WOUNDED FACE THEIR OWN BATTLE THOUSANDS OF MAIMED STRUGGLE TO RECLAIM LIVES, AND MANY EVEN WANT TO RETURN TO FIGHT.Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer Cynthia Piccione could barely look at her son, a once-strapping Marine lying helpless in a bed from a grenade wound to his head. Lance Cpl. Raymond Preston Raymond Preston (born January 25, 1954) is a former American football linebacker who played nine years from 1976 to 1984 with the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League. Warren, 23, couldn't move. Couldn't talk. Couldn't speak. But there was Mom - from a world far away. ``He was like a pumpkin head. His face was so swollen you couldn't see his features,'' recalled Piccione, 41, of Northridge, of her visit to see her son at a naval hospital in June. ``I said, `It's Mom, it's Mom.' ``And a tear came from his eyes as he squeezed my hand.'' Warren is one of the nearly 11,300 American troops wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom, launched March 19, 2003. Of those, nearly 11,000 were wounded after President George W. Bush declared combat operations over on May 1, 2003. At least 400 more were wounded in combat in Afghanistan. While the Department of Defense has announced the names of the more than 1,500 Americans who have died since the Iraqi invasion, the maimed maim tr.v. maimed, maim·ing, maims 1. To disable or disfigure, usually by depriving of the use of a limb or other part of the body. See Synonyms at batter1. 2. get little mention. Yet thousands quietly struggle to regain their lives in military hospitals and units and at home. ``It breaks your heart, it absolutely breaks your heart, because you realize they are just kids and what they've seen is truly traumatic,'' said Kerri Childress, spokeswoman for the Palo Alto Palo Alto, city, California Palo Alto (păl`ō ăl`tō), city (1990 pop. 55,900), Santa Clara co., W Calif.; inc. 1894. Although primarily residential, Palo Alto has aerospace, electronics, and advanced research industries. Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, where Warren and others struggle with brain injuries, blindness and other wounds. Despite fitful fit·ful adj. Occurring in or characterized by intermittent bursts, as of activity; irregular. See Synonyms at periodic. fit nights, pain, post-traumatic stress. Despite having to learn to walk, eat, go to the bathroom, or even hold a Slurpee, they're survivors. Troopers. And many share one burning desire: to return to their comrades at arms - and war. ``I just want to get out of here,'' Warren said haltingly in a phone interview from the Traumatic Brain Injury Traumatic brain injury (TBI), traumatic injuries to the brain, also called intracranial injury, or simply head injury, occurs when a sudden trauma causes brain damage. TBI can result from a closed head injury or a penetrating head injury and is one of two subsets of acquired brain Unit at the Palo Alto VA. ``To join up with my unit if they'll let me. ``Or someday become a police officer.'' A track star and graduate of Birmingham High School Birmingham High School is a public coeducational high school in the neighborhood/district of Lake Balboa in the San Fernando Valley section of the city of Los Angeles, California. The school is a part of District One of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). , Warren joined the service after growing tired of selling suits at Nordstrom. A gung-ho Marine, he knew he'd go to Iraq. Only 45 days after he hit the sands with the 1st Marines near Fallujah, a rocket-propelled grenade exploded over his head while he trained Iraqi police. Shrapnel ripped into his face, back, leg and arm. He sustained a skull fracture skull fracture, n a rupture or break in the cranial bones. skull fracture Orthopedics A fracture of one or more cranial bones, caused by MVAs, falls, assault, sports, occupational accidents and other forms of blunt trauma that left him with permanent brain damage. He lay in a coma six days. To prevent further damage from brain swelling brain swelling n. A localized or generalized increase in the bulk of brain tissue due to congestion or edema. , doctors removed his forehead and, for safekeeping Safekeeping The storage of assets or other items of value in a protected area. Notes: Individuals may use self-directed methods of safekeeping or the services of a bank or brokerage firm. , sewed it into his abdomen. And for weeks, Piccione, a medical assistant who took time off from work, changed him, bathed him, helped him eat and go to the toilet. Every word, every step, every exercise learned in the ensuing months was cause for celebration. ``It's nothing short of a miracle, the progress he has made,'' his mother said. ``I thank God every day. My faith is in God, and only in God.'' Two weeks ago, doctors replaced the missing skull fragment, using titanium screws and mesh. And after nine months, they removed the helmet that protected Warren's brain. Despite progress, he struggles to learn anew, doctors say. After a medical discharge, he will receive lifetime compensation from the U.S. government. Harriet Zeiner, a neuropsychologist Neuropsychologist A clinical psychologist who specializes in assessing psychological status caused by a brain disorder. Mentioned in: Post-Concussion Syndrome who has worked with Warren and numerous other veterans, said those with multiple wounds can never be made whole. ``We do a great job