KNEES!! 07/11/2010
 
Hey everyone. A lot of great things have happened for me. I am excited to tell everyone that I received my C-legs. They are the legs with the computerized knees. Friday July 9th was my one year mark. Some of my family came down and saw me walk on my knees. I also got my feet a couple of weeks ago. I went up to Arlington two weeks ago for my sisters first birthday. While I was up there my parents bought me my first pair of shoes in over a year.

Also about the bumper stickers the company that makes them has let us know that they are not going to fix the ones they messed up. So the store we ordered them through is going to try and make it right. So it will be a little longer we have to order them again through someone else.

 

Thanks,

Colton
 
Surgry and Legs 06/14/2010
 
Hey,

Well I had surgery on June 4th and I had some problems. My blood was really thin and the surgeon was worried so we had to stop the surgery early.  The surgeon then sent some blood work off to see what was wrong, everything came back normal. So we rescheduled the surgery to try again. So we just had surgery on Saturday, June 12th. Now I have a back stimulator in and I’m still here =).  

Last Friday I was raised another 6 inches on my stubbies. I now stand about 5 foot 6 inches.  I am looking at getting feet this week. I am excited to go buy a new pair of shoes again. Then my C legs are right around the corner. I am hoping to be up on them in the next 2 to 3 weeks. One last thing we posted a new video of me walking on the taller legs. Thanks again for all the support.

 

V/r

Colton

P.S. We are still waiting on bumper stickers. The company we orderd them from messed up so we are waiting for them to be remade. Make sure if you want one to let me know on here and I can look up your email address through the comment form! Thanks!
 
No Title 06/02/2010
 
Hello everyone,

I want to thank you all for the support you have given me. Well let’s start off with three weeks ago I got the chance to meet the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. He is a very kind man, Jessica and I enjoyed meeting him. That was really exciting for me. Then someone that has taken care of me since my incident, a great leader, retired.  Then, the next week I went to Phoenix, Arizona for a Paralympics event.  I got a chance to throw the Shot-put, Javelin, and Discus.  While there I also got classified to see what class I will compete in as a Paralympian. It was a great camp to learn how to throw.  I competed in an event in San Antonio once I got back from Phoenix and did well. The last two weeks I have been rehabbing. I plan on having a small procedure on Friday to place a back stimulator. It goes onto my spine and interrupts the signals from my legs to my brain and replaces the pain signals with a slight massaging feeling. I am hopeful that this will end a lot of my nerve pain in my limbs and make it more comfortable for me to walk in my prosthetics. We are still working with the housing on post to get it situated for my needs, it’s been a long process but we have been not only successful for ourselves but for our neighbors with disabilities as well. Thank you to everyone for all the support!

Thanks,

Colton
 
 
Hey,

I’m sorry for it being so long since my last update.  I have been so busy with a trip to Galveston and of course rehab.  I have so much to talk about. First off, I walked a ¼ mile today that is by far the farthest I have walked in prosthetics. Two week ago I got raised about 6 inches I am now over 5 feet tall. I have to say every inch counts when you start growing back up. That is a two sided statement first every inch makes it harder to walk or even stand there for that matter. It’s because the taller you are the more you have to use your muscles to balance.  But it’s worth the work for every inch because every inch makes me closer to where I was.

Also some great news last week I received my Segway from Segs4Vets. I want to thank everyone from the Beale community that donated and made it possible for me to get one. It will really help me get around. Since the walking is so hard, I plan to use it when I need to walk a long distance. This will help me when all the handicap parking is filled, I will be able to park and ride the Segway up. Another time it will help me is if I go back to school it will help me get around campus. This will be a tool that will better my life.   

Three weeks ago I got a chance to go to Galveston for a 4 day weekend. We went to NASA; I have to say that was awesome. We had a satellite connection with the astronauts in the space station and got spoke with them live and ask them questions.  We got a chance to meet a lot of really nice people that work there. While we were there we also got a chance to go to Moody Gardens.  We had a great time thanks to Operation Comfort and their generosity.

Also, Jessica and I have purchased more "Google Colton Read" magnetic car decals if anyone would like one. They are free, purchased by the Colton J. Read Special Needs Trust in order raise awarness about the Feres Doctrine. If you would like to donate to the Colton J. Read Special Needs Trust to compensate some of the costs of some of the decals, just go to the "How You Can Help" page and make a donation through PayPal or Frost Bank. If you would like a decal, please email me with your address and let me know how many! We are ordering a large quantity and want to get the word out! Thanks to everyone for your support!
 
04/19/2010
 
Colton skiing in Lake Tahoe -- http://www.tahoetopia.com/?&video_id=29215.



UPDATE!!

Check out videos of Colton on the video page!! Woo hoo!!
 
Im back. 03/30/2010
 
Hey everyone! Well I had a great ski trip with another great ski instructor Bill Bowness he is a Paralympian.  I set a goal to ski a black while I was up there and I did. That is a more difficult hill the difficulty goes Green, Blue then Black and up from there.  I really enjoy skiing it is defiantly one the most fun things I have done.  I would love to ski everyday if I could. But skiing was not the only thing we did there. I also played sled hockey and we went snowmobiling. Sled hockey was a lot of fun too. The best thing about sled hockey in my opinion is hitting other people. There were not a lot of people there so it was the Marines vs. everyone else. The Marines won but I got a couple of good hits in. The same day we went snowmobiling to the top of the mountain to eat lunch. I started off riding one by myself then I realized without legs I had no way to keep myself on.   So every time we hit a bump I went air borne and had to hold on to the handlebars for dear life.  So about a quarter of the way through I decided to go ahead and ride with the instructor that was a lot of fun.

