I don’t know, should I really say anything about any medicine… but honestly, I don’t think the Western medicine and the drug companies are trustworthy. They saved me,  yes, and yes, they do a great job at TREATING all the patients with pills, injections and stuff… but it feels like the patients are just an income above anything else. At least in brain injury, I know there are multiple symptoms, for which they “don’t have any treatment”, but the treatments heal their incomes.  If everyone’s healthy, no need for doctors nor medication. Sounds really good? 

The Western medicine doesn’t make (or even let!) you do anything like this… I have found this VASA Concept extremely helpful though.

We, me and a few patients in a somewhat similar situation, are getting an Indian scientist Rajul Vasa, the founder of the VASA Concept, to guide us for almost 3 WEEKS starting tomorrow. You may even hear something from us, from otherwhere as well… I am very PUMPED about this! Rajul’so goal is simply to end dependency.

This is going to be our training environment. My old school’s athletic hall!

About this VASA Concept’s outcomes, I will tell you on Fall 2015! http://brainstrokes.com

PS. I’m just saying what it has started to feel like during my recovery.

The July 2015 is almost here. July is, at least in Finland, the month when nothing, absolutely NOTHING, is happening. People are taking a break, which is called the summer holidays. The Finnish people are on holidays… which makes it the prime time for me, and a few others to Fight Back! (This doesn’t make us any less Finnish!)

I consider myself really lucky and a blessed of a guy anyways, but this July is going to be off the hook!

Rajul Vasa, the founder of VASA Concept – the rehabilitation method I am practicing now myself, is flying to Turku for almost 3 weeks from Mumbai, India! The Team FightBack takes care of keeping her up and I have arranged a good training facility for us. Since the idea of Team FightBack has always been to help multiple BackFighters (rehabilitants), not just me… I’ve invited some other BackFighters to join me:

Markku Pekonen
His story: In July 2012 I was on my way to the summer vacation to sweden with my family, when I got, at the age of 41, an acute cerebral bleeding in my brain stem in Turku. Of course I was taken to the hospital and I think that it was western medicine that saved my life. Right side of my body and left side on my face got paralyzed, my left eye had to be stiched up, peg tube was assembled because I couldn`t eat or drink, I couldn`t even speak or move.
I was able to start the western rehab properly in september 2012 and I carryed it out untill last summer, 2014, when I found out about Vasa Concept. My assistant saw an article in a newspaper about an finnish man who also had cerebral bleeding and follows Vasa Concept and has had amazing results. At this point I studiet about Vasa Concept and decided to try it. After two years of western rehab I now lived back at home, sat in a wheelchair, was able to eat squashed food with the help of my assistants but medicine and water still went through the peg tube, I had medicine among other things for spasticity, nerve pain and antidepressants. I felt like a zombie and I think that it was because of the amount of the medicine. Didn`t want to live my life like that…
I have now followed Vasa Concept since last august and have had amazing results as well. Still sitting in a wheelchair (for now), but I can do so much more. My bodybalance is much better. I have a lot more strength and for example I can now get up from the bed on my own. With the help of Vasa exercises I am now able to stand when supported which was impossible before because of the “wrong position” of my ankle. Instead of concentrating on the ankle especially I have done some comprehensive exercises and that makes my walking in the future possible. My sense of taste has improved. I can drink myself from the sports bottle. I only take blood pressure medicine and I`m more “here” and aware of surroundings etc…
It`s a bit ironic that I´m now traveling to Turku, after three years since my stroke, to meet Rajul Vasa and exercise under her guidance…

Atte Nikula: He’s a young guy, who got injured in a car accident just a year ago. There is so much potential for him in this VASA Concept. He is a fan of the FightBack and shares the attitude, he also has a running event, in Savonlinna.

Here were the two I could get the infos on, but there will be 4-7 of us practicing at my old upper secondary school’s athletic halls. We will film you the practices, both to the New Run documentary, and otherwise, too! For myself, there will be 6-hours of practice / 5 days a week for 3 weeks. It may be pretty tough, but it’s only for my own benefit! I really believe in this. It’s a huge bummer, that the Western  medicine is so lost. Maybe it’ll find its way out…

I’m never, hopefully, going to run this badly anymore! 

We took a false start in celebrating the US independence day yesterday, at the US Helsinki Embassy. And boy I’ve gotta say that… I have never been prized so generously for a false start! I truly hope that you guys in the USA, are having this much fun too, when the actual independence day comes around! It was really fun!

As soon as I declare that, the invitation came as a huge surprise to us, I’m going to give the night in pictures for you!

