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Introducing her book
"I am my father's daughter"
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| Written by Maria Elena Salinas |
| Monday, July 25 2005 |
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| Ever since he was a little boy, Joel Gomez wanted to be in the Army. "All his toys were either soldiers or tanks; every movie he watched was a war movie," recalled his mother, Emilia Gomez. When he was in junior-high school, Joel asked if he could enlist in the Army. "Wait a few years, until you graduate from high school," his mother told him, hoping that in time he would forget about it and choose a different career path.
Now, at age 25, Sgt. Joel Gomez lies in a bed in a rehab center in Wheaton, Ill., unable to walk or even breathe on his own, the victim of a deadly accident in Iraq. It's not exactly the way he envisioned his career with the military. "As soon as the war in Iraq began, he wanted to go," his mother told me. However, he was not called up for duty until February 2004.
During a special mission about a month after arriving in Baghdad, the military vehicle he was in fell into a ditch that was 200 feet deep. One of the soldiers died on the scene, another one a day later. Sgt. Gomez suffered injuries that left him paralyzed from the neck down.
If he hadn't been lucky enough to have been born in Wheaton, there's a good chance he would be dead by now. For now, Sgt. Gomez -- who has suffered major complications as the result of his injuries -- is getting the medical attention he needs at the Marianjoy Rehab Center in Wheaton.
"The conditions at the VA hospital were so bad, he had to be taken to a private hospital in order to save his life," said Michelle Senatore, a volunteer with the city of Wheaton who has become a true guardian angel for the Gomez family.
After hearing his story at a City Council meeting, Senatore was so touched that she mobilized the community to help Sgt. Gomez and his family, who could not accommodate him -- in his condition -- in their humble apartment. "The first thing I did was put a calendar together and set up volunteers to go visit him twice a week so he would not be a forgotten soldier," she said.
Well, the residents of Wheaton have done a lot more than that. About a dozen doctors from the area came out and offered to take care of Sgt. Gomez at no cost. Regular citizens donated money to a foundation to buy a piece of land; a construction company offered the necessary materials and equipment to build the Gomez family a home; and a restaurant owner provided the money for a special vehicle for the handicapped.
When the house donated by the community is finished in mid-August, the family will move in. "There will be plenty of room for his wheelchair to get around," said Senatore.
The Good Samaritan is now on a mission to help other veterans like Joel. She will soon travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with military officials from Sgt. Gomez's First Infantry Division, as well as political leaders. "They constantly complain that veterans are not getting the support they deserve, but are not putting a plan together to do something about it," she said. The programs for veterans, she claimed, have not changed since 1945. The first suggestion she will make is to establish some kind of health-care credential for veterans, allowing them to seek medical care wherever they choose.
As much as it hurts her to see her son in this condition, Sgt. Gomez's mother has no regrets. She still remembers the day he came home, at 17 years of age, with an Army contract in his hand, asking her to sign it. "I signed it because I believe that parents should support their children in their dreams and aspirations. This was something he really wanted to do," said Mrs. Gomez. However, she is disappointed in the way he has been treated by the government. "They risk their lives, and then the government forgets about them," she said.
Being a soldier is something Joel always wanted to do. And although he has told family members and friends that he does not agree with the war in Iraq, in the same breath he'll say that if he were ever to regain the use of his arms and legs, he would not hesitate to once again answer his country's call to duty. Joel Gomez was born a soldier. He and many more like him deserve to be recognized, honored and supported. |
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