Showing posts with label paralyzed veterans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paralyzed veterans. Show all posts

Monday, September 23, 2019

Evicted-Paralyzed veteran, lost everything and then his community supplied love

Disabled veteran loses his possessions in a curbside fire after his eviction


WWMT Newschannel 3
by CALLIE RAINEY
September 17th 2019
Summey said the community was also quick to offer help, after he posted a picture of the burned belongings on social media. "Pretty amazing, within minutes hundreds of messages people wanting to know what they could do to help," Summey said.
STURGIS, Mich. (WWMT) — The contents of his apartment were stacked on the curbside, but before a disabled veteran who once called Quail Run II his home could move the belongings, someone doused the pile with gasoline and lit a match.

"I seen him, he was sitting in his chair. He didn't want to leave his stuff. I can understand, that's all your possessions," said Clint Parsons, who lives near the apartment complex.

Parsons said the gentleman, a U.S. Air Force veteran, told him his rent hadn't been paid in almost a year, even though he had a caregiver who was supposed to be handling his affairs.

According to Disability Attorneys of Michigan in 2015 there were 82,952 homeless people in Michigan, and 5,291 of those were veterans.

St. Joseph County Veterans' Affairs Director Stoney Summey said the county's transitional housing program provided secure, safe housing to 28 veterans throughout the first nine months of 2019.

Summey said the veteran who was evicted from Quail Run II on Friday, is paralyzed, and now brings to six the number of homeless veterans in St. Joseph County.
read it here

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Wynonna Judd welcomed paralyzed veteran to new home

Paralyzed veteran gets free home in Murfreesboro


WKRN News
by: Stassy Olmos
Posted: Sep 22, 2019

“Five years ago, get a call two in the morning that he was in an accident all the way up in St. Louis,” Camacho’s friend Liam Cronin said in the ceremony Saturday, “Drive up the next day and spend the next day, and spend the next week sleeping on a hospital cot beside him.”
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) – It’s the simple things many of us take for granted, like getting in and out of bed or taking a shower all by ourselves, that paralyzed Army Sergeant Bryan Camacho hasn’t been able to do in years. ‘But, thanks to the nonprofit Homes for Our Troops, the solider now has a brand new home in Murfreesboro, with special amenities to help.

The Murfreesboro community welcomed their new neighbor on Saturday morning.
This homecoming much more encouraging than the last one 12 years ago when Sgt. Camacho returned from Iraq.

Camacho was first injured in 2007 as an Infantryman deployed with the 10th Mountain Division in Iraq. He was paralyzed from the waist down when his vehicle ran over an IED.
Slowly recovering in the U.S., Camacho was in another accident in 2014. His adapted truck spun out on ice and rolled, paralyzing him from the neck down.
read it here

Thursday, February 16, 2017

American Veteran Love Story Started at the Long Beach VA

This Paralyzed Veteran’s Love Story Began In The VA Hospital
Huffington Post
By Elyse Wanshel
February 15, 2017

Sometimes you find love where you least expect it.
BETTER THAN FICTION PRODUCTIONS
Sgt. Nick Mendes met Wendy Eichler while he was being treated at the VA hospital in Long Beach, California.

Sgt. Nick Mendes, a veteran who was paralyzed from the neck down by an IED in Afghanistan in 2011, found love in an unexpected place — a Veterans Affairs hospital.

Mendes had been at the VA hospital in Long Beach, California for five months when he met Wendy Eichler, a medical caregiver who specialized in paralyzed patients.

The pair hit it off, and Eichler began visiting Mendes during her off hours and continued to see him when he was released from the hospital. Their friendship turned into a romantic relationship and they soon fell in love.

The two are the subjects of a new documentary by filmmaker Julie Cohen called “American Veteran.”
ENDY EICHLER
Mendes and Eichler on their wedding day on Sept 28, 2014.
“American Veteran” will be screened five times in New York in early March as part of the ReelAbilities Film Festival, which promotes awareness and appreciation for the disability community through film, and will then travel to a number of other cities through the ReelAbilities tour.
read more here

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Senator Marco Rubio Too Busy With Fundraisers To Take Care of Disabled Sergeant?

