****************Updates! 12/14/2022 Thank you all generous people who have given to Johnmark to make his surgery happen! He is scheduled for January 4th! We will update info on his facebook page “help Johnmark walk again” Also, I have made these very sweet thank you Christmas cards that I would love to send to each and every one of you! If you have given anonymously or have been cheering us on please send me your address and I can drop it in the postbox. We have been busy working on the Christmas concert With Kate Hurley to take place this Saturday with a childs production of A Christmas Carol with Johnmark as Bob Cratchet! more info on the facebook page, but we would love to have you join us!
*** We have another fundraising site now as well if you do not need a tax donation receipt. The new site we can keep the whole donation. (this site 5.9% out) FreeFunder : https://www.freefunder.com/campaign/helping-jm-walk-again Please check out the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087466104717 For all donations coming in from either site and other funds directly contributed. This facebook page is where I will be listing other donations and events that we will be doing as fundraisers. thank you all!
JohnMark Hurley’s life has been full of miracles and struggles. He developed Cerebral Palsy from a lack of oxygen at birth and the doctors predicted that he would either die or be in a vegetative state.
Despite their prognosis, JohnMark lives and is a vivacious young man. He started walking with a walker when he was three-years-old and progressed to taking steps independently at five-years old. At nine, JohnMark’s tendons in his legs started tightening and continued to worsen dramatically throughout puberty. Even though his condition has made walking nearly impossible, there has been hope instilled in us throughout his life to look for the miraculous.
We find ourselves today at another opportunity to ask for another miracle for him. A common struggle with Cerebral Palsy is the contracture of the muscles stemming from the brain injury. JohnMark started to experience this when his tendons began to tighten as he progressed through puberty. Since the age of 11, JohnMark’s ability to walk independently has decreased gradually to the point where he is now mostly confined to a wheelchair or crawling on his knees. He wears an ankle brace for support, but the pain the brace causes him makes it challenging to get the exercise he needs to keep his body moving. As JohnMark progresses through his teen years, he experiences depression and isolation at seeing how “different” he is verbalizing his emotional pain from not being able to walk like his peers do.
The surgical option offered at our local hospital involves many months of casting after fusing the bones of his feet together to stay in permanent dorsiflexed position. Even with this procedure, there is no promise he would walk better or independently. Moreover, JohnMark has low muscle tone, so this operation with a long recovery time would be not only risky but could worsen his condition. Not wanting to put him though this procedure with questionable outcomes, we have for the past three years waited, prayed, and worked with him in physical therapy and at home to try to keep him as flexible as possible. Unfortunately, the way the cerebral palsy progresses in the body, stretching has minimal effect on the tightening of the tendons that happens over time and especially through major growth phases.
A few months back, I hit a brick wall with JohnMark’s decreasing ability. It seemed like there had to be something else we could do. I felt that God had more for JohnMark than just losing his walking ability over the past 4 years. The next day, I was reading some posts in a Parents of Children with Cerebral Palsy group. A mother in the group mentioned a procedure called Selective Percutaneous Myofascial Lengthening (SPML) that lengthens contracted musculoskeletal tissues without being couch bound for months . This procedure finds the specific tendons that need to be stretched and loosens them by making mico-incisions into the specific tendons. It is much less invasive than the other surgical option and has better outcomes. I have been in contact with Dr Roy Nuzzo, the Doctor who has created and performed this procedure for over 30 years and he is confident that JohnMark will be able to walk independently again afterwards.
Since JohnMark’s insurance does not cover this procedure we are asking for our friends, family and benevolent hearts to join with us in making this happen. We are hoping to have the funds raised in time for him to have the procedure in early January.
Thank you for your generosity, prayers and faith in this opportunity for JohnMark! It has been exciting to see what the Lord has done and will continue to do in his life.
Here are some websites for more information.
A concise explanation of the procedure http://www.podopediatrics.net/spml
Dr Nuzzo’s website http://www.pediatric-orthopedics.com/
Here’s a video of JohnMark after 5 weeks of Ability camp that helped him finally bear weight and walk! https://www.facebook.com/maryOMurhila/videos/415316781697
Here’s a video of Michael Ketterer from United Pursuit singing a prophetic song over JohnMark! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpHJWYQ_OtA
Here’s a video of Johnmark’s current ability in walking.updated with correct link! https://www.youtube.com/shorts/y47t5p_QIUQ
