Family needs help after soldier loses legs and has 17 operations

Anderson soldier loses legs in IED explosion, family asks for support
An Anderson soldier was seriously injured in Afghanistan during an IED explosion this October, and his family has been trying to stay by his side, but it has proven very costly. A fundraiser is now being held to help out.

By Ann Keil
December 1, 2011

Anderson, IN.

A soldier from Anderson, Ind. spoke with Fox59, using Skype, from his hospital bed at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. His mother was by his side.

"I sleep right here,” said Tamra Rigdon, the soldier’s mother. “I can show it to you. I don't know if you can see.”

Tim Senkowski's family received the devastating news on October 13. The soldier lost both of his legs above the knee, the muscle in his right arm and his entire left buttock. His team of doctors will also assess the likelihood of a traumatic brain injury and hearing loss.

"To tell my mom that her son is badly hurt, and to tell his wife, it was one of the worst things I've ever had to do in my life," said Summer Edgell, Senkowski's sister.

If you would like to write him a letter his address is below:

Timothy Senkowski
Walter Reid National Military Medical Center
Room 448, Building 10
8901 Wisconsin Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20889

Senkowski is expected to stay at Walter Reid for at least a year. He has already undergone 17 surgeries.

The family has set up business account, Timothy Frank Senkowski Family Fund, where donations can be made at a PNC Bank location.

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Marine Who Lost Legs in Afghanistan Inspires Many During 5K

Marine Who Lost Legs Inspires Many During 5K
November 25, 2011
BROOMFIELD, Colo. (CBS4) – A Marine severely wounded in Afghanistan on Thanksgiving in 2010 inspired many at a 5K run in Broomfield during this year’s holiday.

Cpl. Gabriel Martinez lost both his legs to a roadside bomb and his recovery has been surprisingly fast. He’s now got two prosthetic legs and has skied, biked and even rock climbed. On Thursday he was out in the Colorado sun running along with both friends and strangers in the Anthem Turkey Day 5k-10k.

“My boys are still in Afghanistan. It was all about getting back in shape and just fighting the fight whether it’s here or in Afghanistan,” he said.

The injured Marine knows the blast could have killed him, but he was fortunate.

“I knew I was hit — I knew I was in the air, ears ringing. All I could see was dust. I just wanted to know if my Marines were okay,” he told CBS4 while making his way through the 5K route.
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Military medical staff "ill prepared" to take care of wounded

The government deciding to send the troops into two wars did not care enough to get ready for what these wars would produce. It is as simple and sickening as that. There were more doctors and nurses working for the VA during the Gulf War. They may use the excuse they thought these wars would be over fast, but history offered a warning they did not take seriously.

Next time a President or Congress decides to send troops into combat, they should have to go too and then maybe, just maybe, they would plan for the wounded ahead of time.

Now the percentage of amputations from Iraq and Afghanistan have passed the rates from Vietnam. Part of that is due to the medical care they receive right after being wounded. The problem is, what comes after their "Alive Day" is something else they have to fight and wait for.

Beyond The Battlefield: Unprepared For Wave Of Severely Wounded, Bureaucracy Still Catching Up

David Wood

"Beyond The Battlefield" is a 10-part series exploring the challenges that severely wounded veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan face after they return home, as well as what those struggles mean for those close to them. Learn how you can help here. Other stories in the series can be found here. Listen to reporter David Wood discuss "Beyond The Battlefield" with NPR's Terry Gross here. Wood and wounded veteran Bobby Henline will hold a live video chat this Friday. See more details and send them questions.

A decade of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq has left thousands of young Americans suffering with severe pain from amputated limbs, burned flesh, lacerations, shrapnel punctures and traumatic brain damage, injuries that kept them in intensive care for months or years.

Yet military doctors and nurses felt they were "ill prepared" to manage their patients' pain, an Army task force reported in May 2010.

The scope and ferocity of the wars caught the medical system serving the U.S. military and its veterans flat-footed. No one was ready for IEDs and the distinctive pattern of terrible wounds they would cause. No one was ready for the war to extend beyond a decade. No one was ready for the massive numbers of wounded, the severity of their wounds or the resulting strain on the broader system.
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Three Iraq veterans share their stories with big smiles

I had the pleasure of meeting some terrific veterans of the Iraq War. Christopher O'Connor, Andrew Berry and Joshua Cope, all suffered wounds from IEDs in Iraq.

