I came to David's room this morning, just to sit and watch him sleep. He looks very peaceful. I turned on the computer to catch up on emails and saw that Catherine had sent a message to me - it is a tragic, yet a beautiful message and I want you to feel it from her words, not mine:
Hi Gordon,
David is okay, this email is not about David but I wanted to tell you about something that happened tonight in case I sleep in a little later than you guys tomorrow. Perhaps you could read this email out loud to David if I have not arrived yet.
I was having trouble sleeping so around midnight I went downstairs to see if the naval lodge had any movies I wanted to watch, they didn't, so I decided to get some fresh air to clear my thoughts. While I was sitting outside a lady named Debbie came to me and asked how I was doing. I told her I could not sleep and she responded by telling me she had lost her nephew earlier that day. His name was David and he was an Air Force helicopter medi-vac pilot on his seventh tour, this time deployed to Afghanistan. Her David was stationed in the Helmand province and had decided to extend his tour another month when he was injured during an operation where he was sent out to rescue British special forces, which had been hurt in combat. Her David's helicopter was gunned down and the three men in the helicopter were all severely hurt, her David received a severe head injury and the two other men did as well, one of which had to receive a leg and arm amputation. Her David was flown to Germany and then to Bethesda within 48 hours of the injury and thereafter stayed in ICU for three weeks before his parents made the decision, July 2, 2010 at 14:00 to take him off life support. Although he was taken off life support at 14:00 he remained alive, breathing on his own for several hours and when his family left the room for a brief period of time, intending to go back to the navy lodge and get some things, the nurses called them and told them David had passed on only six minutes after his parents and Debbi had left the room. Debbi explained how she, her sister and her brother in law were all very upset they were not in the room for this, however she did convey to me that she thought perhaps David knew his parents had left the room and thought it would be best to go when they were not by his side.
Her David was scheduled to be married to his fiance of two years, Melissa, in September of this year. They were originally supposed to be married last February but David had been deployed early and as a result they had postponed the wedding. Debbi spoke for a couple hours about all this and I did my best to listen and support her, however, I felt as though this was a time when words did little justice to convey my support in light of a situation of this magnitude. Melissa, David's fiance, received her wedding dress in the mail last week and had recently moved into David's house and finished repainting the entire home. They had planned a big military wedding in one of the chapels over at the Air Force base where David was stationed. Although I only spoke with Debbi, I extended my deepest condolences to her entire family and let her know if there was anything we could do for them that we would be happy to. Her David's story really touched me because on so many levels I am having so much difficulty seeing the silver lining in what Debbi described as such a sad and tragic ending to a truly amazing young man's life - he had just turned 31 this last Sunday. She repeated how his body looked fine yet his mind was completely gone and related to me how difficult it was to have this false sense of hope that he would be fine, all the while knowing that as the doctors told her, he would never wake up again, feed himself, or do anything other than lie in his bed motionless and entirely dependent on 24 hour machines and care-takers. I cannot imagine how difficult of a decision that must have been for his parents and while I do not have children myself, I can honestly say no parent should ever be forced to have to decide whether they should take their child off of life support.
The reason I wanted to email you about this tonight as oppose to talk to you about it in the morning is because after Debbi's David's helicopter was shot down he was replaced in Afghanistan by another medivac helicopter pilot named Kyle who was subsequently injured and who is now on the 5th floor near our David's room. I do not know if our David knows this Kyle but if he does I think Debbi and her family will be visiting him early tomorrow morning and it might be nice to let our David know about all this if he wants to extend his condolences to Debbi's David's family (if they go to the 5th floor) as well as offer his support to Kyle. I asked if there would be a service for Debbi's David and Debbi said she did not think so because the family may fly back tomorrow. The family has asked to have the funeral at Arlington cemetery, however Debbi told me there was a 90 day waiting period, which a senator and a congressmen are working on shortening for Debbi's David, however if they are unsuccessful the family will hold the funeral elsewhere.
When Debbi came to me this evening I was deep in thought about our David as I was thinking about all the pain he has endured in the past few days, and on many levels I was feeling a little down and overwhelmed. Debbi's story made me feel very selfish for my own sentiments because after all David not only survived but he is the David I knew and loved before the deployment and while he did receive very serious injuries, they are nothing he cannot surpass. Unlike Debbi's David, our David will live to see his family grow old, Ethen grow up, and have the chance to experience love, success, happiness, and all the beauties life has to offer. I wish there was more we could all do to help Debbi and her family during this time and at the very least, perhaps you could put something in the blog about Debbi's David to let everyone know what a courageous young man he was and allow all those involved in our David's life to think and pray for Debbi, Melissa, and David's entire family.
Hearing this entire story makes me want to go see David and hold him so tight and never let him go as I have never felt so lucky to have him back to us, safe, alive, and most importantly, as himself. I will wait for the morning because David's sleep is more important but I think it is very important for all of us to take a moment of silence and think and pray about Debbi's David.
Good night,
Catherine
I know that doesn't say much about David's current circumstance, but it is still something that needs to be felt and heart. Just to think of the fact that these soldiers are over there serving a group of people they don't even know, trying to build a better life for and protect a group of people who are unable to protect themselves, makes them HEROs in my book.
Have a great day and a great 4th of July.
Gordon
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment