Stroke of luck: 90 year old "miracle man" sees again

Stroke of luck: 90 year old sees again

By Valerie Hurst, KATU News and KATU.com Staff
Video
TUALATIN, Ore. -- Martin Alvey is not the only one calling it a miracle. His family, his neighbors also do.

They know that Alvey could only see people and things clearly if they were about a foot away. Today, it is a whole new world for him.

Marty, as he likes to be called, refers to himself as a young and tender 90-year-old. He suffers from macular degeneration, which means his eyesight should continue to get worse. He became legally blind a couple years ago.
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http://www.katu.com/news/local/52798457.html
linked from CNN

Blind veteran, single parent, needs help getting son to school

Is it understandable that budget cuts hurt all kinds of people? Sure. The problem is, what is being done to help this veteran take care of his son? Dana Miller was blinded in an explosion when he was 19. He got married, had a child and then his wife ended up in jail, presumably after a divorce. He did the stand up thing and went to take care of his son but now he can't take care of him without help. Budget cuts ended up costing his son safe transportation to school. If the school cared enough about the students in need of safe transportation then why don't they come up with a plan to do it? Did they ever consider arranging car pools? Did they ever think of putting out the word to other parents about who needs help? There is a lot they can do if they want to without costing them anything more than their time to get it done.

Blind veteran denied busing for son in Lakewood Park
By Alexi Howk (Contact)
Originally published 05:15 p.m., December 12, 2008
Updated 05:15 p.m., December 12, 2008
FORT PIERCE — Dana Millar’s 6-year-old son, William, on occasion takes a taxi cab to and from Lakewood Park Elementary School.

Figuring out how to get his son to and from school each day is a constant struggle for the single father because he’s blind and can’t drive. As a courtesy, the school district last year provided bus transportation for William, but cut the service this year because of state budget cuts.

Because William lives within two miles of his school, by law, the school district doesn’t have to provide transportation.

“They’re putting my son’s safety behind their budget cuts,” Millar said. “I don’t think it’s asking too much. There are no sidewalks, and there is a lot of traffic.”

About 600 students countywide, all within a two-mile radius of their area schools, were affected by the elimination of courtesy pickups, said Don Carter, director of transportation for the St. Lucie County School District.

“The elimination of courtesy stops was probably the most painful from the perspective of the community, because it impacted a lot of families” Carter said.

Meanwhile, Millar, 48, said he feels helpless. He said he’s tried to get help from local school officials, but they’re unwilling to listen or return his calls. He also said he’s offered to pay the cost for picking up his son.

Millar, who lives in a small duplex in Lakewood Park, is a U.S. Army veteran. He lost his eyes during a military explosion when he was 19 years old, he said. Doctors had to replace his eyes with acrylic eyes. Millar, who walks with a cane, said he tried walking his son to school one time, but since he can’t see, he got lost. And it’s just too dangerous, he said.

So he scrambles each day to find friends or acquaintances to pick up his son, even paying some of them. “That’s how desperate I am,” he said. “It’s never the same person who picks him up.” click link above for more

Iraq veteran struggles with return to normalcy

Seth Hoover/The Daily ItemJohn Fromille, 23, of Middleburg, served two tours with the Army in Iraq, and was injured twice. He is deaf in one ear, partially blind in one eye and has a traumatic brain injury. His other injuries go deeper: He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. He is shown at home with wife, Amanda, and daughters Lyn, 4, and Kiersten, 2.
Seth Hoover/The Daily Item /

Iraq veteran struggles with return to normalcy


By Gina Morton
The Daily Item


MIDDLEBURG -- Two combat tours in Iraq have left John Fromille partially blind in his left eye and deaf in his left ear. He has been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. He is the recipient of two Purple Hearts. He missed the birth of both of his daughters and was separated from his wife for 18 months.


Fromille is only one of the 75,033 service men and women diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and one of the one-third total who has returned and been diagnosed with TBI.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, 837,458 service men and women have left active duty and are eligible for health care since the fiscal year of 2002. Of that number, only 324,846 have sought help from a Veterans Affairs clinic.

Fromille is only 23 years old, and he does not regret a thing.

In fact, he said he would go back to Iraq in a heartbeat if he could.

Now, he finds himself trapped in a world where he can't relate to those around him, is unable to find a full-time job and suffers from the aftermath of war that seems to engulf his life.
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http://www.dailyitem.com/0100_news/local_story_187234640.html

Spc. James Fair wounded in Iraq, protected at home by donation

Here's a story we don't come across too often but it raises and important issue the wounded do need to think about. Aside from a great human interest story of Tyco making this donation thru Homes For Our Troops, the wounded face additional dangers just living at home. It would be great if we were all aware of this.

Rapid Response Home Fire Sprinkler System Protects Iraq War Veteran
July 2, 2008

In an effort to raise awareness about the importance of installing home fire sprinkler systems and to honor America’s service men and women, Tyco Fire & Building Products donated a Rapid Response Home Fire Sprinkler System to a house built in Ross Township, Pa., for veteran Spc. James Fair by Homes for Our Troops.

Homes for Our Troops provides new or renovated homes that are specially adapted for severely wounded military service members at no cost to veterans and their immediate families.

James Fair suffered life-altering injuries in Fallujah, Iraq, in November 2003 while stringing barbed wire around an ammunition supply point. He stepped onto a makeshift enemy bomb, causing an immediate explosion. He lost his hands and sight in both eyes. Shrapnel also severely injured his right leg and caused a traumatic brain injury.

“For soldiers like James Fair, who have been injured so severely, the challenges are great -- especially in regard to house fires where residents have just minutes to safely escape their homes,” said Darren Palmieri, product manager at TFBP. “James deserves to live in a home that is designed to meet his needs and keep his family safe should a fire occur. We are proud that Rapid Response can now protect a courageous young soldier who has selflessly protected our country.”
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http://www.secprodonline.com/articles/64877/

For many war veterans, blindness becomes a bitter legacy

Sgt. David Kinney uses a device to read recently at home near DeLand. He may have lost sight in a delayed reaction to blasts in Afghanistan. (Julie Fletcher, Orlando
Sentinel / April 18, 2008)

For many war veterans, blindness becomes a bitter legacy

Darryl E. Owens Sentinel Staff Writer
May 4, 2008
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Sgt. David Kinney realized he had a problem when he struggled to read the e-mails his wife sent him in Afghanistan.

He suffered headaches and his vision grew steadily worse. Before long, the military shipped him home to DeLand. Now he's considered legally blind.

"I didn't get blown up or knocked out, or have a big piece of my head missing like some of these guys," said Kinney, who served in Orlando's 2nd Battalion, 124th Infantry Regiment of the Florida National Guard. "You didn't see it coming."

Kinney, 46, is among an increasing number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans losing their eyesight not because of bullet or bomb wounds but in what doctors suspect is a delayed reaction to the constant pounding of nearby explosives.

His eyes aren't the problem. His brain is.

Studies conducted by the military have estimated that up to 20 percent of the 1.7 million troops who have served and returned from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from mild traumatic brain injury, most often as a result of roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.Bill Wilson, a blindness-rehabilitation specialist at the Orlando VA Medical Center, sees a coming wave of woe."We won't know for months," he said.

"We can see the individuals and they may be perfectly fine, and then down the line they have problems."
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Bay Area Iraq War Vets Face Possible Blindness

Bay Area Iraq War Vets Face Possible Blindness

KNTV-TV
updated 9:16 a.m. ET, Thurs., March. 27, 2008
Soldiers coming back from the war in Iraq are being treated for many combat-related injuries. But doctors at the VA Hospital in Palo Alto found something they haven't seen before. NBC11's Damian Trujillo investigates why soldiers, with no obvious signs of trauma, are at risk of going blind. It's hard for Army Specialist Jason Kvasnak to remember every single explosion he survived in Iraq.

"We were in several IED (improvised explosive device) blasts throughout the tour," Kvasnak said.

But Kvasnak remember the one that left him with the injuries no one saw coming.


"It was just massive concussive force and it thrust you forward, or whatever. I just felt really dazed afterwards and ringing in the ears and I couldn't really see straight," Kvasnak said.

Kvasnak hasn't been able to see straight since that blast. He sees double, has sensitivity to light and the headaches he gets from trying to read or watch TV are so bad that he sometimes passes out.

Doctors at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Palo Alto are seeing more and more troops returning from Iraq with vision problems from exposure to roadside bombs.

"In this war, blast injuries have become the signature injuries. These can cause damage to the eye. They can also cause damage to the visual system and the visual processing centers in the brain," VA research psychologist Gregory Goodrich said.

Many soldiers don't even realize something's wrong with them. They're returning home with only half their visual field, not knowing that they're missing their entire left field of perception.

Without treatment, blast injuries like Kvasnak's can lead to long-term problems, even blindness

"The things that we're finding are damage to the soft tissue in the eye that can lead to glaucoma at any time in their life. There is a life-long risk, and bear in mind that these people are very young. In general, the median age so far is 28 years old some are as young as 19 when they are injured so that is a long lifetime," VA ophthalmologist Glenn Cockerham said.

The traumatic injury leads to a lifetime of treatment that starts with intense rehabilitation.

A driving simulator like the one at the VA in Palo Alto is an important tool in getting injured soldiers back on the road to recovery.

Soldiers are required to wear protective eye gear but since the vision loss is a result of a closed head injury, goggles and glasses aren't enough to protect the eyes from IED blasts.

Doctors encourage all Iraq veterans to have their eyes checked since many of the symptoms could take years to show up and by then, it could be too late.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23817493/