Second swing at life

Andrew Berry passes the lessons he’s learned at Fairways for Warriors clinics onto his son, Gionni, 8.

By Megan Stokes
May 4, 2011
“It’s all in the hips, just like in the Adam Sandler movie,” Sgt. Andrew Berry told his son, Gionni, 8, who laughed at the joke before swinging his golf club in their backyard.

Berry spends many afternoons standing behind his two sons, the oldest of four, making sure they are bending their knees and keeping their eyes on the ball.

Even though he starred in all three at Colonial High School, Berry can’t play football, basketball or baseball anymore.

But he can golf.

His sacrifice

The former Army sniper was shot twice and was hit by eight IED explosions during several tours in Iraq.

The explosions caused traumatic brain injury, which has progressed to deafness in his right ear, blindness in his right eye, massive headaches and prescriptions to 15 medications, which Berry avoids taking when possible.

“I’ll be screaming in pain before I take a pain pill,” he said swigging bottled water. His meds give him dry mouth but make soda taste horrible. “I have four boys who I’m a role model for.”

He wears a brace up to his right thigh, a lingering reminder of a leg that was crushed at the ankle after he fell 14 feet, saving himself and another soldier from a burning tank that had rolled over an IED during his last tour in Iraq in 2009—10 days after he reenlisted with a goal to become an Army Ranger. Some days he needs a wheelchair, other days his walking stick – a hand-carved gift from his wife, Rebecca – will suffice.

When he got home to East Orlando, the deaths of so many of his friends overseas stirred so much anger inside him that it boiled over onto his wife and kids.

“I felt useless. I didn’t think I was smart enough to go to school and I didn’t want to do paperwork (in the Army). I was in a bad place,” he said. “But I finally manned up and got help.”
read more here

Joshua Cope

Christopher O'Connor Orlando, FL
Military Branch: Marine Corps
Fellowship Location: Orlando VA Medical Center
Christopher O’Connor grew up bouncing around the boroughs of New York City. His family later moved into the Pocono Mountains. After graduating high school, Christopher had no place to go. Eager to find some stability in his life, and motivated by the events of 9/11, Christopher enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. Within six months of joining, Christopher was deployed to Fallujah, Iraq as a Machine Gun Team Leader.

He provided security for convoys and bases, patrolled the streets daily, raided homes of suspected insurgents and provided aid to locals. The day before his twentieth birthday he was hit by a remote detonated IED while patrolling on foot. The blast vaulted him ten feet in the air and left him unconscious for nearly two minutes. He was medically evacuated out of Iraq to Landstuhl, Germany and eventually Bethesda Naval Hospital in Washington, D.C. The IED explosion left him with a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), other minor physical injuries and has led to the onset of PTSD. Christopher received the Purple Heart because of his injuries and was medically retired from the Marine Corps the following year.

After his discharge from the service, Christopher was left feeling confused, anxious, disappointed and lost. He missed serving his country, being with his unit and the sense of purpose the Marine Corps had provided him. Christopher’s TBI and PTSD have hindered his adjustment to civilian life, presenting legal and financial issues and withdrawal from his family and friends.

Facing homelessness, he committed himself to finding a way to overcome his injuries and continue his service at home. His immediate goals are to finish his Master’s Degree in Social Work, become a licensed clinical social worker and start a career helping veterans who have struggled with TBI and PTSD. The Mission Continues Fellowship exemplified exactly what he wanted to do for his community. He will serve with the Orlando VA Medical Center with post-9/11 veterans.

Mayor Scott Vanderfrift of Ocoee showed up with his usual big smile. Anytime there is an event for the troops or our veterans, he is usually there to show support.

Cathy Haynes a military Mom took some time out of her day after going to another event to also show support. As busy as I am, she is twice as busy and does it with her heart sunk into everything she does.

Section 8 played some great tunes on their guitars.

Reporters from 13 News and FOX came to film this event and I am grateful they did. Too many times our veterans are heartsick over the lack of attention they receive from the media, so thank you very much for showing up to let them know they are really valued. Both reporters showed a great interest in our new veterans as well as the older ones.

Amputations Up Sharply for Troops in Afghan War

Amputations Up Sharply for Troops in Afghan War
September 21, 2011
Associated Press|by Pauline Jelinek
WASHINGTON -- The counterinsurgency tactic that is sending U.S. troops out on foot patrols among the Afghan people, rather than riding in armored vehicles, has contributed to a dramatic increase in arm and leg amputations, genital injuries and the loss of multiple limbs following blast injuries.

