So much has happened since Stephen arrived its hard to imagine we have only been here in Denver for less than 1 week.

Stephen's clincial team are amazing. His Primary Doctor has everything under

control and is taking care of all the underlying problems Stephen has had in

the last 4 weeks to enable Stephen to move forward and really start his

rehab.

Stephen has seen an ENT consultant for his trach, gastroenterologist for his

stomach problems,Respiratory consultant for his lungs, dieticians, speech

and languate therapists besides his regular nurses, phyiso,occupational therapist.

Everyone is so caring.

On Friday he had a 3rd tracheostomy as there was a problem with air leaking

from the previous 2. This one is successful and has made his breathing so

much more comfortable.In fact they started weaning him gently of the

respirator on Saturday. They disconnected it for 2 mins and Stephen breathed

on his own. Yesterday (Sunday) he breathed 4.5 mins on his own.This is an

enormous fete and we are very encouraged and hope that each day he increases

this more until finally he will be able to do without.Of course this takes

time but we are hopeful that if everything goes to plan he will be off his

vent in 4-5 weeks.

Fingers crossed.

Also Stephen's blood count has been quite low and so today (Monday) they are

giving him a blood transfusion which will stop him from being so lethargic

and will bring the colour back into his cheeks and renew his energy.

Amongst all of this he passed his swallow test today and had vegetable

soup,ravioli,roast potato,melon and strawberrys and 2 cups of tea and

ofcourse vanilla and chocolate icecream!.

This has been a huge boost for him now that he can eat nornally again and

they are hoping that if he continues to improve he may be able to actually

speak again by the end the week.

I'm not sure whether it was eating which was the highlight of today or the

fact that he had physio and used an automatic exercise bike for 6 mins.

His eyes lit us as he watched his legs move with the pedals. The physio then

took him to see the FES bikes. These are similar to exercise bikes except

elctrodes are attached to your legs which stimulate the muscels to move your

legs themselves and pedal the bike. The physio there said that normally

patients who used these bikes were not on a ventillator but if Stephen

passed a stimulator test then she would start him off. Guess what. Test

passed and Tuesday 10.00am he will start using these amazing machines.You

have no idea how much this has motivated him he has never stopped smiling

all afternoon.

We hope to continue with the updates about twice a week giving you a report

on his progress.

Stephen has asked that we send his thanks for all your well wishes, he is

amazed by the support that you all have shown and looks forward to your

emails each day.



Thanks



The Family

For Immediate Release



For further information:

AST Dew Tour

Nicole Mancuso: 630-566-6351

nicolemancuso@ASTdewtour.com

Brener Zwikel & Associates

Noah Gold/ Sherry Perez: 818-462-5604/ 562-244-8048

noahg@bzapr.com/ sherryp@bzapr.com

AST DEW TOUR, ATHLETES AND INDUSTRY JOIN TOGETHER TO RAISE MONEY AND AWARENESS FOR THE STEPHEN MURRAY RECOVERY FUND

Online Auction Begins Thursday, July 19 & Culminates on Friday, August 10

NEW YORK – July 16, 2007 – The AST Dew Tour and the action sports industry and athletes are coming together to help raise awareness and funds for the Stephen Murray Recovery Fund for injured BMX athlete Stephen Murray, who suffered a severe injury while competing at the Panasonic Open event on June 22.  AST Drops In, the AST Dew Tour’s national charity, will hold an online auction with all proceeds benefiting the Stephen Murray Recovery Fund.

The Dew Tour, Camp Woodward, ESPN X Games, countless action sports athletes, and many other companies from the action sports industry, are all participating in the online auction in an effort to raise funds for the Stephen Murray Recovery Fund.

Beginning Thursday, July 19, AST Drops In will host an online auction on CharityFolks.com, a leading online marketplace for nonprofit fundraising, featuring Dew Tour athlete memorabilia.   The auction will culminate on Friday, August 10 with all proceeds benefiting the Stephen Murray Recovery Fund.  Fans can log on to www.charityfolks.com/astdropsin to bid on rare action sports memorabilia and experiential items.

