JOHN STILL HAS HIS DREAMS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 11, 1993                   TAG: 9301110008
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: JOHN MacDONALD ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BISMARCK, N.D.                                LENGTH: Medium
JOHN STILL HAS HIS DREAMS
In his dreams, John Thompson's arms still work, and he enjoys simple things like opening doors for himself and writing letters.
And sometimes, he wakes up from his dreams and - for a moment at least - forgets that he has only limited use of his reattached arms.
"I've gotten up some mornings and gone to grab for something and say, `Oh, wait. I can't do that anymore,' " Thompson says with a slight laugh. "It's kind of strange still."
A year ago today, Thompson, then 18, lost both arms below the shoulder when they got snarled in a piece of farm equipment.
Alone on his family's farm near Hurdsfield, in central North Dakota, he staggered 400 feet to his house, used his mouth to open doors and punched out a telephone call for help with a pencil clenched in his teeth.
Later that day, doctors reattached both arms during an eight-hour operation.
Since then, he has had several operations and hundreds of hours of physical therapy and has regained mobility in his elbows and wrists and has some movement and feeling in his fingers.
Thompson also has started college and is trying to become just another student. He no longer wears splints on his arms and can do most daily tasks using specially adapted equipment.
Doctors have been amazed at his recovery, but Thompson says it hasn't been easy.
"I have these dreams a lot where I'm scratching my ear or I'm opening my car door by myself," he said from his dorm room at the University of Mary in Bismarck, where he is a freshman. "Just simple little things like that that I had forgotten about. I like those dreams."
Dr. Allen Van Beek, the Minneapolis plastic surgeon who reattached Thompson's arms, hopes the dreams will come true.
Thompson's mother, Karen, still has a hard time dealing with what the accident has done to her son.
"My dreams are more nightmares than anything," she said. "I still can't help but think I'm going to wake up one day and this all is going to be just a bad dream. "
Despite his progress and his optimism, Thompson said her son still has problems.
"I think he is still struggling with the whole aspect, the whole realization that he did lose use of his arms. There's still a lot of uncertainty about what the future holds," she said.
His doctor agreed.
"John is going through some emotional times right now," Van Beek said. "He is a young man going through school, and he's discovering all the things he can't do."
Thompson said he thinks often about where he might be now, or what he would be doing if the accident had never happened.
"I guess some good things have come out of this," said Thompson, who once planned to become a flight attendant. Now, he's working to fulfill a lifelong dream of being a singer.
He studies voice at the university on a scholarship he received after the accident, and a Minneapolis recording studio has offered to cut a demonstration record for him.
Following the accident, well-wishers from around the world donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to help pay his expenses.
His mother said the donations still are coming in. More importantly, she said, so are letters of support. "There are so many people that have continued writing," she said. "I know there is just no way we could have gotten through this without them."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB