference to his daily life . I know it is a huge sum of money but this is the best $43 grand we will ever spend .
Dr. Suzy Kim has set out a set of targets for Stephen to regain movements in his right arm/ hand , movement enough to be able to do away with the head controls on his power chair in favour of hand/ arm held controls . This week will see Stephen starting a program of physical therapies at Precision Rehab Centre in Long Beach , towards the end of January it is hoped that Stephen will then be strong enough to restart his more intense treatments at NextStep Fitness near L.A.X. airport . Come this February it is planned for Stephen to be on an intensive program 5 mornings each week , combining home physical therapies on his F.E.S. bike with the treatments at the 2 rehab centres , which are both about 60 miles from Stephen's house .
Staying Strong is what Stephen has taught all of us since his accident , it should have been us showing Stephen how to Stay Strong but that boy can dig deeper than you will ever know .
Stephen had a girl in California called Kimarie to help his Stay Strong business develop in order to achieve an income to help with all the costs of Stephen and his boys living in California .
Unfortunately this business with Kimarie never provided Stephen with an income so I am very pleased to say that his great friend of 25 years , [ Zellwood on B.M.X. Talk ] Marco del Issola , is now helping big time and partnering Stephen in their business of Stay Strong . No doubt you will be hearing lots in the future from Marco on how Stay Strong is developing and partnering new products in order to help Stephen to pay his huge medical bills , live his life and bring up his 2 young sons in California . Both Stephen and Marco are aiming to bring you top quality products to both ride with and wear , you will not be dissapointed with anything they bring to your market place , hope you all enjoy them .
Saturday 9th. January this year sees Stephen have his 30th. Birthday , seems no time at all since 1983 when me and his mum Cynthia were watching Stephen and brother Martin race for the first time on tiny little B.M.X. bikes . As they say in life , a lot of water has flowed down the river since then , a lot of memories with a lot of good people in the Worldwide Family that is B.M.X.
We are really aiming for Stephen to be around in England this summer and attend a National to see as many people as possible .You guys have helped us enormously to keep going , keep keeping your fingers crossed
Stephen has told us that he would not change a thing , what happened happened and he will carry on digging deeper and deeper .
Enjoy the New Year everybody , keep digging deep , you will find what you are digging for . Thanks again and again , for all of your support since that life changing day of June 22nd. 2007 .
Jeff , Cynthia and Martin
Whoever coined the "Stay Strong" phrase has done the BMX family a great service and with it the future for Stephen and his family are more secure. The article prompted me to order something from 
