OT: My friend's son (Drew) is out of the hospital.

by santoswoodenlegs on Sep 2, 2008 12:40 PM CDT

To catch some of you up if you didn't see my first fanpost about this...

My friend from church (Joni) has a 19 year old son (Drew) in the Army who was injured in Iraq several weeks ago when the car in front of his armored vehicle hit an IED. Drew was manning the .50cal gun on top of the vehicle and was the only one seriously injured. He suffered massive trauma to the left side of his face, both eye orbits were broken as well as his jaw and upper pallet.

The good news is that Drew has been discharged from the hospital. He and his father are staying in a hotel near Walter Reed for the next couple of weeks because the ENT still needs to do a couple more procedures and wants to monitor his healing. The bad news is that Drew will most likely never regain the sight in his left eye. The surgeons have told him that the force of the explosion severed the optic nerve to that eye. Drew has some lingering trouble with the muscles in his right eye. The explosion tore the muscles that control eye movement in both of this eyes, his vision in his right eye is pretty good, but he has some trouble keeping the eyelid open and some tracking problems. The ENT and vision therapist have told him that with therapy and time he should regain most or all of the function in the right eye.

Drew is in good spirits, and his biggest disappointment has been that he cannot rejoin his unit. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for Drew and his family. I'll keep you posted in case of any other big developments.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of SB Nation or Al Yellon, editor-in-chief (unless it's a FanPost posted by Al). FanPost opinions are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable baseball fans.

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Sure glad to hear that he is ok

Too bad about the left eye but considering what could have been this doesn’t sound so bad.

A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings. ~Earl Wilson

by tucsoncubsfan on Sep 2, 2008 12:54 PM CDT 0 recs

Glad to hear he's getting better.

Best wishes on his continued recovery.

"I see the playoff schedule posted in the paper, and that stuff makes me nervous because you can't take anything for granted. We have a great team. We have a really good team. We're playing well, but we haven't won yet." - Jim Edmonds, 8/31/08

by dat cubfan daver on Sep 2, 2008 2:12 PM CDT 0 recs

SWL,

This young man is a hero in every sense of the word. My prayers for a speedy recovery.

"Chicago baseball fans, who are composites of scar tissue and mortifying memories..." - George F. Will

by eswan9 on Sep 2, 2008 2:25 PM CDT 0 recs

+1

Well put eswan, Drew glad to hear he is doing better! Best wishes on a speedy recovery!

by bleed that blue on Sep 2, 2008 2:40 PM CDT up 0 recs

Thanks, my brother in law

got back from Iraq last year, he is a Marine based out of Camp Pendleton, and I understand what he and his family has gone through.

San Diego is a huge military town and the Padres have the Military Aprreciation day every thursday for home games. One of the few things the friars have done right and I like about them.

"Chicago baseball fans, who are composites of scar tissue and mortifying memories..." - George F. Will

by eswan9 on Sep 2, 2008 3:56 PM CDT up 0 recs

amen

They did me right when I went to a Cubs game there way back in 1980. This old sailor appreciated that.

Say what you will about the politics behind this war, one thing you can’t touch is that we as a nation can never do too much to show our gratitude to our warriors and veterans.

An Omaha Beach survivor stopped me at Wal Mart last winter when he saw my Navy cruisejacket on. “So you think you’ve been somewhere, son?” was his steady, quiet challenge. He then shared in perhaps four sentences how he was introduced to WW2 service and delivered it in the quavering, teary warble of an old man whose weight of memories of seeing his whole company slaughtered around him have clearly been a cross he’s borne all of his life. I simply had to stop, come to attention and salute the man as well as shake his hand, with a huge, huge lump in my throat and a heart that ached for the guy.

We enjoy so much because we stand on the shoulders and over the graves of men like him .. some of them fired flintlocks, some jitterbugged and some carried Ipods ..

Well, Next Year is here .. and Jack's century's gotta end some time .. GO CUBBIES!

by cubnational on Sep 2, 2008 6:56 PM CDT up 0 recs

Great news...

…and praying for maximum recovery.

"I don't like them fellas that drive in two runs but let in three" Casey Stengel

by MPH73 on Sep 2, 2008 3:22 PM CDT 0 recs

SWL .. thanks for the update ..

I should have just emailed you instead, finally found your email address on your profile. Sorry .. but thanks for this post. I am sure a lot of BCB’ers are pulling and praying for Drew.

Well, Next Year is here .. and Jack's century's gotta end some time .. GO CUBBIES!

by cubnational on Sep 2, 2008 6:59 PM CDT 0 recs

Thanks for the update, SWL

Poor kid. It sounds like he has a terrific support system in his family and thank the heavens he’s alive. He’ll have a long road ahead of him, to be sure, but he sounds like a fine, resilient young man. So glad he’s still with us.

by Emelie on Sep 3, 2008 5:42 AM CDT 0 recs