ELECTION: Murphy accuses Rubio of neglecting to help wounded warrior
News 13 Orlando

By Greg Pallone, Reporter
August 31, 2016

Riley said he thought that because Rubio was running for president and ran TV ads backing the military, his son's situation would get noticed. But instead, Rubio held at least 18 fundraisers when Sgt. Riney was being brought back to Florida in need of financial help, Murphy's campaign said.
Army veteran Tim Riney Jr. was injured in a Stryker vehicle accident in Colorado in February 2015. (Courtesy of Tim Riney)
Just hours after winning their party nominations for U.S. Senate, Rep. Patrick Murphy and Sen. Marco Rubio are both on the attack.
Murphy introduced father of wounded warrior in Rubio attack
Murphy, vet's dad accused Rubio of not helping son
Son was severely injured and paralyzed in 2015 Stryker vehicle accident
Murphy on Wednesday accused Rubio of putting his presidential bid in front of helping a wounded soldier, and introduced a wounded warrior as the face of his campaign.

Tim Riney of Safety Harbor, near Clearwater, is the father of Army veteran Timothy Riney, who was paralyzed after a military training exercise in February 2015. Riney was hurt and a fellow soldier killed after their 18-ton Stryker vehicle plunged over an embankment at Fort Carson, Colo.

“They are saying it's the worst accident with a Stryker in the history of the country, and you don't have time to help us?” the elder Riney said of Rubio.

Riney said his son needed help with medical costs, and it took five months for Rubio's office to get back to him. Meanwhile, his son was transferred to a Tampa VA hospital, and they struggled to get financial assistance for home wheelchair accessibility.

“Marco Rubio is so set on putting himself first that even when a Florida veteran is lying paralyzed in a hospital bed, he can't find the time to help out," Murphy said Wednesday.
read more here

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Vietnam Veteran Helped Others, Now Needs Help From Others in Ohio

Partially paralyzed veteran in need of handicapped van
WCMH 4 News
By Rick Reitzel
Published: August 17, 2016

GAHANNA, OH (WCMH) — A Vietnam War Army veteran has fallen on hard times. Partially paralyzed and in pain, and now confined to a wheelchair without a vehicle, Stephen Karales, 70, has kept a good attitude.

Karales is a giver – volunteering 15,000 hours in the benefits office at the local VA and homeless shelter with the YWCA, until illness left him partially paralyzed.

It took a tremendous effort for Karales to stand up and move to a wheelchair wheeled up to the passenger side of Steve Guenther’s SUV.

Karales came to the Gahanna Legion and VFW Post on Johnstown Road with several other veterans who pitched in to help.

A year ago the former combat medic said he was on a mission spending all of his waking-hours helping other veterans. Then he contracted a strange virus which left him in a coma for 11 days and permanently paralyzed from the waist down.
read more here

Monday, May 23, 2016

Vietnam Veteran Gets Dying Wish To See His Horses One Last Time

UPDATE
Texas veteran dies after getting visit from beloved horses

Dying Vietnam veteran’s final wish granted
By NBC4 Staff
Published: May 23, 2016


SAN ANTONIO, TX (WCMH) – A dying Vietnam veteran’s dying wish was granted on Saturday when he was able to go outside and see his horses one last time.
Roberto Gonzales was wounded in battle on May 21, 1970.

Gonzales was paralyzed as a result of his injury, but that didn’t stop him from becoming a horse trainer.

“My husband was one of the only handicapped or paralyzed licensed horse trainers in Texas,” Rosario Gonzales told KABB.

When things took a turn for the worse during a recent hospitalization, Roberto’s dying wish was to see his horses Sugar and Ringo one last time. That wish was granted on the anniversary of his injury.
read more here

Friday, May 6, 2016

Fort Carson Paralyzed Solider Faults Army for Stryker Going Over Cliff

Paralyzed soldier says Army was at fault in fatal wreck on Fort Carson
The Gazette
By: Tom Roeder
May 4, 2016

Why was 1st brigade pushing so hard? Riney, 25, says it was driven by goal-focused leaders who cared for results more than their troops.
“The atmosphere there was unbelievably toxic, and I feel it led directly to this,” Riney said.
The Army says a wrong turn led to a fatal rollover wreck last year that sent an 18-ton Stryker vehicle tumbling over a cliff.

A soldier who lost the use of his legs in the incident, though, says the cause of the wreck was 1st Brigade Combat Team commanders pushing their troops too hard in training with unfamiliar equipment.

