| "Supporting Our Wounded" |
No Better reason to play Golf-A young lady's memory is slowly improving. There was a time she couldn't remember much. Another young man is about to have one more surgery to fix his pelvis that was damaged by a sniper's bullet. Another is just starting to recover from his latest operation rebuilding his tongue. This was accomplished by taking a piece from his arm, it almost sounds like science fiction. The life of a wounded warrior is a struggle, a constant fight with depression, surgeries, anxieties, doubt. In the case of Claudia, her fight now is to remember. We speak often. She lives in Arizona with her daughter Sandra and constant companions, usually her mother or sister Perla. She tells me that if she doesn't communicate with frequency, she will lose the image of that person. Pictures play a big part in her days. She has them posted all around so as not to forget the faces. Similar tricks and devices have become her prosthetic memory.
Felipe and Rudy, both with spinal cord injuries are doing well, even though upcoming surgeries have already been scheduled. Then, there is Jesse. He's in the process of rebuilding his mouth. It was shattered by shrapnel that left him blind as well as unable to taste or smell. In Jesse's case they have to first graph bone from his hip, let it heal and grow before installing post to ultimately rebuild the teeth. Every surgery is a struggle, but one thing that can't be fixed is that he is blind and will never be able to see again. This is his reality. Saul and Josh are bilateral amputees. Alroy has lost an arm. All of them have had to learn to transport themselves. It's been quite a struggle but they are adapting incredibly well. Almost all have some sort of traumatic brain injury or post traumatic stress disorder, also known as, PTSD. "It's nearly impossible to be the target of an explosion or be near one, and not have some trauma to the brain", Derrick told me. "An IED takes your breath way, even if you are a block away". He spent two years at Walter Reed because an IED left him with TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) and severe nerve damage to his arm.
The other heroes are the wives, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers that have a life time job now. To love and care for their loved ones, it's an incredible commitment and monumental demonstration of unconditional love. It's the best way I can describe it. It needs to be witnessed.
The first stage is life itself. Glad they were not killed, but then the hard work begins for all. Everyone has to learn something new. The blind person must become independent and see with his cane or his dog. The paraplegic has to get up and out of bed and drive himself to the hospital to the never-ending therapy sessions. Just to go to the market or take kids to school is a miracle. As to the ones with TBI struggling with little memory, it is an everyday battle. On one occasion, a wife was told that, "at least her family didn't make the ultimate sacrifice". T o which she responded, "You think caring for a loved one with severe brain injury for the rest of my life is not an ultimate sacrifice?"
I can't begin to express how proud I am of all the men and women that we have served, and continue to serve. Men and women like Veronica, Ben, Martha, Erica, Larry, Connie-and the list of family members would fill this page. They do the impossible. Martha has always been my hero. She would work all week and then, on Friday would go the hospital and spend the weekend with her son. On Mondays, she would go to work straight from the hospital. And she did this for over six months, all the while with a husband at home who himself was disabled. These are ordinary people doing extra-ordinary things, and they do it, because it must be done.
Profiles in Courage-It is my pleasure to introduce you to two of our wounded soldiers. Claudia Carreon and Felipe Adams. We have a short photo essay for both. In Claudia's case, we also have several articles and a short video which will give you an inside look as to what is traumatic brain injury, or TBI. In the case of Felipe, he is a young man with a big smile and a big heart adjusting to live in a wheelchair, and using special equipment that makes his life just a bit better.
 
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"Winging it from the start" |
We always liked the idea of sending money-I wish we could say that we do something original here at 9/11HelpAmerica, but the truth is, we do nothing original here. As a matter of fact we have been, as they say, "Winging it right from the start!". We were winging it, when we thought we could help a family who had been victimized by the attack on the WTC. We called ourselves, 9/11HelpAmerica, and took the mantra or slogan, "Together we can make a difference". We really didn't know if we could do anything of the sort, let alone make any real difference. We were winging it when we thought we could send money home to some of the families of our Fallen. We decided, once we identified a beneficiary, to send the family $250.00 a month for a period of six months. Not because we felt that it was the right length of time, or for any budgetary strategy. It was simply because we didn't want to give it all at once for fear of being hustled or scammed. With no real military background or connections, we thought a scam was not out of the question. Our monies were so limited that we felt we should just give it away a little bit at a time. Better safe than sorry. That's how our program of sending monthly checks was born, out of fear of being ripped-off! Today, it's $200.00 a month for at least 18 months.
Something else we thought about. What else can we do that doesn't cost a lot of money? What about a birthday card to the kids on their birthday? OK. What about sticking a few dollars in it? So we started doing that too. That's hardly original. We also thought: who's going to send the Moms flowers on Mothers day now? So, we started sending flowers for Mother's day too. Then, finally What about Christmas? During Christmas time, we took a collection and did some shopping for the kids, or just simply sent them Christmas money.
So we came to the conclusion in order to make a difference, it helps if you're not too clever about it and just stick to the basics. You simply let them know you care and you value them. It does become a challenge as time passes and the numbers grow. However, we still try to do what we have done right from the beginning, which is to wing it. Except now, we have a much larger group. Our Beneficiaries
At this time last year we only had three wounded warriors in our group, with the majority of our beneficiaries being surviving spouses. Since then, we have taken a new direction and today we have 16 wounded and are focusing most of our efforts and resources in that direction. All but two were injured in either (OEF) Operation Enduring Freedom or (OIF) Operation Iraqi Freedom. Without getting too smart we are trying to establish a few fundamental steps to follow, and to create a tradition we can live by-which is, to include the extended family, and keep winging it. We need your help to continue our assistance to these brave young families. Their sacrifices are great, and their challenges enormous. Now more than ever, I'm convinced that, "Together we can make that Difference".
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