Saturday, May 26, 2007

Hi, Chris, I wanna say congratulation to you. Though I haven't seen your presentation boards and have no idea of the coming World Expo in Shanghai yet, I don't need to hesitate to send my compliment to you since the prize you have won has already proved that you deserve my compliment. In fact, it is not easy to win a prize or a position in a competition since you need to be good enough to fight the others. That is, you need to be truly talented. So, I wanna say it's my honor to have a friend like you- a friend who have great talent.

In fact, I know you are good in architecture since I've been your classmate, you worked hard in studio, and you have ideas that I have never thought about before. Do you still remember the phrase you created- 'Increasing, decreasing'. I still remember it! I still remember how the assignment looks like as it came out. Do you still remember Lawman Millar? Ha ha ha, we've worked like Brunal- a dog- in his studio! :-( :-) Those were the days my friend, we thought the assignment will never end...suddenly these lyric come to my mind!

Alright, Chris, keep your spirit up, there will be many more good days and success waiting ahead for you to enjoy! BTW, I'm expecting to see the boards!

Homion(Damien)

Friday, May 25, 2007

CHRIS SOS EL TOP!!

CHRIS YOU ARE THE BEST!!!!
congratulations on placing third out of tons + tons of applicants, what an extreme honor to know your design got such praise. having seen the presentation boards with the beautiful drawings you did, it deserves it!! hopefully it'll be on the blog soon so that everyone else can see just how spectacular the project is + what a genius you are!!!
CONGRATULATIONS!
with love,
rita

Congrats!

Hey Chris,

Congrats on the competition! One of the coolest parts of this blog has been getting a glimpse into your little known (to me at least) side as an architect! Anna always raves about your designs and now I know she's not just being starry eyed, it's clear from all these posts you have the right stuff... hmm maybe I'll commision a house from you someday... Anyhow thinking about you and Anna tons and wishing you the speediest recovery possible!

all best
Jen

congrats and more

Chris,
Congratulations on you guy's award for the Swiss pavilion. We were just talking about your entry yesterday with Sameena, and were betting that you guys will either win, or win a placement at least, the boards looked so awsome.
"additionally" :)
I wanted to leave you with a laundry list of treatments and research that I found on SCI since your accident. You probably already know of all these, but what the hell:
1.
Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden: has been experimenting with grafting nerve axons taken out from other muscles in the body onto the spinal cord, because these nerves have the ability to regenerate, unlike the Spinal cord nerves...experiments successful in rats. This procedure is also called the Schwann cell transplant.
2. Functional Electrical Stimulation (this is probably what you are doing already). This method basically awakens dormant nerve paths.
3. Clinical trial at
William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Michigan. http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT00378664;jsessionid=FC0C09A4E3458BBEA655CE0F82188F7B?order=35
The website does not explain how this procedure works, but they describe it as
lumbar to sacral ventral nerve re-routing procedure, and it is supposed to improve performance in all the areas affected by SCI in these regions. I know your injury is at somehwere in the lower T-s, but maybe it is close enough. Worth finding out. I also included a link to North American clinical trials, if you want to sift through these. http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/search/term=Spinal+Cord+Injury
4. Treatment with ProCrod. This is a drug idea developed by a company called Proneuron Biotechnologies, and in 2004, it was in phase II FDA Clinical Trials. I am not sure if it is still in clinical trials or not. Basically the concept for this drug is that
a type of blood cell called macrophage is isolated from the patient’s own blood, activated through a proprietary process and then injected directly into the patient’s injured spinal cord at the site of the lesion. These cells somehow promote healing and growth in spinal cord cells, which is important in them regaining functionality.
5. There is some stem cell research as well, but I actually have not read about this.
OK, that is all for today, I am taking off for the long weekend, and you should enjoy is, too in beautiful Colorado. Yeah, that's right.
Boja

SUPER SUCCESS FOR CHRIS'S COMPETITION !!

Dear Chris and all,`

We are so happy that you found your way to this great facility in Colorado. We will visit you for sure up there..

For all who read this blog, Chris was the leading force in our small Team of Architects here in Santa Monica working extensively on the architectural competition for the design of the Swiss Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai, China in 2010.

The Swiss Pavillons are always a mayor draw at world exhibitions, as the architects among you probably know (The last one in Hannover 2002 by Peter Zumthor was an architectural marvel that made Architecure history.

In December of 2006, our first round submittal Chris worked on qualified for the finals of 12 projects out of 110 entries. Chris was at it with great enthusiasm and while he had all his other stuff going on as well. Chris was a great Team player, very creative and a master of the detail... at the end of the final project Chris took this very bike ride and had to see the prints at the IR at UCLA hospital.

Chris, you have been such a great help and up beating spirit in our office. I know how much you love architecture as we have been sharing this passion for 10 years now. No matter what the Jury would have decided on May 24th, this project was already a great success and expression of your talent and of our friendship!

But it now got even better as we, currently in Switzerland, received the 3rd Prize (!!!) yesterday at a press conference in the Klee Museum in Bern! The Jury deliberated hard and it was a very tight race until the end. The reason why they choose the first prize winner was basically because ours was more defined and would allow for less input by the organizers (The Swiss Government). So thanks to Chris we got extremely close to winning such a super high profile project. We can still hope that the first and then the second prize winners somehow cannot perform in the coming month, in which case we would get the bid...

In any case we hope we can share this awarding experience with Chris again very soon! We will always keep a table ready at the office for you to step in !

I was trying to upload images of this Competition, but need to wait until we are back in the US next week to achieve this.

All the Best Wishes from the CHina crew

Stephan and Cara

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Famliy meeting research help

On Tuesday of next week Chris will have a family meeting with all of his doctors where they will outline Chris' prognosis based on extensive testing they have been conducting at Craig. As for now, the initial prognosis that we received at UCLA Medical center still stands. We are all hoping that something miraculous has occurred since then.

During his meeting Chris is wanting to ask may questions about his condition, the projected rehab, and possible alternative activities and research. It is great that so many of you have come forward with information that you have found and connections you know of. Rita and I will be working on compiling all the information you have given and hope that you will send on any new information you might have. It is a great opportunity to be able to ask the experts at Craig what their views are about the alternatives.

So, anything you think might be a possibility would be great to know about, we are ready to try anything if it could help him out.

Thank you all for your love and warmth that keeps pouring in' it has been keeping all of us afloat.

Much love, Anna

from Patagonia

Chris,

You have been on both Sonja and my mind lately as we both send our best wishes to you. We finally faced the cold hard truth that we can't stay down here in Bariloche forever, especially when both our brothers are getting married (not to each other) in September. We still don't know where we'll end up, but I'm still hoping for Truckee, where if all else fails, my impecable Cappucinno making and/or lift chair bumping skills will come in handy.

That said, you and Anna MUST take a trip down here to explore her roots. I can't say there is anything special about the current architecture (except Daniel's designs of course), but Buenos Aires is now my favorite city in the world with outstanding buildings and neighborhoods. Bariloche is the Lake Tahoe of Patagonia and now stands as my home if I ever need to escape the US again from 5 years of unpaid speeding tickets and a warrent for my arrest about stealing zoo animals, which they know they can't prove.

Un abrazo fuerte,
Steve Saturno

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

from san francisco

hi Chris,
I really admire your strength and good spirit. we are very happy to
know that you are doing well and would like to send you the most
positive energy!!


Gilberto and I think about you everyday!! Take care.
ines

Hello from Tahoe

Hello Chris...
It's Jeanette here from Tahoe! I've been waiting for Dooley to write with me, but that Rocky guy is keeping him too busy at work...ha ha ha, just kidding!! We've been keeping up on all the blogs, e'mails, etc., and as most everyone says, you just amaze us!! If someday I have to endure anything close to what you have been, I hope and pray that I can do it with even a quarter of the strength and dignity that you have! And yes, like the others, Dooley and I constantly think of your always smiling face!
It was wonderful meeting Boja. Like she said, it was a little rushed because I had to leave, and Maiella (as you well know) wouldn't leave us alone! The plans are coming along fine, and it will be a great house that you've again designed for us...don't you even worry about all that stuff.
Now, there is a small problem with the Keys and Oglala house you did for us...I don't want to leave the house we're in, but I really want to move to the Oglala house!!! Ha Ha Ha, no really we're not moving, but that house is turning out incredible. Even Maiella told Dooley that he needed to move her bed and swingset to the "Oglalalala" house! You can sure tell you put your heart into your work! We'll send more pics, as it finishes up!
All the best Chris...you are in our thoughts and prayers daily!
Jeanette