The invitation to the Embassy was a huge surprise. Photos:

Ja lopuksi vielä suomeksi, Iltalehti vähän oikoo mutkia: http://m.iltalehti.fi/viihde/2015061719883973_vi.shtml

Sanoin: “Vietetään ihan just hopea hääpäivää! Eka pitää vaan mennä naimisiin…” Jutusta voitte lukea, miltä tämä näyttää paperilla. 😀

http://www.iltasanomat.fi/viihde/art-1434544144503.html

I was in Paimio, “participating” to the Jukolanviesti 2015 orienteering event this weekend and boy, it was great! The atmosphere was just amazing. Super happy and positive. The event was amazing, but a thing that came out of blue for me, was that orienteering could be fun!

Our team in a group photo. Mad RESPECT for all of them!

At least it seemed to be amazing. But really, this shouldn’t be such a surprise for me?

It happens out in the woods, in the nature, and that’s a factor I especially love in orienteering, the nature. Back when I was on the top of my athletic game, I was a skier. My life was fast, exciting and dangerous. I didn’t care about easy, slow and boring things, like orienteering… but what do I think about it now?

This picture was taken right after the start of Louna Jukola. It was EPIC!

It’s exciting. I mean, think about it, you’re in the woods and you’ve got to find your way through the track via the checkpoints. Who’s quickest wins! Survival of the fastest.

I didn’t orienteer in Jukola this year myself, I was just cheering up the Finnish celebrity team. So I was just a cheerleading a part of the team. And I’m not even that beautiful! Even though I didn’t really do anything real… I had a blast! Our team’s task was to raise up funds for the athletic games of the disabled kids. Thanks to a bit more important members of our team, the ones who did the orienteering… we raised up 20000 euros for the Junior Games in Finland! This 20000€ can organize the games for two years! Just imagine the ones, who have always been alone with their disabilities, to get out and see that, “I’m not alone!” And get to do something they may fall in love with. They may even get the stoke, the stoke of which I’m blabbering about!

All in all, the weekend was really great, and I can’t wait to get out again!

The blind Leo kid got carried through the finish line by our team. He was really excited and made our whole team unbelievably happy. If I was a part of offering those kind of feelings for disabled kids! The stoke was there.

Leo chilling out with our team in the finishing area…

Here I am with the fastest Frenchman in the orienteering circles! He pumped our team up a few hundreds of spots… This photo is taken right after they finished.

Enää 2 päivää jäljellä! Tämänhetkinen tilanne on se, että vielä 2628 € matkaa minimitavoitteeseemme. 2628 € matkaa siihen, että New Run dokumentti – elokuva varmasti toteutuu. Mielestäni olen jo pannut oman korteni kekoon (olen antanut miltei kaikkeni…)  mutta juuri siitä syystä tahdon varmistaa, ettei kaikki tekemäni työ valu hukkaan! 

Tilasin mesenaatin sivuilta New Run julisteen, joka saa koristaa työhuoneeni seinää. Juliste muistuttaa minua ensimmäisestä FightBack Runista, jonka taistelin läpi. En aio ikinä menettää taistelutahtoani, mutta tämä juliste takaa sen.

Kuvassa olen juuri lähes puolivälissä ensimmäistä FightBack Runia. Kun perässä on tuo määrä porukkaa, ei vain voi luovuttaa! Ei sillä, että olisin luovuttanut muutenkaan.

Osallistukaa tekin hankkeeseemme, auttakaa kertomaan tämä tarina myös ulkomaille, jos se mielestänne on kertomisen arvoinen: http://mesenaatti.me/en/newrun/

It took me this long to open my mouth again… so much about that working mode! No, honestly, my Gym isn’t open yet, and I must get this out.

We had an interesting meeting with my good friends yesterday. We were talking about, how could we make the FightBack go international, and my good friend told us, that he had received one kinda negative response, as he shared documentary teaser. I don’t know the exact words, but it went somehow like this: “Why should I feel pity, for some rich white kid, who has crashed in a SKIING accident?”

This made me thinking about pity. And about, how I don’t want to be pitied! The fact that I overshot the kicker and almost died, was my own fault. NOBODY forced me to jump! I wanted to jump myself! The blast of wind was just one of multiple possible, unlikely… hazards that I dealt with. The possibility of things going down like they did, might’ve been very tiny, but I survived, after all! When things went as wrong, as they did… it was really a miracle! I’m so grateful. This is what I want to share with ALL of You, my love for life! And that it’s definitely worth to fight for.

