Candidate, Heal Thyself

Didn't you just know that the Kerry campaign was going to use Christopher Reeve as a prop to attack the President on embryonic stem cell research? Then the embattled star finally succumbs just days after being inserted into the debate. Once again, I knew that the Dems would not be able to control their natural urge to politicize a tragedy, but I didn't think that it would ever go this far.

'When John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going to walk. Get up out of that wheelchair and walk again'... John Edwards, yesterday (via Drudge)

That is perhaps one of the most irresponsible statements I have ever heard made in the course of a Presidential election by one of the candidates. Of course, we have seen this type of thing before from Democrats (Bowling for Columbine, Senator Paul Wellstone's funeral), but this is pandering of the worst sort. To actually claim that the election of John Kerry will directly lead to a cure for paralysis is a despicable attempt to provide false hope to millions of afflicted people and their families in order to obtain votes.

I take this personally as well. During my first platoon workup, we were conducting live-fire close quarters battle (CQB) training in North Carolina. CQB describes direct action operations conducted inside of structures which requires special precautions and very precise tactical decisions while rapidly moving through the target. On our "last run" through the house of the day, a very close friend and Teammate of mine was accidentally shot under his left arm with a 9mm round. For any frogmen reading this, his initials are MF. I was standing only feet away from him when he was shot, and I heard him cry out, and I saw him collapse. As a New Guy, this was the first real world trauma patient of my life. (My hands are shaking typing this) His collapse to the ground was immediate, and it was perhaps the most unnatural movement that I have ever witnessed another person make. We cut off his body armor (which the round barely nicked on the way in) to reveal a dime sized hole with a rivulet of dark red blood. MF was telling me repeatedly, "Matt, I can't feel my legs! I can't feel my legs!" I tried to reassure him that he would be OK, while on the inside I was more terrified than I have ever been in my life. Before long, MF began to encourage me! He said, "Matt, I know you are going to take care of me. Your'e doing a great job." Where does courage like that come from? I continued to treat him as we loaded him on to the litter for helo extract by the US Coast Guard. As we were strapping him down, I asked a Teammate to grab a handful of hair on MF's leg and rip it out. As he did what I asked, I stared at MF's face and saw no reaction. I knew right then that he would never walk again.

MF is one of the true heroes that I have had the privilege to know. The dignity, with which he has conducted himself since that day serves as an inspiration to everyone that he comes in contact with. Exactly like Christopher Reeve. To use men like this and their heroic perseverance in the face of unimaginable pain and struggle as a political prop is despicable. To falsely promise a cure to men like this to get elected is beyond reproach.