These devastating injuries affect unit morale. They also give rise to talk on the battlefield that some troops had made secret pacts not to help each other survive if they were so severely injured, a new report said Tuesday.

The number of U.S. troops who had amputations rose sharply from 86 in 2009, to 187 in 2010 and 147 so far this year, military officials said Tuesday, releasing the report on catastrophic wounds.

Of those, the number of troops who lost two or three limbs rose from 23 in 2009 to 72 last year to 77 so far this year. Only a dozen or so of all amputations came from Iraq and the rest were from Afghanistan, where militants are pressing the insurgency with roadside bombs, handmade land mines and other explosives.
read more here

There are two Iraq veterans with amputations in this video. They are not just numbers, but young men with so much hope for their future it is clear to see. They don't want you to feel sorry for them but they need your help to make sure their future is as bright as possible. When you hear them, notice that no matter what happened to them, they are hopeful.

Paul "Russ" Marek
Branch: Army
Rank: Staff Sergeant
Home: Melbourne, FL

SSG Paul Russell Marek was serving with the 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq when his tank was destroyed by an IED. Three of his crew members perished in the explosion and Russ lost his right leg and right arm, his right ear and left thumb and suffered brain injury and severe burns over 20 percent of his body. That happend on September 16, 2005 as he rode in a tank near Baghdad.

Homes for Our Troops already built a home for Russ. Russ went to visit Winter, the dolphin with the missing tail, and found hope knowing a dolphin without a tail could learn to swim, he could learn to walk missing a leg and adapt with the missing arm.

Luis Puertas
Branch: Army
Rank: Specialist
Home: Orlando, FL

Army SPC Luis Puertas was left a double amputee after an EFP explosion in Baghdad, Iraq, on September 20, 2006. SPC Puertas was the driver of the lead HUMVEE on a daily patrol near Sadr City when an unseen EFP, planted at the base of a light pole launched into the vehicle, amputating both of his legs on impact. Leaving him trapped beneath the 400 pound up-armored door of the HUMVEE. Miraculously, his team was able to extricate him from the wreckage, and prepare him for medevac from the scene.

Homes for Our Troops is almost done building a home for Luis. He's full of hope too. After all, he met his girlfriend Amber after he came home from Iraq and they fell in love.

I met these incredible veterans when the Orlando Nam Knights held an event to raise money to help build the house.

Marine stars in documentary about recovery after losing legs

Marine from Loudoun County stars in documentary about recovery

By Susan Svrluga, Published: August 21

Rob Jones and his friend Ivan Kander grew up in western Loudoun County making movies together. Kander shot comedies, action films, school projects — all kinds of stories — with a clunky old camcorder, always starring Jones.

“I always wanted to be the person telling the story,” Kander said. “Rob always wanted to be the person in the story.”

Jones joined the Marine Corps and became a combat engineer. Last summer, while searching for IEDs in one of the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan, he triggered an explosion that blew off most of his two legs.

Within days, back at the National Naval Medical Center, when Jones was still freaking out on morphine, having more surgeries than he could count, wracked by phantom pain in the limbs that were no longer there and unable to sleep because of nightmares and flashbacks, he and Kander decided to make another movie. Starring Rob Jones, of course.
read more here

Florida Soldier Lost Foot In Afghanistan, But Keeps On Surfing

Fla. Soldier Loses Foot In Afghanistan, But Keeps On Surfing

Local Surfboard Maker Designs Board For Thomas Counihan

LOXAHATCHEE, Fla. -- A soldier from Loxahatchee is home after losing part of his leg in Afghanistan, and thanks to a local man, he can continue his love of surfing.

Thomas Counihan, 21, told WPBF 25 News' Jason Newton on Thursday that thoughts of peaceful moments on the beach back home kept him going during his first tour of duty.

"In the bad times in Afghanistan, I (would) sit there and think back to 'Oh, I'm going to go home and sit on the beach with my girlfriend and my family. I'm going to go out and catch that perfect wave and just have a good day,'" Counihan said.

But in May, his foot was amputated after an improvised explosive device blew up.

