ELC 2008 — the year without Marty… but, in the 10.28 update, real progress
In many ways, Marty Wagner has been very present at ELC 2008 — in a way, because he is not here. Wagner, of course, had an accident in July and has been in the hospital since then. And this is probably the first ELC — maybe ever — that is Marty-less. While it has been a good conference, it is… Marty-less. It does not have those Wagner insights. And there has been rememberences of Marty… by IBM’s Anne Altman… by Cisco’s Allan Balutis…
Last week, we got word that Wagner has been showing progress… and then, tonight, word of real progress.
Martin has begun to actually repeat and say basic words. He has very distinctly been repeating numbers, the alphabet, names and other words with some of us. What a joy to hear him say family names, including his own! Staff tell us that he can count to ten by himself. He now answers with the word “yes” to questions, unfortunately even when the answer should be no. Regardless, we think it is very impressive since he was in a vegetative state just two weeks ago! The speech therapist has given us a number of tips to help him vocalize. We are very encouraged by this development since it is the first clear sign to us of his cognitive recovery potential.
It’s very good news.
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