of putting people back together again,'' she said. ``But (like) a cracked vase, it'll never be the way it was before.'' Army Staff Sgt. Chris Bain got hit on the best and worst day of his four- month stint in Iraq. On April 8, Bain, a native of Santa Clarita called to action from the Army Reserves, ran into his twin brother, Sgt. Kim Bain, a tanker in the California National Guard The California National Guard is the component of the United States National Guard in the U.S. state of California. It comprises both Army and Air National Guard components. . After a daylong celebration, the father of three was wounded in a mortar attack after his convoy left camp. Between 15 and 30 rounds fell as Bain ordered his men to take shelter under their trucks. He was the ``lead magnet,'' he said with a grin, and not his troops. ``I looked up - boom, slow motion,'' recalled Bain, 33, a graduate of Hart High School Hart High School may refer to:
``I fought from closing my eyes, 'cause I didn't think I'd wake up. I saw the flashback flash·back n. 1. An unexpected recurrence of the effects of a hallucinogenic drug long after its original use. 2. A recurring, intensely vivid mental image of a past traumatic experience. - my wife, my kids, my brother, Mom and Dad. I refused to die there, I refused to give up and die in that country.'' His left forearm was ripped open. His ring finger was severed. His right elbow was shattered. Nerves and muscles were destroyed. And his right hand is completely numb. In the last nine months, Bain has had to learn to eat, hold a fork, and cradle a glass of water. He often drops things, and has burned his injured hand more than once. Noise, however, is his nemesis. ``The Fourth of July Fourth of July, Independence Day, or July Fourth, U.S. holiday, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Celebration of it began during the American Revolution. will never be the same,'' said Bain, a chiseled chis·eled or chis·elled adj. Made or shaped with or as if with a chisel: a finely chiseled nose. Adj. 1. soldier with dreams of running for Congress. ``When I hear a bang, I jump underneath the car. The fear factor. I don't want to get hit again.'' For all his trouble, however, Bain said he and others aren't bitter because of the tremendous support from the American public. ``I already tried to go back (to Iraq), but they wouldn't let me,'' said Bain, who alternates between his home in Pennsylvania and Walter Reed Army Medical Center Walter Reed Army Medical Center, major hospital complex in Washington, D. C., and Forest Glen, Md.; est. 1923 and named for U.S. army surgeon Walter Reed. It is composed of seven units including a general hospital and a research institute. There are several thousand beds. in Washington, D.C. ``We're not just dying over there, we're not getting injured, we're doing great things over there.'' Marine Sgt. Jorge De Leon Jorge de Leon (b. 1976) is a Guatemalan performance artist who specializes in body art. He was born in Guatemala City, and forms part of the generation of artists that includes Regina José Galindo. was in Afghanistan last May when his Humvee hit a mine. In the dust of the explosion, everything went black. He and his lieutenant scrambled from the vehicle only to be raked by .50- caliber machine-gun fire. ``When I went (back) inside to get my weapon,'' recalled the hulking hulk·ing also hulk·y adj. Unwieldy or bulky; massive. hulking Adjective big and ungainly Adj. 1. 31-year-old native of Puerto Rico, ``I saw my leg.'' His right leg was gone just above the knee. His left tibia tibia: see leg. protruded from his surviving leg. De Leon spent nearly six months at Walter Reed. Life was over, he thought. For weeks, he despaired. Then came the turning point. ``You gotta stand up - you have your wife and your kids,'' an officer friend admonished. ``You gotta keep going.'' He did. Ten months and 11 surgeries after the injury - and two weeks after doctors slipped a 15-inch rod in his last leg - De Leon raced his wheelchair 26 miles to complete the L.A. Marathon in 3 hours and 2 minutes, his first. He'd been shot as a cop in Puerto Rico. Leaped from 71 planes as a paratrooper in the Marines. Served in Kosovo, Macedonia and two stints in Afghanistan. But nothing compared to whizzing past that L.A. finish line. De Leon, who was given an $80,000 computer-assisted leg, will seek a job in military intelligence. ``It gave me a chance to prove, just because I lost my leg,'' he said, ``I don't have to stop. ``There's no reason to give up - keep going, never quit.'' Dana Bartholomew, (818) 713-3730 dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 4 photos, box Photo: (1 -- color) Lance Cpl. Raymond Preston Warren, 23, with the Marine's motto Semper Fidelis (always faithful) tattooed on his back, is one of the nearly 11,300 American troops wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom, launched March 19, 2003. (2) Lance Cpl. Raymond Preston Warren works with physical therapist Beth Pittman at the VA hospital in Palo Alto, Calif. John Green/Staff Photographer (3) Army Staff Sgt. Chris Bain, a native of Santa Clarita who now lives in Pennsylvania, suffered injuries from a mortar attack shortly after a surprise reunion with his twin brother in Iraq. John Lazar/Staff Photographer (4) WARREN Box: U.S. TROOPS WOUNDED IN IRAQ SOURCE: Department of Defense Daily News |
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