I want to share positivity, the love for life and all that. I can keep on improving day by day, and I will also learn to speak more fluently. Thank God my speech is already understandable. I want to share my story and make everyone to see, how you can get through hard times, and still love life. I’m not bitter. Being bitted would only be negative. Instead I love positivity, I’m happy and I want you all to be happy too! LET’S BE HAPPY! 😉

This was a long day and I’m shaking! I need to get rid of that. But I stand with the smile! 🙂

I have spent the last few weeks in the working mode. I put myself here already over two months ago, but I made myself visible to the day light almost all the time, though… Now, then again, I want to concentrate in this. CONCENTRATE? ME??!

Last Thursday morning was one, that I really liked! Woke up 5 am, light breakfast, Elixia 6 am – 8 am (they let me to use the big halls for the VASA practices!), breakfast to a presentation at 9 o’clock at Turun Messukeskus!

I’ve accepted a few working gigs in the rest of the month, but I promise to do my best in keeping my concentration. I’m not traveling to any too inconvenient locations = I can practice 2 x 2 hours, every day. Except the most of the Sundays…  I will tell you what do I do in those practicing sessions, later, but for now I’ll just tell you this: I’ve improved! Shouldn’t it be enough…? 😉

I was quite sharp last time, as I should’ve been sleeping on the ball for 20 minutes! This stretches basically my whole frontside… and hurts my left shoulder. Not so much anymore, though… 🙂

I will try to focus in the VASA Concept as dutifully, as possible now. You may hear some news considering the New Run documentary soon, but for now, I’m out!

P. S. Happy Mother’s Day!

To every mother, but especially my own Mother! Love you. Even though we look like fools in this one…

Hello to everyone! Yesterday I returned from an emotionally very hard-, glad- and certainly a very awesome of a trip! I’m still blown away… I’m just going to give you a very simple, short version of my trip: Last Thursday I flew to Kuusamo and went to my ex. in laws’, stayed there until Saturday, when we started filming the documentary about, my injury and my rehabilitation process, New Run there. On Saturday we drove to Rovaniemi, where I staid until Monday. Then we drove to Ylläs… to spend the five year anniversary of my survival.

We went to practice VASA concept, to a very familiar location to us with AJ in Kuusamo. In this athletic center we spent countless hours back in the days!

Crawling in an other very familiar location…

I got a new, dear friend, Jani Johansen, in whose cellar I was trying to be a Buddha! 😉

Some may think it should’ve been a sad day for me, but I disagree. On 28.04.2010 – my life changed, forever. My life before that day, was the dream, for me, but to have gotten another change, a New Run in life, is something I will cherish even more than the dream.

This is one of the spots I remember the best, the river crossing spot! I was emotional, 5 years, but still smiling! 😉

What I’m going to share with you now, is something we need your help in. You all know that, we’ve been already filming for a documentary. I just told you, again! 😉 It’s going to be a great one, I know it. Especially if, we get to do it like we want it, without any restrictions… this would mean that, we wouldn’t get any major financiers. We believe that YOU all, could be willing to throw in some sum of money, to see the final documentary! No matter how big or small of a sum, but together we can do this!

I’m going to link you to the website, where you can help us. http://mesenaatti.me/en/newrun/ (You can see a video there, too!)

Thank you!

Täältä pesee! Suomeksi, sillä ulkomaalaiset eivät ymmärrä tekstin aihetta. Tai no… eivät ymmärrä biisin sanoja!

Saanen kertoa teille tarinan, jonka juuret juontuvat Helsingin Olympia Stadionille, viime kesäisenä iltana. Tuona iltana stadikan otti haltuunsa Robin Packalen, turkulainen nuori artisti, jolle halusin lahjoittaa FightBack riipuksen. Lahjoitin riipuksen ennen keikkaa, Robin piti siitä, sovimme tekevämme vielä joskus jotain yhdessä ja ystävystyimme. Vierähtää puoli vuotta…

Ajelemme Sappeelle, jossa tuomaroin Finnish Open laskukisaa, kun Robin soittaa ja kysyy jotain tähän tyyliin: “Sovittiin kesällä et tehdään jotain yhdessä, miltä kuulostaa? Olisko mitenkään mahdollista, että sä haluisit tulla kuvaamaan musa-videoo meidän kanssa? Sen biisin nimi, on Kipinän Hetki, ja sulla leiskuu silmissä sellainen kipinä, et huhhu…” Olin todella otettu, tietysti, sekä ilmoitin Robinille että hänen oma toimintansa on niin mahtavaa, että oksat pois!

Sovimme kuitenkin alustavat kuvauspäivämäärät, jotka pitivät, ja tulos on tässä! BOOMBOMB!!!