Meet Benjamin!!!

Meet Ben he is our new Friend as well as his wonderful family!! Ben was in a lawn mower Accident just like Karsen. He had a through the knee Amputation which requires a more complicated prosthetic and since he is only 4 and small it complicates it even more. He has a prosthetic but has no way to bend which will make it uncomfortable to walk not to mention what it will do to his hips.

HELP US RAISE MONEY FOR HIM TO GET A BETTER FITTING LEG!!!

You can Donate through Karsen's blog and all proceeds will go to their family to help them.

Help us pay it forward!! I know you all have a special place in your heart for our family help spread that love to the Steinfeldts!!

More details from his accident are below...

Never Thought in a Million Years...Time to pay it forward!!!

When Karsen's Accident happened we heard a statistic the there were 600 lawn mower accidents a year. Some similar to ours but some different. A little while back I received a call from Dr. Marci she called to ask a huge favor for Karsen and I to go to Primaries and meet a family that was now experiencing the same thing we were. My heart instantly broke and I agreed to go visit them that day. I tried hard to be strong and not cry and it didn't help that Rick wasn't home to go but the minute I talked to him I broke down and just cried. I would never wish this upon anyone and now here it is not far from us. The physical and mental heart ache is at times unbearable.

We went up and met with Ben who is only 4 and his parents Anthony and Eleisha...the similarity between our families and our experience was crazy. Anthony was on the lawn mower and Ben got knocked over due to some brake issues. His leg was severed as well but unfortunately due to lack of skin and from what Marci told me the issues we've had and many surgeries they decided to do a through the knee Amputation. Ben spent a couple days in the hospital and his recovery has gone well. He should have normal growth and they shouldn't have bone growth issues like we have but his prosthetic is going to be a lot more complicated and require more physical therapy learning to walk with it. Ben and his family are from Manti and came up for a fitting at Shriner's and after a long hard appointment they went home with no prosthetic and finding that he is too small for the knee part of the prosthetic. They just don't make them that small. He was refitted without the knee this past Monday but without the knee so he will have a stiff straight leg. Eleisha and Anthony are working with some specialists on making a knee part that will fit but as we know once you venture out of the limitations at Shriner's things have cost. Shriner's is incredible and we all love them but they are limited to what they can do. There is a fundraiser for Benjamin and we will be collecting through Karsen's website for their family to help with this cost as well as all the travel expense going back and forth from Manti. Please help our family raise some money for this family. We have been beyond blessed from all of you and your donations of time, love, help and money I'd love to show them the same support. Every little bit helps!!!

Leg #4 and Still Growing...

It's been forever since I have updated but we've been doing pretty good. Karsen is still the champ he always has been and with sisters and a brother like his he stays active and happy. He's healed really good from his Femur Break but now our only concern is his fibula & tibia. He has grown so much the tibia is now almost as long as his fibula (it was half the size) and it's growing in pretty sharp and pointy. We went and got refitted for another Prosthetic so we can prolong surgery...It's been a year praying it will be even longer.

Karsen's attitude has been incredible and of course nothing stops him from getting what he wants. We've hit a few emotional snags. Some of the ones I feared...like "I wish I had my leg back" and the last one was "when I'm 10 will my leg have grown back". Unfortunately It's those moments that break my heart. Come to find out he was just being lazy and doesn't want to put his leg on. Nothing much more then that.

We've had a great year he's gone camping, swimming and 4 wheeling even went boating. Trying to keep him active and involved. We just recently went to Lagoon and after a couple hours of walking he was pretty worn out but had fun. He was on his old leg. This new one is awesome it has a Truper foot and helps keep his alignment straight. The Truper foot has little shocks in it to give it more of a real ankle feel. The minute he put it on it was a major difference to me how he walked. The hope is to keep him going running and riding his bike. Peter his Prothesis Dr up at Shriner's said he'd probably grow out of this leg in 6 or so months too.

The good side to his down time is he's retained a lot of knowledge and we are starting him early to Kindergarten (come to find out just like his Dr. Marcy). Excited to have him learn to read better and continue with his education. He wants to be a Dr. Like Marcy some day too!!

My goal and prayer is for this next September to be a great one and for Karsen to have health and strength and NO MORE ACCIDENTS!! We can't wait to celebrate his 5th birthday without a body cast!!

Feeling back to "normal"

I have been meaning to blog for a while but life has been crazy but great!!
The last time I blogged was when we were at a year Karsen had broken his femur and we were feeling has though we were taking steps back instead of forward.
Karsen really is a champ...he sat for 10 weeks in his spica cast having to go under to redo it and then when they took it off. He got it off right before Halloween and couldn't have been more excited.
After that we were back to rehabilitation. He wasn't able to put his Prosthesis on for 2 more weeks and after that it was limited. Thank goodness the one we got from New York fit but only after a few adjustments and only for a short time. At that time I was discouraged having spent the time and money to go out there feeling as though it was a waste now that his leg had been through so much more. We ended up going to Shriners and got a new fitting where we got his Scooby leg. Love working with Pete up there he has done amazing things for us.
The good news is with him having a amputated leg we can adjust his prosthesis to help his legs to be the same length. It's been quite the process but we have all grown so much.






We also have done some great things since the last post. We did the 2nd annual Run Karsen Run and thanks to some incredible friends for putting it together it wouldn't have happened. We wanted to do it as a pay it forward event and was able to give back to Shriner's. I am full of gratitude for everyone that attended and participated and especially helped put it together. As soon as Karsen broke his leg I was at his beck and call 24/7 considering he couldn't even go to the bathroom on his own. Rick and I took turns carrying and were very grateful he could pee in a bottle. lol. The event was amazing and we were able to donate to Shriners and help cover the emergency costs of his new adventure.
After that we just kept working on adjusting him to help make his leg fit more comfortably and so he can walk. It was a little frustrating for him to be limping all the time. He was doing so well before you wouldn't have even known he had a prosthetic but now it was painful to walk.
One day we were walking into the store and he told me his leg was hurting but he'd be ok because he could do it! His determination and independence amazes me everyday!!
Since then we have been living life and doing great. He has been going to preschool and plays like everyone else. I only have mini heart attacks on occasion when he goes outside and ends up crying. It's usually because his older brother is picking on him. He is a typical 4 year old and on occasion is catching up on the tantrums he didn't get to throw while he was 3.
He has managed to walk, run, ride his bike, hike & even jump on a trampoline.
I am so proud of him and all my babies for the amazing children that they are. The encouragement the give each other and the raised level of compassion they have for everyone.
We are so blessed to have great family & friends. I'm so grateful to be on the mend and past the HELL we have been through. We still will have day to day struggles but they are nothing compared to what they used to be.