I appreciate the questions that you all have asked. The first thing was, when I sign off I say V/r that means very respectfully.  Now, about my future I was given a letter from the Secretary of the Air Force, Chief of staff of the Air Force and the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force that if I want to stay in the Air Force they will work with me or they will help me get a government job if I decide to medically retire. I have been also offered some really great jobs by people that have heard my story.

 

V/r

Colton

 
 
Update! 03/04/2010
 
Hey everyone! Time for a new update! I'm doing well. I'm getting back into therapy. Just light cardio for now. The week of March 15th, I am going skiing again! This time we are going to Tahoe! Hopefully I will get to see some friends from Beale. After that, at the begining of April, Jessica and I are going on a trip to Houston to tour NASA. We are really excited about that. I also got some new wheels for my wheel chair. They are power assist wheels that will help conserve my shoulders. Since I had shoulder surgery November 2008, I already have weakened shoulders and transferring and wheeling all day is really hard on them. The power assist wheels allow me to still get cardio from wheeling, but make things like going up hills easier. After I get back from skiing I will be able to get back to walking. Walking again is a long process. I encourage you guys that read the website, that if you have questions, feel free to ask me and I will do my best to answer them!  While I'm gone on my ski trip, I will be getting a roll in shower installed in my house. I'm very excited about that! It will save a lot of work on my shoulders since right now, I am lowering myself in and out of the tub. I plan on posting pictures from this ski trip on the website. Thanks everyone! I'll update after the ski trip!
 
 
Hey everyone! Well according to my doctors my surgery feb 9 was a success. I had the surgery on Tuesday and was discharged from the hospital on Friday. I seem to be doing just fine. most of my time I am in bed resting. Im glad my mom, brother, two sisters, inlaws and grandparents got to come down for the surgery. I know it was very helpful for Jessica to have so much family support. This week I get to go pick up my truck that just got done being modified. I'm really excited about that. Hopefully within the next several weeks I will get to go back to the CFI to do some light cardio. Thanks to everyone for all the well wishes!  

I added some new pictures of me and my truck! Check them out on the Pictures and Video section!
 
 
Hey,

I hope everyone’s holidays were great. I know mine sure was but different at the same time. This holiday season was really different for me because I had a lot more to be thankful for. This of course was my first holidays since my accident so that made the holidays a little bit different for me. I got a lot of wonderful gifts. I went to the Dallas Cowboys game on Jan 3 and it was SWEET. I was so excited to see them win a playoff game this past weekend. 

I do have some sad news. I will be having gallbladder surgery take TWO. Last week I went and got a scope done of my stomach so we ruled out everything else it could be. I am doing it a lot different this time. My only two request where that I don’t have the same doctor that did it last time and I have an open surgery instead of laparoscopic. I am scheduled to have the surgery on Feb 9. I feel a lot better about this surgery this time. If there is anything that freaks me out I will just say never mind and reschedule. I am living proof that prayer works. I try not to ask a lot of people, but will you all pray and make sure this surgery goes right for me.

Also I found out last week that someone died in December after being treated at David Grant Medical Center (Travis AFB) where my tragedy happened. I have spoken to the wife and she shared the story with me.  It is really sad to see something this bad happen to someone that is so nice and wonderful. I will be the first to tell you I don’t know 100% what happened, but I do know some and it is disheartening to see Travis allow this to happen. He leaves behind a wife and two kids. This could have been prevented but yet it wasn’t. This is sad on a lot of levels, first and for most it is sad that another wonderful family had to lose a love one. Second, they just had my situation happen 5 MONTHS earlier I would have thought they would pay more attention to what they are doing. Now Christopher White, Dean Witt, and Michael Bishop have died as a result of care from David Grant Medical Center since 2003. If this was a civilian hospital that this many mistakes it would have been shut down by now.

I really appreciate every one that supports me. I have been able to make some changes for others on my base. I say my things about David Grant not because I’m mad but because I want us, the people, to demand change in military hospitals and policies. If we are able to demand this we will be saving other military families limbs and possibly their lives
 
 
Hello all,

This is Jessica and I'm making a quick update for Colton before the holidays. Today was Coltons promotion ceremony to Senior Airman! We are very excited and were very honored by all the people that attended! Not only was Colton promoted today, but was also given an achievement medal for his work on images that resulted in saving 8 American citizens. The medal was presented by Col. Woliver who came down from Beale AFB.  I am so proud of Colton and all the work he has done.

We are planning on going home to the Dallas area for the holidays and are planning attending the Cowboys game on Jan. 3! Colton will also experience a new first this holiday. He is going hunting with his grandfather and is very excited. Hunting is another hobby Colton enjoyed doing before his injury. 

We hope that all of you have a great holiday and please keep all of those who are not with their families, but fighting for our country, in your hearts this holiday as well. We will update again in the new year!