A few months ago, my brother returned from a tour in Afghanistan, and at 23 years old was finally able to start going to college. He is a vocal performance major at Southern Utah University, and was riding his motorcycle home from an opera lesson just over a month ago when a woman sped through a stop sign and broad sided him with her sedan. The ambulance were called, and they put him in a life flight to a trama ward in Las Vegas. Thankfully, he lived, but he fractured almost every major bone on the left side of his body--including compound fractures to his femur and humerus. After about a month in the hospital, he's finally come home, but things definitely aren't the same as they used to be.

This is the first thing anyone sees when they approach the front door of my parents' house. It's something I never really thought about before, but its icredible what a crux a few small steps can be to someone in a wheel chair.

The pictures above show the process that it takes for my brother to get down the stairs. He really is fortunate to have 2 wheelchairs so that he can leave 1 chair in the basement. It's a long process though. Where it used to take him only a couple seconds to descend the steps, (and that's when he didn't just jump them all) it now takes him several minutes. 

 For obvious reasons, I left him out of this shot; but the chair in the tub and the handle tell enough of a story by themselves.

So many of the things I take for granted have become arduous overnight for my brother, who can't use half of his body. People in wheel chairs deal with a lot, and it makes me more thankful to have use of my legs.