ALAMMOA G AHZ IENIEGHTS www.AlamoHeightsMagazine.com nba great slam dunks education for sa kids A former ah student’s inspirational story priest holmes foundation empowers kids to succeed local expert advice Legal, Financial, Health & Wellness advice plus more Online at: AlamoHeightsMagazine.com 1 2 Online at: AlamoHeightsMagazine.com Over years providing70 allergy & asthma relief. Our Board-Cerfied allergists take great pride in providing you highly individualized care. www.cerfiedallergysa.com • 210.822.5300 • Virtually Pain Free Allergy Testing • Clinically proven results 999 E Basse Rd #118 • San Antonio, TX 78209 • Cutting-edge Diagnostics And • All Major Insurances Treatment For Allergies & Asthma Accepted Lincoln Heights Shopping Center W. Nottingham Dr. Broadway St. Broadway E. B ass e R d. From Left to Right: Daniel Ramirez Jr., M.D., Robert Ramirez, M.D., Daniel Ramirez, M.D., F.A.C.P. , Robert Jacobs, M.D., P.A. Online at: AlamoHeightsMagazine.com 3 contents Publishers: Community Circular Magazines 6 The Eddie Moreno Story a division of 16 So, Exactly What is Tree Sculpting? 18 WWII Veteran Shares Memories of Alamo Honor Flight #4 22 The Divorce Lawyer’s Guide to Staying Married 26 3 Ways to Update Your Outdoor Space 29 The Henry Family Venture Graphic Design 34 An Astronaut’s Cosmic Perspective Kaysie Boomhower Harper Jessica Combs 38 Alamo Drafthouse: Where the Audience Gets Into the Act Taylor Davis 41 After the Great Fire: Bastrop Picks Up the Pieces Katrina Gelino Jared Hawkinson 46 How to Achieve Wellness No Matter How Old You Are Faith Pena 47 John Paul Catholic H.S.: “We Are the Rock!” Sales Rachel Cloud 48 Priest Holmes Foundation Empowers Kids to Achieve & Sheryl Hawkinson Succeed Administrative 54 Feel Like Being Risky? Then Let a Loved One Sign on Your Bank Albert Salazar Account! To advertise your product or services in 58 NBA Great Slam Dunks Education for SA Children Alamo Heights Magazine, please contact our Sales Department at 210-775-5277 or by email at [email protected] 4 Online at: AlamoHeightsMagazine.com Few backyard elements can do more to enhance your outdoor living experience than a shade structure.™ Whether it is an arbor that welcomes guests to your home, a gazebo that is strictly ornamental, a pergola that provides dining under a canopy of vines, or a pavilion that frames your outdoor room and calls your attention to the sights, sounds, and smells that could have previously been mistaken for vacant air – these structures are a source of some of the most acute outdoor living pleasures. ® 1975 IH35 • New Braunfels, Texas 78130 830-626-1971 • homefieldliving.com LOGO PANTONE 36Gazebos2 • Pavilions • Pergolas Online at:Online AlamoHeightsMagazine.com at: CommunityCircular.com5 Eddie, the oldest of four boys (his brothers names are Ryan, doing if I wasn’t in here,” Eddie said. He said he was grateful for all Joseph and Jacob) returned home in January to a house that has the visitors that told him about what was going on out there because been customized to Eddie’s special needs. Eighteen months after the it helped him know he could be a part of that again. incident all that’s left of the bullet hole is a fading pink circle on his And there is real hope now that Eddie is going to Beyond the Chair left cheek. Eddie is a handsome 19-year-old with curly black hair and – a very special gym which just opened in 2012 and just happens piercing blue eyes. He exhibits the calm and confi dence of man much to be near the Moreno home. BTC is staff ed by kinesiologists who older in years even though he knows the fi ght if far from over. use neuromuscular training on people with debilitating diseases like Eddie’s mom, Jennifer (a soft-spoken Christian who continues to multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries. Eddie’s trainer and the bear the unbearable with amazing strength and resiliency) said, “Eddie gym’s owner, Nito Blochlinger was trained at Project Walk in Carlsbad, has suff ered from many bouts of pneumonia in the last year and that California in 2000. He has 20,000 hours of experience working with sapped his strength.” But Eddie went to a rehab unit in Houston last spinal cord injuries and said he’s had good success helping people October. Eddie says that helped a lot. Th en a friend told him about a regain their strength. With time, some of his clients are even able to new gym in the area called Beyond the Chair. walk again. Eddie said, “Right now I’m doing good. I just