Waterworks

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This is a fuller explanation of the donation I made this Christmas in honor of my family. I'm writing about it here because I wasn't able to say all I wanted to them on Christmas Day. I was kind of teary as it was. (Gretchen, I don't mean to upset you. I think it's just stuff in my head that needs to come out.)

I think I mentioned in another post that in years past I have tailored my donation to the person I'm honoring. This year I had my heart set on Fisher House. It's very similar to the Ronald McDonald Houses that I mentioned before- but this is where families stay while their military loved ones undergo treatment. I found them through some research I did about The Center for the Intrepid, which was a result of catching the very tail end of a news story last January about the opening of a state of the art rehab center.

In January 2007, the Fund completed construction of a $40 million world-class state-of-the-art physical rehabilitation center at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. The “Center for the Intrepid” serves military personnel who have been catastrophically disabled in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and veterans severely injured in other operations and in the normal performance of their duties. The 60,000 square foot Center provides ample space and facilities for the rehabilitation needs of the patients and their caregivers. It includes state-of-the-art physical rehabilitation equipment and extensive indoor and outdoor facilities. The Center is co-located with two 21-room Fisher Houses that house the families of patients (www.fisherhouse.org).

I swear I only saw 30 seconds of the news story but the pictures of the severely wounded and burned men and women brought me to tears instantaneously. Blew me away. I place full blame on the Bush administration for the way the news has been so sanitized. Everyone needs to see photographs of horribly wounded military personnel. Everyone should watch Alive Day on HBO. (I'm not sure you should watch it, Gretchen. I was almost afraid to, not sure how it would affect me.) It's shocking and uplifting all at the same time. It absolutely touched me.

In a war that has left more than 25,000 wounded, ALIVE DAY MEMORIES: HOME FROM IRAQ looks at a new generation of veterans. Executive Producer James Gandolfini interviews ten Soldiers and Marines who reveal their feelings on their future, their severe disabilities and their devotion to America. The documentary surveys the physical and emotional cost of war through memories of their "alive day," the day they narrowly escaped death in Iraq.

This is the stuff I can't stop thinking about. Thanks to better equipment and modern battlefield medicine, there are far fewer dead and injured in the Iraq war than the war in Vietnam - but the injuries they do survive are much more severe. Limb amputation, burns and to me the worst, brain injury.

Before I had made my donation to either FisherHouse.org or The Center for the Intrepid, an email from Gretchen arrived, announcing that when she runs her first half-marathon in May, she's doing it on behalf of the Semper Fi Fund.

Your donation will be used to help provide financial assistance and quality of life solutions to Marines and Sailors injured in combat and training, or those with life threatening illnesses. The Semper Fi Fund also assists the families of these brave service members by helping to defray the expenses incurred during hospitalization, rehabilitation, travel and recovery. We are also proud to assist other service members injured while in direct support of Marine units and their families.

Bingo - perfect! So that's where Simon and I made our 2007 donation. It serves the purpose I wanted to support and it supports Gretchen and something that's close to her heart. (Please, join me in supporting Gretchen. If just a handful of my lovely readers donate a little something, I know we can help her exceed her goal. You can do so by going here, to Gretchen's Semper Fi page.)

The reason I got so teary in trying to explain all this to my family is obvious I suppose. But sometimes my mind just goes down that road. What if Nick gets injured? I know he'd eventually be like the heroes in the James Gandolfini interviews - stoic and accepting. But I know initially it would break Gretchen's heart, which would break my heart. It would break my parents' hearts, which would break my heart See how I get going?? Ultimately we'd get through it, all of it, all of us, however one does that.

It feels like I'd still be moved to support these organizations that are supporting so many of our country's heroes, but I can't deny that having an active Marine in the family sure puts a personal touch on it.

So that's that. I just wanted to put a plug in for these amazing organizations - that's the real purpose of this post, I think.

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