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Dear Newsletter Subscriber,
As most of you know from the Thanksgiving email I sent last
year concerning Dad's fall down the stairs and his current
health situation, Dad is in the midst of a great struggle.
(Please click here
to get caught up if you don't know about this ).
Ultimately, I am asking for your prayers, but first I want
to give you an update on how he is and share some
potentially great news.
The update
- I think Dad must be the happiest human being alive! He
and my sister Julie have been traveling around the country
speaking at the big Get Motivated Seminars (GMS) using the
interview format. He gets to travel with Mom and
Julie on a private jet (thoughtfully provided by Peter and
Tamara Lowe of GMS for his comfort), spend time with old
friends and inspire audiences in each city. Even
though he never complains, it is easy to see that his lack
of mobility is hard on him physically, and his short-term
memory loss gets in the way of many of the things he'd love
to be doing. But, as I'm sure you would expect, Dad
has truly embraced his struggle and together we are doing
everything we can to help him restore his health.
Now for the potentially great news
- Recently, Dad had another MRI on his head to see if it would
show anything new. I never imagined that we would be
glad to get a diagnosis of hydrocephalous, more commonly
called water on the brain. Hydrocephalous occurs when
the cerebrospinal fluid can't drain like it should and
pressure builds up, compressing the brain.
Hydrocephalous has several major symptoms; two of the most
prominent ones are - you guessed it - loss of balance and
short-term memory loss. Fortunately, this condition
can be treated, many times with great results.
We need your prayers.
This coming Monday, April 21st at 4:00 CST, Dad is going to
have a temporary shunt inserted between vertebra in his
lower back to remove some of the excess cerebrospinal fluid
from his brain. He will be in the hospital for three
days to monitor the results, and if his balance and/or his
short-term memory improve, he will have surgery on Friday,
April 25th, to install a permanent brain shunt that will
drain fluid 24/7 through a tube to his abdominal cavity.
Please pray specifically for these things
- that the procedure on Monday goes smoothly without pain or
complications and that it gets dramatic results; that
the surgery on Friday goes smoothly without complications
and that Dad's recovery is fast and pain free; and that
after a few weeks Dad is back to doing what he does best -
writing books and making speeches all across the country
with Julie and Mom.
As a family we are so blessed that this option is available.
We know that God is in control. Dad's life verse is
Romans 8:28 - "And we know that for those who love God all
things work together for good, for those who are called
according to his purpose." As I have heard Dad say
many times, "What the future holds is uncertain, but I am
certain Who holds the future."
I want to say thank you to all of you who have reached out
to me and our family during this past year. Please
keep Mom, "the Redhead," in your prayers as she cares for
Dad. I will keep you informed as more information
becomes available. If you want to email me you can at tziglar@ziglar.com.
I will not be able to respond to everyone, but I will read
every email you send and pass them on to Dad and the family.
Embrace the Struggle!
Proud Son of Zig Ziglar
Tom Ziglar
P.S. I thought you might enjoy these two recent
articles. The first is
from the Mobile newspaper where Dad and Julie spoke several
weeks ago, and the second is a
feature story from American Profile that was released two
weeks ago and seen by over nine million people.
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