In my last post, I left our story in Dominica, intending to pick up from there and take you through Antigua, St. Croix, Culebra & Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas, then on to Florida. But our lives have taken a sudden detour. Bill and I were sitting out hurricane season in Jacksonville, making repairs to Marengo, planning our cruise through the western Caribbean in November, when we received a call from our son Sean. He reported that his brother Dillon was in the hospital prepping for surgery. Dillon was with friends at the beach in Newport, CA on Saturday, September 13th when he dove into a wave, hit a sandbar and broke his neck, and was unable to move any of his extremities.
We are currently in Atlanta with Dillon at the Shepherd Center, a nationally renowned spinal cord injury rehabilitation hospital. Dillon's injury is listed as a C-4 complete, better known as quadriplegia. Our plans are to move with Dillon back to Southern California when he is discharged from Shepherd in early December. Not knowing what the future looks like, we've postponed any permanent decisions about Marengo or Casual Monday until we get out to the west coast and get a better handle on our situation. Newport Beach and Long Beach are quite yachtie places, so don't assume our sailing days to be over.
We ask that you please pray for our family during this time of great turmoil.
For more information, check out www.caringbridge.org/visit/dillonconnolly and if you would like to help, go to www.gofundme.com/dillonconnolly.
My personal email is juliaconnolly@bellsouth.net.
We know that God is Good, All the Time.
Peace.
~ Julia