Russell's Story

 

Russell Graduated from Lebanon High School in 1998 as an honor roll student. He joined the Army after High School and rose to the rank of Sgt. He is a member of the C Company 1-503rd Assault 2nd Infantry Division. His time was finished but due to mandatory extensions,he was sent to Iraq in August 2004, directly from his last post in Korea. His extended time would have been up in April 2005.

On March 24, 2005, he was critically injured by a car bomb while standing duty in Ramadi. There were several other soldiers of his unit involved as well.

He was flown to Germany to be stabilized and then sent to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. He has two broken legs, scrapnel wounds and extensive burns of the 3rd degree. To date, he has had more than 11 surgeries. The most recent was to place titanium rods in his leg. Unfortunately, that surgery hasn't gone as well as hoped. He has scrapnel in his eye, but has been fortunate enough to still have sight in it. At this time, there are no plans to try to remove the scrapnel. Drs. fear the surgery might cause loss of the sight he does have. Russell will most likely have many more surgeries ahead of him. He is expected to be in Texas for at least two years.

His mother has made the trip to Texas from Pennsylvania and stayed for two weeks with him. She has since had to come home and return to work. His fiancee is doing missionary work in Australia and will be flying back in May to see him. As soon as his mom accumulates more time to take off, she will be returning to Texas for another visit. This is extremely hard on her being away from Russell when he's in critical condition! She has stayed at a wonderful efficiency apartment while at Brooke Hospital. All expenses were covered for her visit. If you would like to donate to the guest house you may find more information here Powless Guest House

 

Your cards and prayers would be greatly appreciated. Please remember 911 and our men and women fighting for our country. They need your support.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Russell on the left