So when Tom Salinsky, who works at Turtle Surf Boards, heard about Counihan's story, he built a surfboard for the soldier for free.
read more here

Thieves take prosthetics from Afghan vet’s car

Thieves take prosthetics from Afghan vet’s car
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Aug 12, 2011 18:31:22 EDT
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — A doctor who lost his right hand while deployed with the military in Afghanistan has had a bag containing three prosthetic hands stolen from his car.

“I’ve survived stuff that I shouldn’t have,” Dr. Daniel McConnell told the Johnson City Press. “But it would be nice to catch a break at this point.”

After returning from the war, McConnell completed his medical studies at the Quillen School of Medicine and is now working there as a resident.

A GPS device and the prostheses that had recently been repaired were taken on Saturday, he said.
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Iraq veteran, Niagara Deputy loses both legs in car crash

Deputy loses both legs in crash of cruiser
Fellow officers saved his life

By Nancy A. Fischer
NEWS NIAGARA REPORTER

Updated: July 21, 2011, 6:38 AM

Niagara County Sheriff Deputy Allen Gerhardt, a decorated veteran who flew combat missions in Iraq, lost both of his legs when his cruiser crashed into a guardrail Monday night in Ransomville.

Gerhardt, 36, of Newfane, was listed in stable condition Wednesday after undergoing 5 1/2 hours of surgery Tuesday night.

The deputy’s family members say the quick action of officers who first arrived at the scene saved his life. As it turned out, both officers were members of the department’s emergency response team and both knew how to tie a tourniquet.

“I owe my husband’s life to them,” said Gerhardt’s wife, Tina. “They are 100 percent my heroes.”

“I can’t express our gratitude,” added his father, Steven A. “You can imagine how much blood you can lose with both your legs ripped off. If they hadn’t had tourniqueted him, I would have been making funeral arrangements right now.”
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Deputy loses both legs in crash of cruiser

Army Ranger Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Kapacziewski on duty after amputation

Amputee NCO honored for selfless service
Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Kapacziewski returned to Afghanistan 4 times with his Ranger unit after rehab with prosthetic
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jun 5, 2011 9:09:02 EDT

ARMY Then-Staff Sgt. Joseph Kapacziewski is shown gearing up as a Ranger squad leader for a mission in Afghanistan. Kapacziewski, who lost his right leg after an October 2005 blast in northern Iraq, has deployed four times to Afghanistan as a below-the-knee amputee.

When Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Kapacziewski decided to have his right leg amputated, he had one goal in mind: to return to the line and serve alongside his fellow Rangers.

It took months of hard work and painful rehabilitation, but Kapacziewski achieved his goal and has deployed four times to Afghanistan as a below-the-knee amputee.

He was presented with the No Greater Sacrifice Freedom Award on May 24 in Washington, D.C.

Honored alongside Army Chief of Staff nominee Gen. Ray Odierno, the commander of Joint Forces Command and former commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, Kapacziewski is the first noncommissioned officer to receive the award, which recognizes individuals who epitomize selfless service to the nation.

“It’s a little embarrassing,” Kapacziewski said about being singled out for the honor. “Everyone here in the regiment is a team player, so being recognized as an individual is a little awkward.”
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Amputee NCO honored for selfless service

Afghanistan War IEDs Cause Surge In Double Amputees

Afghanistan War IEDs Cause Surge In Double Amputees Among U.S. War Wounded

David Wood
woodwriter@hotmail.com


American soldiers and Marines walking combat patrols in Afghanistan have suffered a surge of gruesome injuries, losing one or both legs and often their genitals to crude homemade bombs Taliban insurgents bury in dirt roads and pathways.

In some cases, American military surgeons tell The Huffington Post, these traumatic amputations occur so close to soldiers' hips that it is difficult to fit prosthetic legs, severely limiting the patients' future mobility and rehabilitation. In addition, the loss of sexual function for formerly healthy young men in their early 20s causes severe anxiety and depression and can wreck new marriages.

The latest wave of severe injuries comes after Gen. David Petraeus ordered U.S. troops in Afghanistan last year to get out of their protective armored vehicles and start walking. "Patrol on foot whenever possible and engage the population," he directed in guidance to his troops last August.

The order was hailed as an essential counterinsurgency tactic used to get closer to the people, pick up intelligence more effectively and demonstrate American resolve to protect local villagers from Taliban insurgents.

