KXLY News 4 Story on Zerin . . .

Aug 29, 2009 7:04 PM PDT

SPIRIT LAKE, Idaho -- A terrible accident has cut short a church mission for a Spirit Lake man. 20-year-old Zerin Petersen was paralyzed in a slip-and-slide accident and now his family is reaching out for help to welcome him home.

At Petersen's home in Spirit Lake, all the drywall, nails, and door jams must go. It's exhausting work, but the family's garage needs to be transformed into a special bedroom for Zerin.
Zerin's father Chris Petersen has been tirelessly working on the house to ready it for his son's return.

"We're going to create a bathroom where he can take a shower in a wheelchair," said Chris.
Zerin broke his neck while playing on a slip-and-slide two months ago. He was four months into his two year mission.

"He went down and somehow tried to flip or something," Chris said. "He caught his head, snapped his neck, so basically right now he doesn't have use of his lower body."

Despite the devastating diagnosis, Chris says his son is still smiling.
"Between his faith and his ability to overcome challenges, I think that's made him very positive that he's going to overcome this challenge," Chris said.

It's these qualities that Chris says Zerin learned as a boy scout.

"When his boat broke down, when he taught sailing camp, he would skip his lunch break to work on the boat," recalled Chris. "He's always overcome the adversary and kept moving forward."

Zerin is expected to be home on October 1st and his bedroom is yet to be finished. The entire remodel, including new drywall to get his room ready, will cost thousands of dollars.
It's money the Petersen's don't have and neighbors say the family is too proud to ask for donations. So these same neighbors decided it was time to take action. Nancy Brown e-mailed KXLY to help spread the word.

"I just had to do something," said Brown. "This family needs help, they are the best people you'd ever want to meet and so many people love them."

You can also go to http://www.kxly.com/Global/category.asp?C=119302&nav=menu683_3_14 to see the news story video.

Progress!

Today we were updated with the news that Zerin now has feeling in the bottom of his feet, and can move both thumbs! This is tremendous news. Zerin is such a positive person, full of life, and a hard worker.

We know he can and will make more progress. It may be slow, but he'll get there.

Not long after he had his accident, a gentleman took the time to drive up to the Boy Scout camp where Zerin's father, Chris, was working. He spoke with Chris, wanting to let him know that he had suffered the same type of injury as his son. The doctors told him he would be paralyzed, and never walk again.

He said it took over a year to start to get some movement back; now, not only can he walk, but he can run! The message that he gave us was to never give up, that Zerin can be healed.

We have the same faith and home, here in Zerin's home ward, and also within our home. My nine-year-old son, at each and every prayer he gives, mealtime or evening prayers, he always includes Zerin and says, "please bless that Zerin will recover soon and be able to get back on his mission".

Oh, the faith of a child is so pure. . . I pray that his prayers will be answered, that the faith of my child will fulfilled.

Loralee