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Chattin' with Chris!!!

hello all

so i got a chance to chat with chris last night, nothing better than chatting with him! although i did interupt his basketball game, luckily for me i think he was down for a little conversation. i asked him about his day which started off with chris getting "worked" as he said by wheelchair training class, where they all went outside down the road, downhill + then had to make their way back uphill to craig's! so after the huge effort to get back uphill, they went back in to have a well deserved lunch.

in the afternoon chris had an educational class that he goes to, yesterday's class topic was stress. they talked about the fact that anytime there is a change in one's life, one is affected by stress. clearly this has been a huge change + there is a lot of stress associated with it, so they talked about the feelings one has + how to hopefully handle the stresses that are present. its great to know they have all these educational sessions where chris gets a chance to ask all the questions he wants + have a group of people that are going through many of the same feelings. it really feels like craig's is a place where they truly care about the people there beyond their injuries, which is so very important. faced with these challenges that have been put in front of him, chris has shown such strength of character in so many ways, i will never be able to say enough about what an amazing person i think he is!!!!!!!!!!!

next tuesday, may 29, is the family consult where chris' doctors will let him know what they think he's spinal cord can do. so i'll be sending out extra positive energy for chris + his family, + know that chris will do even better than whatever they think he can achieve, he's done it thus far, why stop?!

it's so great that chris got to move in by the window, where he was telling me that the other day there was a storm in town + that he could see it from his bed. he said it was beautiful, i was so happy that he was able to enjoy it from his room, maybe when i get to visit, i'll get to see the beautiful storm (like his amazing blog picture billy put here) with chris. that's all for now folks, i'll let you know if i hear more, but keep the blogging going, pictures, stories, or even just a quick hello!

with love,
rita

dude, we found your bike!

tahoe heaven

Chris,
I finally made it up to Tahoe. I had an epic drive up the 395 in the blue Volvo, and I am wondering if I crossed paths with Rocky who seemed to have gone the same route with your truck. I am never, ever ever taking the 5 anywhere. It is so beautiful on all the other roads. And Kingsberry Grade...it is so breathtaking. I rolled in to town around 4:30pm, had no directions to Dooley's but he guided me to their house in the (very confusing) Keys. I drove through these weird Vegas wannabe casino areas announcing the presence of Nevada, then just the lake and strip malls on the California side. Dooley and Jeanette are awsome, I was really excited to meet them, even though we had to rush because I got in really late and they had to go to Jeanette's sister's wedding rehearsal. We discussed the plans, master suites, materials and the model I built, and Dooley took me to the site. Man, I don't know how I was working on this project in any capacity without having seen the land. That Tallac view is worth designing the house around, I saw the cross that you were talking about. There is just a little triangle between the neighbors' trees that will frame a perfect view to that. Dooley and I decided to go out there and stand around at certain parts of the lot on a tall A-ladder before we totally finalize the openings.

I am so happy that you are back on the bike again. How many miles do you have to ride every day. I am sure you will soon have your "beautiful legs" (as Anna said) back and that you can move them without the electric shockers. I read a lot of good things about that therapy. Not that I know anything about biology, but they say that it reminds neurons to send impulses to the muscles, which is not so much a mechanical process, but rather a chemical. Oh well, I am sure you have read a thousand articles on this already, and listened to a plethora of doctors. I am glad you are also at the top of your game at Craig. You know, everybody was totally amazed by you before your accident, and now they are just more amazed. I wish you the best for the "big family meeting", Andrej, Casey, Sam, Donna and I are talking and thinking about you all the time, sending you all of our good waves.
Much love,
Boja

UPDATE!!

It was so great to see Chris this weekend, coming back to LA was so hard for me. I spoke with him again tonight and he even made me feel better just with his positive words and attitude, every step forward a victory. Chris is really a strong and grounded person, his perspective about this life changing experience is so admirable even with this impossible and long journey ahead. He has wowed everyone at Craig hospital with what he has been doing, everything with so much grace, calm and gratitude. They have even put him on a fast track, which hopefully will be slowed down so he can take the most advantage of everything that he can learn while he is there.