The Dew Tour, its media partners, and sponsors will use on-air, online, and on-site channels to promote the auction during the Right Guard Open event in Cleveland, Ohio, July 19-22. In addition, AST Dew Tour athletes will be hosting special autograph sessions on-site at the Right Guard Open to raise funds for the Stephen Murray Recovery Fund.

Some of the online auction memorabilia includes:

§         Camp Woodward scholarships

§         Dave Mirra autographed BMX bike

§         Ryan Sheckler autographed skate deck used during the Right Guard Open

§         Travis Pastrana signature series dirt bike

§         Shaun White autographed skate deck

§         X Games 13 VIP Trip Package

§         Dew Tour Finale VIP Trip Package

§         And other memorabilia from the world’s best action sports athletes

#          #          #

The following was posted by Grotbags (AKA Paul Roberts) on BMXtalk.com - July 5, 2007:



"Alright, Martin flew back to the UK last night and has asked me to take over the updates until he returns. Some good news yesterday, the hospital changed Stephen's medication and the nightmares and hallucinations he was having have since gone away. His temperature fluctuated yesterday peaking at 103 but is now back down to just below 101. The hospital have explained that this is to be expected and we're hoping that it will return to a more normal level. We appreciate that a lot of you are worried about the pneumonia but this is almost par for the course and the fact that the hospital caught it early and are treating it with anti-biotics can only be a good thing. Although Stephen's visitors are restricted to family, we decided to make an exception when Travis Pastrana dropped in 10 minutes after Martin left for England.(unlucky Muzz) This was a huge boost for Stephen and definatlty put a smile on his face. Today has been a quiet, settled day of rest, which is greatly needed since he is still in critical condition. Melissa has been by his side all day while Cynthia and I have been in meetings for 7 hours with various organisations relating to rehab. Please keep your E mails coming as they are a great source of support to Stephen and his family alike. The amount of concern and support from everyone has been nothing short of phenomenal and is very much appreciated. Believe."

"Hi,

Yesterday was a very up and down day. Just to let you know, Stephen didn't have the 2nd operation yesterday due to another crisis case which required Stephen's neuro teams attention. Following this news, we were all given a huge boost by some news that Stephen had some sensation in his backside. Typically, this was felt when a nurse touched his bum! This, along with some sensation i his right wrist and left shoulder gave everyone a huge lift.

However, he developed further complications later in the day with his breathing. His temperature was very high and his lungs were hardly working. They feared he may have developed blood clots in his lungs and so decided to do a cat scan along with some other tests. He was too sick to have the cat scan however, and so they decided to do a bronchoscopy. The results of this were that they found lots of crap in his lungs, but no blood clot. They believe that this is due to inhaling lots and lots of dust from digging and riding trails over many, many years. Sort of similar to that of a miner's lung.

He was due to have the postponed second operation this Morning (7am) and doctors decide to assess his situation 1 hour prior to the operating time to see if he was strong enough to take the anesthetic and come through the operation. Luckily, they decided he was fit enough to take it following his temperature dropping in the night and he is now 2 hours in to a 7 hour operation to further stabilise his broken 3,4 and 5th vertebrae.

This has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster but we are optimistic that by the end of the week he will be more comfortable.

The support we have received is unbelievable and your messages on here are really comforting. He has been too sick for me to read these message out to him but i have told him some of the names that have been sending their regards and it makes him smile. Hopefully, towards the end of the week i will be able to print them all out and read them to him so please, if you haven't already done so, leave a message for him. Its much appreciated.

Thanks-

Martin, Cynthia, Jeff, Melissa, Seth and Mason"

You can still send Stephen emails through an account we set up for him and his family at GetWellStephen@gmail.com.

SURGERY #2 UPDATE JUNE 26TH 3:00PM PST



I JUST SPOKE TO MARTIN, STEPHENS BROTHER AND HE SAID STEPHEN CAME OUT OF THE SURGERY ABOUT 1:45PM PST.



