07/21/2025
A few people have been asking how Sean is doing, so I decided to resurrect this site for a bit. I debated how fully I wanted to answer these questions. I will try to do so here while trying to stick to facts and avoiding emotion. There is much more to this story than what I will address here.
There are so many of you who prayed for Sean and followed Sean's accident and recovery...which continues to this day. You also followed Sean's relationship with his girlfriend and how that blossomed into a marriage in February 2022. Unfortunately, that marriage legally ended just a few weeks ago on June 25, 2025. Sean's now ex-wife separated from Sean in early January 2024 and announced her intention to divorce him a few months later. As Sean cannot live by himself due to his disabilities, he came to live with us (his parents) on January 3, 2024, in Greeneville, Tennessee (where we retired to three months earlier in late September 2023). Sean is, of course, completely devastated and broken by the divorce. He never saw it coming and he feels completely betrayed and abandoned by the most important person in his life, who he loved deeply. Divorce is not what Sean wanted but he ultimately had no choice in the matter. Given his short-term memory deficits, he asks every day...several times a day...what happened between him and his wife. To him, there were no issues in the marriage, so he just can't understand why he was sent to another state to live with his parents...which also forced him to resign from the job he absolutely loved at Van's. It is heartbreaking to see him go through this on a daily basis.
Sean is doing the best he can. We live out in the country...and while it is beautiful here, it's not the best place for someone with Sean's challenges. It is difficult to find much of the specialized medical support he requires. Working with the state of Tennessee, we found a part-time job for him just a couple of miles from our house...which was really sort of a miracle given our location. Sean can't drive, so the short commute requirement for us was really good. Unfortunately, Sean's disabilities prevented him from performing to the level required by the job and he had to leave that job after five weeks or so. A couple of months later, another job (in a grocery store) presented itself in the town of Greeneville...13 miles away. Sean has been in the job for three months now, and we pray he remains successful. He works there three days a week for four hours a day. He is treated very well there by the other employees, and they watch out for him like a member of their family. They are very protective of him.
Sean has integrated well into our small country church. He is loved by everyone there, and they also watch over him closely. Our entire farming community is friendly and loving. While there really isn't anyone around here Sean's age, he's included in everything possible.
Sean is extremely lonely and sad. He tries not to show it, but we can tell. What 30-year-old wants to live with their retired parents out in the country and where they know no one their age. It is difficult for him to meet new people and have a conversation with them given his significant memory issues. Sean's mom is an angel in the way she tries every day to keep Sean engaged in conversation, games, etc. She has become a major league baseball expert given Sean's love of the game and his beloved Texas Rangers. She also takes time every day to share God's word with Sean. She does all of this in addition to taking care of the house which is now back to three occupants again and all that entails. I think she gets about four hours of sleep a night...if she's lucky.
Sean helps me as much as he can, but much of what I do on our beautiful 16 acres at the base of the Appalachians is too physically challenging and dangerous for him. We tackled a huge project together where we insulated and installed interior wall coverings in our 25' x 40' workshop and installed an HVAC system. Together, we built a really nice 16' workbench for the shop...half for me and half for Sean. Sean was very proud of the work he did on that project. Doing that work gave him a sense of purpose. Sean's become pretty good at helping split firewood using our power log splitters, but I have to watch him like a hawk for safety. I think we have nearly three years of firewood split, stacked and ready to burn.
So, it's one day at a time for Sean...and us. We don't know what the future holds for him, especially when the time comes when his mom and I must depart from this earth. We have a host of lawyers, financial advisors and others helping us to plan for that eventuality. We just pray we have a long time before those plans have to be tested.
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