Day 27

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Lao-tsu

With the last of his belongings shipped to Los Angeles, Gregory’s packed his bags in the car for his flight to LA tomorrow. He had to make a 4:45 train to New York and wanted to spend as much time as he could with Burt before he left. The Stern family arrived at the hospital at about noon to find Burt waiting for his next physical and occupational therapy sessions.

The sessions are always amazing to watch. As terrifying as it is to see how quickly we can be stripped of our physical power and trapped within our own body as if it were a completely foreign entity, it is equally inspiring to see the individual spirit fight to regain control and to witness the endless skirmishes on multiple fronts that must be fought at every step of the process.

Today, Burt took his first tentative steps. He stood, hands on a table for support, bucked up by his physical therapist Bonnie. He used his left leg to carry his weight as he placed his right out in front of him and then to the side. The professionals call the exercise pre-walking, however to the newly initiated each hesitant footfall has an undeniable sound, like the resonant peal of some massive bell rippling outward. With each small movement forward and back, as confidence grows and the uncertain shuffle becomes the decisive step, hope becomes conviction in a moment of instant spiritual alchemy.

Though completely exhausted, Burt pressed on through an hour and a half of therapy that is more grueling than most us can really comprehend. When your equilibrium has deserted you and half the muscles in your body struggle to receive the messages of your brain, the simplest action becomes Herculean effort. Burt never wavered once, his voice small with fatigue, he was always ready for one more try. His eyes clear with determination, he watched himself in a full-length mirror trying to find his center since his innate sense of it has to be re-learned. He watched his left arm and his left leg being manipulated and moved, concentrating hard, trying to think the connections from the brain back into existence. For Burt, the brain we all take for granted has become a quixotic and mercurial entity, in some ways dependable, in others uncooperative or totally absent. But, always, he is looking to forge ahead, mentally hacking his way through the impenetrable grey matter undergrowth in search of new pathways.

To watch him is to be in awe of his quiet and simple determination. There is nothing brash or showy in it, but there is not an ounce of defeat either. He takes it as it comes and looks at each day and obstacle unflinchingly, ready to fight for every inch. As he said today, “this is only the beginning.” We have never been prouder of him.