I'm Devastated

If you've watched any of Alex's video's, you know that we take her to Florida every year for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT). My blog was basically born out of our trips there since I would send an e-mail update every night to friends and family for the entire two weeks we spent there each visit. Yesterday, the very facility that we take Alex to had a tragic explosion inside one of the chambers, killing the woman inside and burning her four year old grandson with Cerebral Palsy over 95% of his body. There has NEVER been a hyperbaric explosion in the United States. Words cannot express the sadness I feel.

Two pictures of Alex in a similar chamber.

I tossed and turned almost all night just thinking about that poor family - here they are taking their already "broken" child to the center to try and "fix" him, and the unthinkable happens. Back in 1993, I was working in New York City in Two World Trade Center when the first terrorist attack occurred. I worked on the 52nd floor and it took me hours to get out of the building. When 9-11 happened, I mourned with the rest of the world, but for me it was that much more personal. When I closed my eyes I could navigate myself through the building - I could see where I got my bagel every morning, the elevator banks, the security desk, my office - and then, somewhere in all of that mayhem and debris was a piece of me - my desk, the chair I sat in, my personnel file. I was there before, I lived it and in some way, I knew what the people inside the World Trade Center were feeling that day, I was just luckier than them. I feel the same way now. I have spent countless hours in the hyperbaric center - hours inside the chamber with Alex during our first visit. I can visualize the exact chamber that exploded, the entrance way, the lobby, the pictures of the faces hanging on the wall that put all of their faith and hope into the facility. For me, the feeling of hope I have about the hyperbaric facility is gone. From the first time I walked into those doors it was the very first time in Alex's life that I had hope. Hope that perhaps we had stumbled upon the very thing that would enhance her life, our miracle. She has made incredible gains that we can only attribute to her HBOT treatments. I highly doubt that facility will ever open their doors again. Is there another facility that we could possibly go to? I'm sure, but I just feel like a huge part of my hope has vanished. We were scheduled to be there in July. We have so many friendships and memories that we have made at that facility over the past two years and I'm just so incredibly sad.

I'm not sure how long this link will work, but if you would like to know more about the explosion or the family, here is the link to the local news.

http://cbs4.com/local/Hyperbaric.Chamber.Explosion.2.999711.html