My friend, Kari, is scheduled to be moved to her rehabilitation site in Denver today! That shows great progress...but of course, there is a long road ahead for her! She and her husband made the front page news...Press Enterprise in Riverside, California wrote the following:
Teacher seeks prayers to help his wife
ACCIDENT: A Redlands associate pastor shattered her vertebra in a vehicle rollover in Kansas.12:08 AM PDT on Thursday, August 4, 2005
By JACQUIE PAUL / The Press-Enterprise
HURT IN CRASHKARI MORRIS-GUZMAN, an associate pastor at Brookside Free Methodist Church in Redlands, suffered a serious spinal cord injury in an accident last month.
DONATIONS to help the family pay for ongoing medical costs can be sent to: Brookside Free Methodist Church, 75 Tennessee St., Redlands, CA, 92373.
INFORMATION: on Morris-Guzman's condition is updated online on a regular basis at
http://www.weloveyoukari.org./ A link to the hospital e-mail system is included on the site. Information on how to make donations also is included.
Gage Middle School teacher Aaron Guzman and his wife, Kari, planned to fly to Ethiopia this weekend to help the poor and sick.
Now they are the ones who need help.
A rollover accident that occurred as the couple vacationed last month left Kari Morris-Guzman, 31, with a shattered vertebra. She is struggling to breathe on her own and has developed pneumonia. Doctors say she likely will not walk again.
Guzman hopes prayer may be the answer and is asking for everyone to join in the effort to help his wife, an associate pastor who works with young people at Brookside Free Methodist Church in Redlands.
"I need people that are going to be committed to praying for her for a long, long time," Guzman, 26, said.
July 17 started out as a good day, Guzman recalled. After attending a wedding of a friend in Leoti, Kan., the couple was headed to Morris-Guzman's parents' home in Omaha, Neb. The pair sang along to classic rock tunes on the radio of their rented convertible as they traveled through the Kansas countryside. It was just three days before their third wedding anniversary and they were enjoying time together, Guzman said.
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Special to The Press-Enterprise
"I need people that are going to be committed to praying for her for a long, long time," said Aaron Guzman, left, about his wife, Kari Morris-Guzman, who is struggling to breathe on her own and has developed pneumonia following an accident on July 17.
Moments later, everything changed. A pickup stopped suddenly in front of the couple on the two-lane highway. Guzman, who was driving, swerved off the road to avoid hitting the truck. The convertible flipped over in a ditch and landed upside down. The windshield collapsed onto the couple and both had to be pried from the wreckage. Guzman suffered only minor injuries, but his wife could not move.
Morris-Guzman's fifth cervical vertebra was shattered in the accident. She has been able to rotate her forearms and can use her biceps, but cannot move much else below her chest, Guzman said. Doctors are trying to wean her off of a ventilator.
Friends and family have helped immensely, Guzman said.
"That's been the thing that's sustained us," he said.
Soon after the accident, phone trees and a Web site were started to keep well-wishers informed.
"We've gotten e-mails from people we don't even know," Guzman said.
Among those offering support are the staff, parents and students from Gage Middle School, where Guzman is a popular music teacher. The school's PTSA plans to donate proceeds from items sold at an upcoming Spirit Night to the family, Gage Principal Chuck Hiroto said. Plans to create bracelets to show support for the family are also in the works. Meanwhile, fellow Gage staff members and other district music teachers are outlining lesson plans and readying Guzman's room in case he is not able to return to work at the beginning of the school year.
"It's heart-warming, it's heart-wrenching at times, but it's just amazing," Hiroto said of the support offered to the Guzman family.
Those who know the couple said they are not surprised that so many people want to help because the couple has worked so hard to help others. Both have helped others in their community and have also gone on missionary trips with their church.
Guzman said his wife continues to help others, even as she lies in her hospital bed.
"She's sort of the one keeping us all together," he said. "Everyone's really sad, but she's just been really brave. She's really confident that she's going to get better."
Reach Jacquie Paul at (951) 368-9472 or
jpaul@pe.com
Help send some smiles (along with some words of encouragement) to Kari! For each month that has 31 days, we have designated the 31st "Kards for Kari Day". 
