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.

Craig Hospital

Earlier this week, our prayers were answered and Zerin was accepted into the Craig Hospital program. He is working hard, has a great attitude, and is a model patient.

He has regained some sensation in the Achilles tendon of one foot. Today he will be on the power bicycle, to move his muscles and keep them limber. He also has sensation in his hands and movement in an elbow and shoulder.

This week he was wanting to feed himself, and has enough movement in one arm to do so, but not enough feeling in his hands. His dad reminded him of that, and he said "just duct-tape a fork to my hand!"

He also really enjoyed talking on the phone to his younger brother, Javen.

If anyone would like to contact Zerin directly, his address is:

Craig Hospital
3425 S Clarkston St Room 305
Englewood Colorado 80113

Thank you so much for your concern and prayers.