He has been moving around so much already, even with his very serious injuries and operation. Today a doctor told him that he would not be able to put any more weight on his shoulder because it is still broken in many places and he needs to heal. The focus of his physical therapy was moved to his legs. They set him up on a electrical stimulation machine that tries to shock his muscles into contracting to keep them in motion. It was unknown if this technique would work, but after many tries they finally got movement out of both his legs!! this means he can begin to do therapy on his legs. They will put him on a bike and send shocks to his legs causing the muscles to contract so that eventually these contractions put together will be enough for him to pedal the bike. So cool!! Its a great way to keep his legs in motion.

I am going up again this weekend and his brother Tims family will be visiting along with his friends Tom, Sarah, Anne, and John. For those of you who have been dying to know, Chris did take me to Walmart and it was very romantic. We took a couple of bus rides and roamed the streets of his new hood. We met a couple of incredible friends, one whose name is Will who went to craig after being paralyzed and blinded in a mountain biking accident who now walks again and sees as well.

Thank you all for taking care of Bruno, Chris misses him everyday. Also thank you for taking care of me, my family and Chris. I feel your strength and love everywhere.

Anna

Monday, May 21, 2007

Positive thoughts and energy from Berzerkeley

Hey Chris,
It's great to see you are starting to blog away. Keep us posted on everything. I'll be out of touch for a bit (on field work up in the Feather River country) but look forward to catching up when I get back. Just wanted to let you know that Chicory and I are thinking about you, Anna, and Bruno (and the rest of your family too) every day.




Bruno getting just a small part of his daily dose of fiber:




Take care and stay strong,

Cliff

yahhooo!

Oberle,

Hey man. I went ridin for a couple of hours early this morning pulling Jai all the way (in the burley), he's about 35 pounds now. I made it from the lake up to near Rockys house a couple of times. Thought about you alot all the way, helped me get through the tough parts. One day at a time.

Jai sleeps most of the way when we're going uphills but loves heading down and around curves..yells "Yahhhhhhhhhhhooooooo" all the way down. He's starting to hint at wanting a bike of his own. I'm thinking maybe his first ride should be across the Playa this year, we'll see?

How did your MRI go?

Tony and Karina

Also in Denver

Hey Chris Oberle!
It's been so long since we've spoken. I wanted to let you know I am so inspired by your attitude as I read the blog and I am sending you as many positive thoughts that I can.
Believe it or not I am living just 3 miles from you down Hampden Ave. No kidding. Jasonn, the kids and I have been here since February. We will be here until late July when we move on to Park City.
In the meantime, wanted you to know that we have a guest room. Anyone that needs a place to stay to visit you is welcome to use it. The only visitors we have on the books are this weekend, Anne Wulff and John Mulligan. Other than that we are wide open. Anne and I are hoping to visit you this Saturday if ok with you?
Otherwise, the kids (Cole, 3, and Anna, 1) can stop by anytime and possibly bring you anywhere you need to go?
Can't wait to see you and give you a big hug!

Hugs, Sarah (Chambers) Potter

Sunday, May 20, 2007

da truck

chris,

re: my journey to bring da truck home to tahoe.....

ramki was great, pickin me up at the airport...talked about how maybe he'll come visit and check out tahoe in the near future....and how when he drove 395 to mammoth he got pulled over for doin 90 or 100 mph in his bmw....the only excuse he could think to tell the chp was "i had to pee"......man, you've got great friends scattered all over the place...

john and nadine did a pro job gettin everything nicely packed, including a huge box in the cab that says "fragile, this side up...chris's model"...took up the whole darn cab, barely room for me.....hope it's a great model.....

after my initial concerns with the odometer reading saying 196000 miles!...the little engine cranked all the way home, strong and steady. half my white body is now sunburned from the driver's window being open for 8 hours, shirt off...but i enjoyed it much better than an a.c. caccoon.....

395 is so awesome....always feel like i'm "sneakin" up to tahoe from L.A. through the "backyard" or somethin.........

pulled sherwin, deadmans, and conway no problem.......and same with spooner on the home stretch....

i was thinkin that we will cycle these same passes together soon my friend, one way or the other!....and i better start training to keep up with your ass......

rocky