But the enemy -- as Petraeus himself is fond of saying -- gets a vote, and the insurgents have attacked the dismounted patrols with a vengeance, planting lethal bombs inches beneath the dusty soil where a footstep can detonate them in blinding flashes.
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Afghanistan War IEDs Cause Surge In Double Amputees

What does a famous drummer have in common with war heroes?

There are days when I think the only issue to cover is what's wrong. One bad story after another and too many nights I go to bed wondering if there is still hope out there. Sure, we read about one good story but that one is usually followed by nine bad ones.

Well, here's a good story about hope and it is being offered by a drummer to the wounded coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. Right now they have no clue what their tomorrows will look like and some of them wonder if they even want to face them at all. Each day is another alive day but each day comes with another set of challenges for them. So out comes a rocker/one arm drummer telling them point blank their futures are not carved in stone and are not limited to what other people take for granted everyday but they no longer have. It is about what they still have inside of them. Really a great story!

Wounded Soldiers Learn to Rock On
What does a famous drummer have in common with war heroes? More than you might think.

By Rick Allen, Los Angeles, California


In this article:
Celebrities Change Change Your Life Faith Hope Inspirational Stories Inspirational Story Inspiring Story Military Stories Real Life Stories Soldiers Stories Of Hope Success True Inspirational Stories Veterans


I walked into the hospital with one thought continually racing through my mind: What would I say to them?

I’d gotten a call just a few weeks before from a representative for the USO (United Service Organizations). “We’ve heard about your inspiring story,” the man said. “We’d like you to come to Walter Reed Hospital and visit with some of the soldiers who’ve been injured in combat. Maybe you could help them get through it.”

My “inspiring story” hadn’t felt so inspiring back in 1984 when I’d made headlines: DEF LEPPARD DRUMMER LOSES ARM IN AUTOMOBILE CRASH.

I hadn’t lost my arm in any act of bravery. I’d been driving too fast on a winding road, thinking—like most 21-year-olds—that I was invincible. I’d eventually learned to drum again with only one arm, and our band had gone on to even greater success than before the accident.

And while a lot of fans and critics had thought my continuing to “rock on” in spite of missing an arm had been cool, I’d never met a war hero before. They were so out of my league—they’d risked their lives for their country. Maybe these guys who’d been injured in combat would resent my coming in and telling them everything would be OK. After all, who did I think I was?
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Wounded Soldiers Learn to Rock On

After severe war injuries, a new battlefield

U.S. Marine Juan Dominguez, 27, takes his first step on his new "stubbies" with the help of prosthetics specialists Kevin Kohler, left, and Peter Harsch at Naval Medical Center San Diego.
(Don Bartletti/Los Angeles Times / May 7, 2011)

After severe war injuries, a new battlefield
Troops with severe war injuries such as multiple amputations face a long and difficult rehabilitation. Naval Medical Center San Diego is where some learn a new way of life.
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times
May 7, 2011

Reporting from San Diego—
Marine Lance Cpl. Juan Dominguez has come a long way since October, when a roadside bomb in Afghanistan ripped off his legs above the knees and shredded his right arm above the elbow.

A Navy corpsman, part of the same patrol, kept Dominguez from bleeding to death and wisely refused his pleas for morphine, lest he go into shock. Then there was the Navy doctor at nearby Forward Operating Camp Dwyer who "wouldn't let me die" and the intensive care he received at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

After that, Dominguez spent five months at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where he underwent 23 surgeries. Today, the 26-year-old from Deming, N.M., is an outpatient at Naval Medical Center San Diego.

"This is home now," he said of the hospital on a hill beside Balboa Park.

Dominguez is among a growing number of Marines and soldiers who have suffered catastrophic wounds that will require years of care in military hospitals. The Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs are scrambling to put together a continuum of long-term care for Dominguez and other severely wounded personnel.
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After severe war injuries, a new battlefield

If there is one thing our disabled veterans have to teach us, not giving up should be at the top of the list.

After the Vietnam War many amputees returned home. Suffering the loss of limbs, there was a time when each of them had to wonder what their future would look like. Then came a time when they decided they were in charge of what their future would be.

In the Orlando Chapter of the Disabled American Veterans there are two living examples of not giving up. As a matter of fact, they went on to become outstanding.

Meet a Hero!

Jim Sursely
Jim recalls fire and noise erupting at his feet. But he doesn’t remember being thrown into the air by the explosion of a Viet Cong land mine. In fact, he didn’t learn the full extent of his sacrifice for America until he landed in an Army hospital in Colorado.