started going to a “We take on clients that have been discharged from physical gym to work out. It gives me tone and I enjoy it because I was an therapy and occupational therapy. We use exercises, technologies and athlete and used to work out all the time.” Eddie speaks in a kind of a modalities that are adapted to stimulate nerves and muscles below the whisper and he still has trouble swallowing because one of the muscles level of the injury,” Blochlinger said. In Eddie’s case “below the level of in his throat still isn’t opening up all that way, but what he has to say injury” means all the nerves and muscles from the neck down. So his is full of gratitude and hope. recovery, if he is able to beat the odds and regain some mobility, will be Eddie’s attitude is what blows people away. Eddie has no feeling the result of long-term neuromuscular training and a lots and lots of from the neck down. Th e bullet pierced his spinal cord at the C2-C3 repetition. But this form of physical exercise is really critical to staying level cutting off his ability to move his limbs. Even his neck movements healthy and avoiding secondary complications, like osteoporosis and are restricted. Eddie said that by going to the gym, “I hope to get muscle atrophy that set in when a person is not ambulatory. strengthened back up and regain some independence.” Right now he’s Th e doctors say Eddie will probably never feel anything below his totally dependent on his family and friends. neck again, let alone walk but there is already some evidence Eddie “My friends are what help me stay positive,” Eddie said. He was may indeed experience a measure of recovery beyond the grim medical very surprised by the generosity and caring of the community and prognosis. Blochlinger said they get Eddie out of the chair and put ost of us have heard about Eddie Moreno’s While life goes on as usual around the Moreno said, “You can’t just quit. It helps me to stay strong mentally. It’s a him through weight-bearing exercises with the help of standing story, but if you haven’t, it’s a dramatic story family, they have risen to meet the challenge that blessing to have everyone off ering their support.” Not a word in anger frames. Th ey also give him gait training (he walks with the assistance born of tragedy and forged by love and lies before them in an extraordinary way. After or resentment is spoken and not even a hint of self-pity. Eddie has of the trainers and specially modifi ed equipment.) Eddie also rides a M all the earmarks of a champion. A clean, soothing energy permeates functional electrical stimulation bike, does core and balance work and M all the earmarks of a champion. A clean, soothing energy permeates functional electrical stimulation bike, does core and balance work and courage unfolds. It’s the story of Eddie Moreno, a the shooting, AHHS team members and students former Alamo Heights High School (AHHS) senior rallied around Eddie, off ering moral support as he the house. Jennifer said sometimes she’s tempted to think thoughts strength training. and basketball player who was shot in a road rage lay helpless to even speak for fi ve months due to a about how she’d like to catch the person who did this to her son but “Eddie always has a positive attitude. He’s here to work out and incident on March 26, 2011 and was paralyzed from shattered jaw. And during the eight months he was she just can’t go there. Th e Moreno’s say that they haven’t heard of any work out hard,” Blocklinger said and added that he could tell Eddie the neck down. Eddie lives in a wheelchair now and in that hospital bed fi ghting for his life, they joined new developments in Eddie’s case since four months after the incident is an athlete because he’s got that fi re. In fact, even after only three breathes with the help of a respirator. We wanted to hands with the community and raised enough money occurred. weeks of training at Beyond the Chair Eddie lost the spasticity that was check in with Eddie and his family to see how things to totally remodel and expand the Moreno home by Eddie’s faith has been a big part of his recovery too. “It’s hard to plaguing him in the neck and has regained more freedom of movement have been going for the local teenager. 1,000 square feet so Eddie could return there to live be optimistic when you’re lying in a hospital room, when all you see there. Blochlinger said he can sometimes see Eddie’s muscles fi re on with his family. is four walls. You miss out on a lot.