“It was murder,” said retired Sgt. Tim Riney, one of six soldiers hurt in the 9 p.m. crash on Feb. 6, 2015.

Staff Sgt. Justin L. Holt, 31, died when he was thrown from the Stryker along with Riney when the Stryker tumbled off a 250-foot cliff on the post’s training range 41, on the southeastern corner of the 135,000-acre installation.
read more here

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Paralyzed Veteran Fighting Cancer Inspires Community

Community comes together to help disabled veteran 
WMUR News
By Shelley Walcott
Jan 09, 2016
"And then we had a team of people, including folks from New Boston fire, Team Rubicon and other community members here today to help build it."
Dan MacDonald
NEW BOSTON —A disabled veteran living with cancer in New Boston was stuck at home in bed until his community came together to help give him part of his life back.

Volunteers were hard at work in New Boston, motivated by Craig Maciaszek, a veteran who they called a source of inspiration.

"He's an amazing person with what he's facing," said Dan MacDonald, chief of the New Boston Fire Department. "His spirit just inspires you to want to do something for people."

Maciaszek spent several weeks in the hospital battling cancer.

"On my birthday, I was released from the hospital on Nov. 13 and found out I was paralyzed," Maciaszek said.
read more here

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Paralyzed Veteran New Track Chair Gives Him Freedom

Paralyzed Veteran Receives Early Christmas Present
Navy Vet Says New Track Chair Gives Him Freedom In The Outdoor
Ozark First News
By Grant Sloan
Published 12/10 2015
ADRIAN, Mo.-- A group of veterans in the Ozarks delivered an early Christmas present to one of their own this week.

Members of the Vietnam Veterans of America 913 made the trip to Adrian, Missouri --near Kansas City -- to deliver a track chair to Navy veteran, Nate Beard.

Beard, who was paralyzed from the chest down after a swimming accident, says the gift allows him to enjoy his home away from home.

"I love everything about being outside, the trees, the sun, the sky,” says Beard. “I love it all. Freedom.”

Through benefit shows the Vietnam Veterans 913 normally assists veterans in Stone and Taney Counties, but with help from the College of the Ozarks, they had the opportunity to assist someone outside their own backyard.

Hearing Beard’s reason for wanting the high-tech track made it an easy decision for the organization to help him.

"I just wanted to spend time with my daughter outdoors," says Beard.
read more here

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Vietnam veteran "Tunnel Rat" is an inspiration to others

“It’s not what you’ve lost:” Vietnam veteran from Racine is an inspiration to others 
FOX 6
BY TED PERRY
NOVEMBER 11, 2015
"It's not what you've lost, it's what you have left," said Sorenson. "You can make your choices. You can sit and home and not do much of anything and stare out the window and turn to drugs -- or you can get out and try to do something and get productive."
Gus Sorenson
MILWAUKEE -- FOX6's Ted Perry has had the honor to spend some time with Vietnam veterans from southeast Wisconsin over the last few weeks. The one thing he said they all have in common, is their desire to help other men and women who served. Such is the case with the "Tunnel Rat."

On a recent trip back to Vietnam, a group of men who served more than 40 years ago spent an afternoon in tunnels once occupied by enemy troops.

"It was really quite intricate, there'd be several levels and it was an elaborate set up -- basically a city underground," said Gus Sorenson, a Racine native.
read more here

Friday, May 22, 2015

"Paralyzed" Veteran Walks Again After Getting Free Home?

Homes for Our Troops questions veteran's paralysis after video 
KENS 5
Dillon Collier
May 20, 2015

Weeks after the couple moved into a home in rural Hays County, videos and pictures surfaced showing Justin walking on the property
DRIPPING SPRINGS -- A national non-profit that built a specially-adapted house in Dripping Springs for a wounded Army veteran is now 'weighing its options', after contrasting stories have emerged regarding the severity of the soldier's injuries.

Army Specialist Justin Perez-Gorda suffered a traumatic brain injury while serving in Afghanistan in January 2011.

For years, he and his wife claimed publicly he was paralyzed from the belly button down.

"He has permanent loss of use of both lower extremities. He's paralyzed from the belly button down," Josephine Perez-Gorda said during a taped video segment later used by Homes for Our Troops for fundraising efforts.
read more here

Monday, March 23, 2015

Maj. Gen. Harold Greene's Aide Honored at Pentagon

This soldier, wounded with a U.S. general killed in Afghanistan, was just celebrated at the Pentagon
Washington Post
By Dan Lamothe
March 23, 2015

In the Pentagon courtyard, the world was introduced Monday to Capt. Jeremy Haynes, a wounded U.S. Army officer whose life was intertwined with the death of the highest-ranking U.S. service member killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Haynes served as an aide to Maj. Gen. Harold Greene, of Falls Church, Va., when both of them were shot multiple times Aug. 5 by a lone gunman at an Afghan military training academy outside Kabul.

Greene was killed instantly, and Haynes was left paralyzed and with numerous life-threatening wounds, said Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter.

At least 18 people were wounded.
read more here

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Paraplegic Iraq Veteran Sues VA Over Sponge Left Behind

Paraplegic veteran sues government for sponge left inside him after operation
Augusta Chronicle
By Sandy Hodson
Staff Writer
Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014
On Dec. 31, 2012, Dixon had surgery on his left hip at a private hospital. The surgery, according to his lawsuit, found a “purulent segment of old gauze sponge inside.”

A wounded Iraq War veteran has filed suit against the government after discovering the seeping wound he endured for years resulted from a sponge left inside him after an operation at the Augusta VA hospital.

Kenneth Dixon filed suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court against the United States of America.

Dixon served during the Iraq War until a 2004 vehicle wreck left him with a permanent spinal injury.

Dixon, a paraplegic since the crash, was treated for several years at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center, which has one of the largest spinal cord units in the VA system. read more here

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Community Makes Home Better for Wounded Afghanistan Veteran

Community rallies to help soldier wounded in Afghanistan
Northwest Georgia News
October 26, 2014

ADAIRSVILLE — A community has rallied to ready a home for Army Spc. Eugene Perry Young, who was paralyzed last year by a suicide bomber a little more than four months into a nine-month deployment in Afghanistan. Young has been in a Veterans Administration hospital in Tampa for more than a year.

He and his family had planned to build a home there until June, when Young returned to the Adairsville-Calhoun area for the first time since the bombing.

“I actually never thought I was going to come back home. It’s a small town and kids want to get away, do something on their own,” Young said. “But when I got injured and I came back here, I just felt drawn to this place like this is where I should be.”

Young and his wife, Samantha, found a home in Adairsville, but the VA said it was not equipped to handle his needs.

Bartow County Emergency Management Agency Director Paul Cuprowski knew Young would need a ramp. He needs a wheelchair after a roadside bomb injured his spinal cord.
read more here

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Quadriplegic Iraq Veteran Jay Briseno Celebrated with Lee Greenwood

The highlight was that Lee Greenwood sang to him!
Quadriplegic Veteran Jay Briseno Welcomed to New Home
NBC Washington
By Chris Gordon
September 29, 2014

Wounded veteran Jay Briseno was welcomed to his new Manassas home with much deserved fanfare Monday. Briseno was injured in 2003 while serving in Iraq. He was shot at point-blank range, left semi-conscious and later deemed quadriplegic.

Though many years have passed, he still required 24/7 care from parents Joe and Eva -- something that may become a little easier inside his brand-new home.
read more here


Saturday, August 23, 2014

Fruits of deeds and courage of paralyzed veteran

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 23, 2014

About a month ago Wounded Times posted the story of Randy Abbott "Paralyzed veteran beaten and robbed causes international reaction of love." What got to most people was not as much about what he did in the military, but what he did with his life after an operation to help him ended up paralyzing him.
When asked his reaction to the outbreak of love and compassion generated by his story, Abbott is visibly shaken.

"When I have people who don't even know me and they call me from Hawaii, Australia and France and say 'Hey, just get back in the water and surf and you're gonna be ok. We love you buddy!' That means a lot to me."
KUSI News San Diego

Randy does what he can to help others enjoy surfing but more than that, he's helping them learn they can still enjoy life no matter what happened to them. To know that having a disabled body does not mean the person is disabled by the limitations.

Yesterday when I got home from work, there was an email from Randy with a message to call him. I wasn't sure who he was like most of the time when a veteran contacts me. I called, left a message and he called me back last night. No one knows about the conversations I have with veterans and they never will unless the veteran wants to share something. In this case, after you read what he wrote, you'll know why this story is different.

Randy said he wanted to apologize for lying. Still not sure of who I was talking to, I could hear the emotion in his soft voice. After a while it sunk in that I posted his story but I was still confused over the apology. The thing about his story that was reported in the news, wasn't about his military service, but was about what he did with his life afterwards.

Had this story been about his service in the military with him thumping a chest full of medals that turned out to be one of the thousands of frauds running around the country trying to get something for themselves, I would have understood the pain in his voice as I spoke about forgiveness, but it wasn't. It was a story of a veteran taking something bad that happened to him and making lives better for others.

I asked him if he lied about any of that and he said he didn't. That was all I needed to know because the simple fact he wanted to find forgiveness for something few knew about was humbling as well as inspirational.

I thought about how many times I've screwed up as a human in my own life, just like everyone else. I thought about my Dad doing the whole AA steps of making amenze knowing it was out of his power what people did with it but in his power to change his own life from that moment on. Just like every other human on the planet we can't change the past but can change with the next breath we take.

In Matthew 7, Jesus was addressing the difference between what men say and what they actually do.
You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

The fruits of Randy's deeds are shown on the faces of all the kids and others he's met over the years. There will be some unable to acknowledge his actions are inspirational and change lives because they want to hold onto something wrong as if it will make them feel better about themselves.

Randy is like others in many ways. All of us can say whatever we want and many times we regret what we say. It takes a lot of courage to admit we were wrong and apologize. After being married for 30 years, I can attest to that fact of life and honestly I don't think I'm done needing to tell my husband I'm sorry for something plus the other way around. We've been married this long because we can see ourselves honestly knowing we are far from perfect. (I still haven't figured out how he puts up with me.)
Do Not Judge
7 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

When I told Randy he was already forgiven, he was quiet for extended time. Then he said "I do believe that." Then I asked him to do something for other veterans out there being tormented by something they think they did wrong. Knowing the power of forgiveness, I asked him to help others seek it for themselves. Without hesitation, he agreed. He knows what it feels like to have the weight on his soul but he also knows how being relieved of that empowers this moment on.

Randy showed courage when he joined the military just like everyone else along with compassion enough to be able to risk his life for the sake of others. Last night it required a tremendous about of courage for him to call someone like me not knowing how I would react or what I would do with what he had to say.
To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this letter to acknowledge that I was dishonest about my military service. I have no excuse for my actions, dishonesty is dishonesty, and to those I have offended and or hurt I ask for your forgiveness. I did this with no malicious intent to hurt anyone or to gain anything, again to those I have hurt or offended I ask for your forgiveness.

After I was paralyzed and found myself dealing with all the medical issues and trying to learn how to live with being paralyzed, I wondered how many other people were dealing with the same thing. Thinking about all the things they will never be able to do again. I decided to start The View From 42, to help other people learn to live beyond their disabilities. Not knowing what it would become or how it would actually work. I have done no fundraiser; I have taken in no donations or financial contributions, I have funded everything from the beginning and to this date by myself. Do to some medical complications along the way things got put on hold for a time being. At first it was just going to be training service dogs for people, then after starting surfing and getting more active I realized how this help me and thought it could help other people.

People reached out to me for assistance with wheelchair purchases for their children, family members and or friends. Then people started asking if I could take them surfing, or help them get surfboards or wetsuits. I started of with tacking single individuals surfing with the help from volunteers. Bringing young people with disabilities and there families out for what we called a Southern California Surfing Experience. Then it turned into bigger one-day events with participants coming in from out of state. This was all done to help people with disabilities learn how to live beyond their disabilities, like I had done. A simple thing like a custom wheelchair or a surfing event put on just for them opens their mind to thinking about living their life beyond their disability. They start to see themselves as a person who has a disability instead of a disabled person. There is a difference, a big difference.

I still plan to continue to do this at whatever level I can; I am not sure how that will be now. This is a true honest desire just to help other people who have disabilities and have a desire to live beyond them.

Again I apologize for my dishonesty and misleading statements, and ask for your forgiveness.
Sincerely;
Randy
Email: pleasenojunk@mail.com

This was at the bottom of his email
A persons ability to enjoy life should not be hindered by their disability or their lack of accessibility to the world. Do not tell us what we can not do, help us do what we want to do.

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Paralyzed veteran beaten and robbed causes international reaction of love

Paralyzed Marine thrown out of wheelchair, customized surfboards stolen
KUSI News San Diego
By John Soderman
Posted: Jul 25, 2014
When asked his reaction to the outbreak of love and compassion generated by his story, Abbott is visibly shaken.

"When I have people who don't even know me and they call me from Hawaii, Australia and France and say 'Hey, just get back in the water and surf and you're gonna be ok. We love you buddy!' That means a lot to me."

The following story is generating an outpouring of compassion and support across San Diego and around the world. It's the story of a paralyzed Marine, assaulted and thrown out of his wheelchair by two suspects who stole his customized surfboards in Oceanside.

Randy Abbott gets around in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down. But that hasn't prevented him from surfing three or four times a week. You see, it wasn't that long ago doctors told him he would never surf again after a back surgery went terribly wrong.

After spending fourteen years as a Marine Corps recon scout sniper, Abbott's body got pretty banged up. When he got out of the service he needed back surgery. But during that surgery his spinal cord ended up getting accidentally severed, leaving him paralyzed.

But Abbott turned his tragedy into a triumph, opening a surf camp for kids with disabilities. After all, he was able to get back into the water himself because of specially designed surfboards. Surfboards that ended up getting stolen Monday night after two thugs assaulted Abbott, leaving him with cuts and scrapes after they threw him out of his wheelchair.

"One guy was cutting the straps and I said 'Hey, I'm paralyzed, don't steal my surfboards!'" said Abbott. "And then the other guy came at me and took a swing at me, and I took a swing at him. He missed, and I connected. I caught him with a pretty good uppercut."

"The guy that was cutting the straps had come around behind me, and threw me out of my wheelchair, and then kicked my wheelchair and it rolled probably 50 feet down the parking lot. Then they threw my surfboards in the back of their (Toyota) 4Runner and took off."
read more here
KUSI.com - KUSI News - San Diego CA - News, Weather, PPR

Friday, July 25, 2014

Vietnam Veteran once paralyzed walks to wed

Love’s ‘double delight’
Longtime couple weds at rehabilitation center that aided groom
Boston Globe
By Derek J. Anderson
GLOBE CORRESPONDENT
JULY 25, 2014
When Dennis O’Brien was admitted to a rehabilitation center in Roslindale six weeks ago, he was caught in a nightmare: diagnosed with a rare disorder and paralyzed from the neck down.

But on Thursday afternoon, life took a dramatic turn for the 66-year-old Vietnam veteran. O’Brien, able to walk now and standing with only a cane in the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center, married his longtime girlfriend Dorothy K. Smith in front of family, friends, and staff.

“It was a double delight,” said O’Brien, who was discharged the same day. “We had a marriage today, and I got to walk out the door when we were finished.”

O’Brien was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disorder that causes the body’s immune system to attack the nerves.
read more here

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Montana National Guardsman remind folks of second class Army

Paralyzed veteran defends Sen. John Walsh (D-Mont.) in new ad
Washington Post
BY SEAN SULLIVAN
June 19, 2014

Sen. John Walsh (D-Mont.) released a new TV Thursday in which a retired soldier who served under Walsh's command in Iraq defends his military record against Republican attacks that note Walsh was reprimanded by the U.S. Army.

In the commercial shared with Post Politics, retired Staff Sgt. John Bennett, who was paralyzed from the waist down after taking sniper fire, vouches for Walsh, who he says "went to bat for us."

Walsh is a former adjutant general of the Montana National Guard who led more than 700 soldiers in Iraq from 2004 to 2005. Bennett served under his command in Iraq.
read more here

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Paralyzed US Afghanistan Veteran Going to China for Treatment

Paralyzed Afghanistan veteran to undergo state-of-the-art stem cell therapy — in China
RAW Story
By Scott Kaufman
Sunday, March 23, 2014

An Army veteran who was partially paralyzed after being shot in the throat is heading to China to undergo stem cell therapy that could allow him to walk to again, according to a report in the York Dispatch.

U.S. Army Corporal Matthew Hanes was hit by sniper fire on June 22, 2012. “I was the only target that day,” he told The York Daily Record.

He was transported to Germany, then to Walter Reed Hospital, but doesn’t remember the trip — or meeting President Barack Obama shortly after his 21st birthday.
read more here