The explosion tore away both of Jim Sursely’s legs and his left arm. It could have been worse. If Jim’s clothing had not caught fire, cauterizing his gaping wounds, the young Army Staff Sergeant might have died. That’s why he says, “It’s an absolute miracle that I’m still around.”

Jim survived some of the most severe battle wounds ever, and the demons of fear, depression and despair came knocking on his door early on. But he remembers the tough love he got from other disabled veterans. As he built a successful real estate career, he always made time to give other disabled veterans the same kind of help that once meant so much to him.

That involvement led to Jim’s election to a one-year term as National Commander of the Disabled American Veterans. He continues to play an active role in the DAV nationally, in the state of Florida, and in his local DAV Chapter.

Jim with Dennis Joyner

Dennis Joyner
Dennis A. Joyner, Director and Secretary

Mr. Joyner served in the U.S. Army, 9th Infantry Division, in Vietnam. While on patrol in June 1969 in Vietnam's Mekong Delta, he became a triple amputee due to a land mine explosion. For the injuries sustained in battle, he received the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

Mr. Joyner served as National Commander of the 1.3 million-member-plus Disabled American Veterans (DAV) from 1983-84. During his term as National Commander, President Reagan named him the nation's Handicapped American of the Year, and he was honored as DAV's National Outstanding Disabled Veteran of the Year in 1977.

Mr. Joyner’s DAV leadership includes all elected offices in DAV Chapter 36 in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania; service as an officer in the DAV’s Department of Pennsylvania; and two years as DAV Department of California Adjutant. He served as President of the DAV Vietnam Veterans National Memorial Corporation from 1986 to 1998, when the corporation made a gift of the Memorial to the David Westphall Veterans Foundation. Currently he serves as Secretary-Treasurer of the DAV National Service Foundation Board of Directors, and in various leadership positions at the Department and Chapter level in Florida, where he now lives.

Mr. Joyner earned a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting at Robert Morris College in Pittsburgh in 1975 and an Associate of Arts Degree from the Community College of Allegheny in 1974. His professional experi¬ence includes four years as Westmoreland County Juvenile Service Center Accountant and as Fiscal Manager for the Westmoreland County Courts, Greensburg, Pennsylvania. He was appointed Westmoreland County Court Administrator in 1979, responsible for administration of the eight-judge court system and all court-related offices. While living in Pennsylvania, he was appointed by then-Governor Richard L. Thornburgh to serve on that state's Vietnam Herbicide Commission. He was a budget analyst and manager for the Seminole County, Florida Office of Management and Budget from 1989 to 1998 when he was appointed Assistant Supervisor of Elections. Governor Jeb Bush appointed Mr. Joyner Supervisor of Elections for Seminole County, in January 2004. He retired in January 2005.

Mr. Joyner was appointed to the Disabled Veterans LIFE Memorial Foundation Board of Directors in June of 2008.

Jim Sursley with Gary Sinise

When the newly wounded come home, they have a lot of changes and challenges in their lives. Some of them are lucky to have a spouse like Jean Sursely and Donna Joyner supporting them but some have no one. We need to face the fact that not all families are strong or have an unbreakable bond. For them, it takes the rest of us getting involved in their tomorrows.

Photographer embedded with US soldiers severely wounded by bomb

Blast photographer wounds 'severe'
(UKPA) – 5 hours ago
The family of a London photographer blown up by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan have said in a statement that his injuries are "severe and complex".
Giles Duley, 39, underwent multiple amputations after the blast in Kandahar on Monday last week, before being flown back to the UK.
He had been embedded with US troops when he was critically injured by an improvised explosive device.
He was brought back to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham for further surgery, and was said to be in a stable condition on Saturday.
read more here

Blast photographer wounds severe

Marine Mom Forced To Choose Between Injured Son, Job

The law allows family members of injured service members up to 26 weeks unpaid leave to care for their loved one.

This is something every injured serviceman or woman's family needs to know. They do have rights under the law to protect their jobs. This is also something every parent should pay attention to. Think of how much you help your own adult kids. Getting them through college, supporting them when they don't make enough money on their jobs or when they lose the jobs. Helping them make car payments and insurance premiums. What average people are willing to do for their 20 something offspring's is astonishing but then add in when they are in the military and ended up wounded serving this country.