THE SURGERY WENT WELL AND STEPHEN IS RECOVERING AND DOING GOOD. THE SURGERY WAS DONE THROUGH HIS BACK, AND WAS 7 HRS LONG. BEING FACE DOWN DURING THE SURGERY, IT ALLOWED THE FLUID AND MUCUS TO BE DRAINED AND CLEARED FROM HIS LUNGS, WHICH HAD BEEN BUIDLING UP AND MAKING IT DIFFICULT FOR HIM TO BREATH.



THE DOCTORS WOULD LIKE TO SEE STEPHEN IN A WHEELCHAIR BY THE WEEKEND AND KEEP HIM IN A SITTING POSITION, TO HELP WITH THE BUILDUP OF FLUID.



THEY ALSO PLAN TO REMOVE THE TUBES FROM HIS MOUTH AND TO BE PLACED IN HIS THROAT, TO ALLOW EASIER BREATHING AND EASIER FOR HIM TO COMMUNICATE, THOUGH HE WILL NEED SOME SPEECH THERARPY.



TODAY WAS AN UPLIFITING DAY AND KEEPING A POSITIVE ATTITUDE AND ALL THE PRAYERS COMING IN WILL HELP ON THE DAYS THATS ARE A LITTLE TOUGHER.



THANK YOU ALL AGAIN.



THE ENTIRE MURRAY FAMILY & ALL WHO LOVE HIM!

Stephen Murray Fund

 Stephen Murray is a BMX Athlete that could use help from the BMX community.  Stephen is a professional dirt jumper that is well known for his amazing tricks like double back flips, 360 back flips, turndown back flips and so much more.

 Stephen Murray came to the United States from New Castle Great Britain over 10 years ago with a dream of riding with the best athletes in the sport.  He came over here originally as a BMX racer but quickly took to Dirt Jumping and Freestyle in the scene of Huntington Beach and Sheep Hills.

 2001 and 2002 marked the biggest year for Stephen Murray of his career.  He won the Gold Medal in Dirt Jumping at X Games and back to back wins at the Gravity Games, the two biggest contests at the time.

 Stephen is quoted on his own riding style, “I go 110%, go big and send it!” (EXPN.com)

 On Friday June 22^nd at the AST Dew Tour BMX Dirt Finals in Baltimore, MD, Stephen Murray took a horrific fall on the final set of the dirt section while sending a double back flip.  Stephen has received career ending injuries to his spinal cord and vertebrae.

 Unlike the NFL or other major professional sports which have unions that provide funds to athletes who are injured, BMX has nothing like this.  BMX however is much more like a family than any other sport.  Now is the time we need to reach out and support one of our family members like never before. 

 The injuries that Stephen sustained are no doubt going to affect him for a life time.  Medical bills alone can reach astronomical dollar amounts.  As a BMX community we have the power to help him.  Stephen is a young 27 years old and is the financial provider for a wife and two young children. 

 This message has the potential to reach millions.  Even if you are only able to donate $1 if we did it all together we can accomplish a great deal.  This is for real, this is an opportunity to help out one of the most loved riders in our sport.  Please find it in your hearts to contribute any dollar amount that you can, and say a prayer for Stephen Murray and his family in this difficult time.

 Here are three ways you can contribute:

Email StephenMurrayFund@hotmail.com with the dollar amount you would like to contribute. You will then receive an email back with the invoice that leads you directly to a Pay Pal Secure account where you can pay by credit card or bank account number.

Mail a check payable to Stephen Murray Family Fund:

92 Corporate Park Ste. C #171

Irvine, CA 92606

 

Make a bank deposit or wire funds directly to:

Stephen Murray Family Fund

Bank of America

4500 Barranca Parkway

Irvine, CA 92614

Routing # 121000358

Account # 1015867459

 

If you are a minor get your parents permission first.  Donate today, don’t hesitate.