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He’s still taking anti-seizure medication, and he can’t type or walk steadily yet. Still, this is a vast and rapid improvement. Last week he couldn’t sit up without help. The week before that he couldn’t lift an arm or speak.

Photo by Hollie Adams/Newspix/Getty Images

Bringing him here and watching this without knowing what’s going to happen has been the scariest experience I’ve ever had.

All that being said, the JBP you guys know will be back and we did get through this by the skin of our teeth.

He’s alive because I know how to research, because my husband negotiates extremely well and speaks Russian, because my family was willing to trust us and take a huge and terrifying risk, because we’ve had extensive help from family, friends and supporters from all over the world who helped get him here, because we have access to money, and because we found a number of extremely gutsy and competent Russian nurses and doctors that were willing to take a risk.

It took a village and a lot of luck. His recovery has been unbelievable. He’s improving dramatically daily.

So let me make a couple of things clear:

1. This was not a case of psychological addiction. Benzodiazepine physical dependence due to the brain changes that can occur in a matter of weeks can destroy lives. It can be made even worse by paradoxical reactions that are difficult to diagnose. The medication almost killed my dad. He’s a psychologist and even he wasn’t aware of how bad these medications are for some people. Physical dependence can occur in a matter of a few weeks of daily use to biologically susceptible individuals.

2. Dad will recover fully but it will take time and he still has a ways to go.

3. We are extremely lucky and grateful that he’s alive.

The next update will come from him directly.

Thanks again for all the support –

Mikhaila Peterson