IED blasts have blown off limbs, bullets hit brains and other body parts and fires have burnt off skin. Add in the fear these parents have to go through when their kids are deployed and then the fear of the unknown when they are able to survive but then having to worry about keeping their jobs and paying their bills. It is a story that is repeated over and over again across the country.

Marine Mom Forced To Choose Between Injured Son, Job
By Nicole Ferguson

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. – A Hopkinsville Marine mom said she was given an ultimatum in June. She could leave her injured son's bedside or lose her job.

"Before this happened I'd only missed a one day in over a year's time, and that was the day they put my mother on life support," said Susan Powell, a CNA at Western State Hospital. "I'd work overtime, never called in, so I just never thought they'd tell me my job was at risk."

On May 24, her 21-year-old son, Lance Corporal Franklin Powell, stepped on an IED in Afghanistan. Doctors determined much of the young Marine's leg would need to be amputated.

Powell said Western State Hospital had no problems letting her go to her son's bedside at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda Maryland on May 30.

The problems began a week into her second trip beginning June 16.

"They told me if I couldn't come back by Friday to work, my job would be terminated," said Powell of the phone call she received from Crown Services, a corporate office of Western State Hospital. "Once my situation allowed, I could come back and reapply."
read more here

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=12788050

Four limbs gone, Iraq vet reclaims his life

Spirit intact, injured Iraq vet reclaims his life
'I never catch him feeling sorry for himself. I've never heard him say, 'I wish this had never happened.' '

Then, on Easter Sunday 2009, a roadside bomb exploded under his vehicle, and he became the first veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to lose all four limbs in combat and survive.

by Lizette Alvarez
New York Times

WASHINGTON — Brendan Marrocco and his brother, Michael, were constructing a summer bucket list, to get them out and about, trying new things. A Washington Nationals game versus their beloved Yankees — sure, since they were stuck here rather than home on Staten Island. Perhaps a ride on the Metro, with its reliable elevators. Pizza: definitely.

How about going to an amusement park? Michael suggested optimistically.

“Would that really be safe?” asked Brendan, a smirk crossing his lips.
read more here
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38083693/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times/
linked from ICasualties.org

'Surfing makes me feel like I'm flying'

'Surfing makes me feel like I'm flying'
Gulf War veteran Dana Cummings lost a leg in a car crash. He turned to surfing as physical therapy, loving the sense of freedom it gave him. Now he's helping others through the Association of Amputee Surfers, or AmpSurf. FULL STORY

A Soldier's Story: Cpl. Nick Edinger

A Soldier's Story

Nothing's going to slow Cpl. Nick Edinger down, not even losing his foot in Afghanistan

By Paul Fattig
Mail Tribune
When Army Cpl. Nickolas "Nick" Edinger looks down at where his left foot used to be, the 2005 Crater High School graduate doesn't give it much thought.

"I am not going to let this slow me down at all," stresses Edinger, 22, of Central Point, in a telephone interview from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

"If I let the fact a bomb took away my foot beat me in any way, shape or form, then that is letting the guy who put that bomb there beat me," he adds. "And I'm not going to let that happen. Never. I've got a life to live."

Yet the son of Scott and Liz Edinger of Central Point realizes he is exceedingly lucky. He knows full well the powerful improvised explosive device he stepped on early in the afternoon of March 30 in a remote village in southern Afghanistan easily could have taken the life he intends to live.

"Hey, I'm real fortunate," he says. "There are people here missing a piece of every limb. There is a kid who has half of both thighs, missing one arm at the elbow and the other at the wrist. He is figuring out how to make it.

"You got someone like that, well, who am I to say my problems are big?"

Edinger joined the Army two years ago next month to earn GI Bill benefits for college. He planned to pursue a medical career after completing his hitch. Before donning a military uniform, he worked for two years at Rogue Valley Medical Center, helping move patients in the emergency room as well as the critical care unit, an experience that would help him keep his cool March 30.

A member of Bravo Company of the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, N.C., the corporal was deployed to Afghanistan last September as part of an effort to take the fight to the Taliban strongholds in remote areas of that country.
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A Soldiers Story

As amputee ranks grow, wounded warriors bond

As amputee ranks grow, wounded warriors bond
STILL FIGHTING: Afghanistan, Iraq war vets face new enemy -- broken bodies
THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 2010


WASHINGTON POST

Aug. 11, 2009, Afghanistan:
After the blast, something didn't feel right, so 1st Lt. Joe Guyton looked down. Through the swirling dust, he glimpsed the white of his left shinbone. His right leg was gone, instantly vaporized, his uniform abruptly ending at the knee.

The pain would hit at any moment. He knew that. But for now, just after a bomb rocked his convoy while on patrol in Kandahar province, he was so amped up on adrenaline that he felt nothing more than an odd discomfort.

Don't look down, he told himself. Don't think about it.

Guyton, a recently married 28-year-old with soft blue eyes and red hair, had to hurry before he would be overwhelmed with agony. He shouted to his fellow soldiers to keep moving through the danger zone, to keep an eye out for the enemy, to report their wounds — as he finally did himself. Soon, two soldiers were wrapping his legs in tourniquets.

He woke up in a military hospital in Germany.

Guyton, from Burke, Va., became one of nearly 1,000 service members who have suffered amputations in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — wars that, thanks to advances in battlefield medicine, are measured as much by wheelchairs and prosthetics as tombstones.

In the years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, 967 American service members have lost at least one limb, as of March 1. Of them, 229 have lost more than one. The number of amputees mounted steadily as the U.S. military stormed into Afghanistan in late 2001, then focused on Iraq — with an invasion in 2003 and a "surge" in 2007. More recently, the number has edged up again as the Obama administration has pumped more troops into Afghanistan.
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As amputee ranks grow wounded warriors bond

Staff Sgt. Josh Olson: A soldier's new reality

Staff Sgt. Josh Olson is an incredible young man but that is nothing new when you know the men and women serving in the military and the veterans of war. Staff Sgt. Olson lost his leg in Iraq but after that, he still wanted to serve. He wanted to help others.

He is teaching other soldiers how to shoot at Fort Benning but that was still not enough for him. Now he wants to help the people of Haiti recover from losing their limbs.

When I first heard about the Haiti earthquake I remembered what I was going through at an American hospital and I can only imagine what it's like in a country like Haiti. I'm a soldier; I was in a war zone. I knew I could get hurt. But they didn't see it coming.

Staff Sgt. John Olson was on patrol in Iraq with his Army unit on Oct. 27, 2003 when he was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade that tore off his right leg.

Josh Olson: A soldier's new reality
News Type: Event — Wed Mar 24, 2010 5:35 PM EDT
By Linda Dahlstrom

About the project
When the ground shook in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Jan. 12, the magnitude-7 earthquake left behind an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 instant amputees in a land where there's little mercy for disability.

This project follows one prosthetic team's efforts to help those victims, and also explores a grim truth: In the United States and around the world, the number of amputees is rising dramatically, driven by war, disease and natural disaster.

Through stories of U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and Haiti earthquake victims, msnbc.com explores the experiences of those who've lost limbs and the struggle they say is not just to survive, but to build a life worth living.

Josh Olson became one of the first soldiers to lose his leg at the hip level in the Iraq war when he was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade while on patrol in 2003. He was a 23-year-old Army staff sergeant when he had to grapple with the situation so many Haitians are suddenly facing.

His story, told in his own words, continues msnbc.com's special series of essays from amputee veterans recounting what it means to rebuild your life after losing a limb.

By Josh Olson, with Linda Dahlstrom

I always thought being a soldier was a best job in the world – I still do.

Ever since I was a young kid I wanted to enlist. It's kind of what the men in my family do. My grandpa, father and uncle were all in the military. When I turned 17 I enlisted in the Army; I was 18 when I shipped out.

A few years later my unit was one of the earliest to get to Iraq. We arrived in February 2003, a few months before the U.S. invasion. When we first go there it was pretty chaotic. All the Iraqi military and police were gone and there was a lot of looting in the streets. I wouldn't really say it was anarchy but pretty close to it. Our job was to reclaim government buildings and vehicles.

The night of Oct. 27, 2003, we were patrolling town when a rocket hit the back of the vehicle. A second rocket, the one that hit me, came about 90 seconds later. At first I thought I'd just gotten shot and I tried to walk it off. I did a quick physical inventory like they teach us: I checked my arms and hands and they were OK, but when I reached down to my right leg, I realized I had a problem.

I knew I was injured but didn't realize my leg was gone, blown off at the hip. I tried to crawl back to the vehicle and then my driver saw me.

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A soldiers new reality