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thedrifter
01-04-07, 11:10 AM
January 04. 2007 6:59AM
Ill and homebound, he'll still write to those in Iraq
South Bend man resolves to reach out to Marines.

JOSHUA STOWE
Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- A host of health problems leave Jim Chodzinski tired and homebound, frequently confined to his bed and unable to climb stairs without difficulty.

But the 45-year-old South Bend man, who was diagnosed more than a decade ago with HIV, congestive heart failure and two forms of cancer, is writing to locally based Marines serving in Iraq.

Chodzinski recently contacted a spokeswoman for Engineer Company B, a Marine reserve unit from South Bend, in order to arrange his letter-writing.

"I want to write them and let them know that somebody's thinking about them," he said. "I'm going to write a bunch. If they write back, I will definitely keep it going."

Staying busy, reaching out

As he copes with illness, Chodzinski said, it's important to reach out to other people.

He still remembers receiving the grim medical diagnosis in August 1996, when he learned of his health conditions.

"I went to the bathroom and threw up, came back, sat down and asked, what can I do to get better?" he said.

When he was told he had just two months to live, Chodzinski refused to accept that.

"I've had 10 extra years, I try to help as many people as I can," he said. "This is a way to give back a little bit."

A military interest

Chodzinski hails from a military family -- his father served in the Army, as did a brother, and his late uncle served in the Navy.

He doesn't hesitate to criticize the war in Iraq, but says he's "proud" of those serving in it -- a perspective

he says will be clear in his writings to members of Engineer Company B.

"I was just going to tell them a little bit about my situation and basically that I'm proud of them," he said. "And (that) this war to me is taking too many lives and lasting too long, and it shouldn't be that way. It's taking too many of our young kids."

Chodzinski believes letter-writing will help him experience the perspective of military personnel serving in Iraq.

"I'd like to know what they're going through, and if they eat, and if they're hurt at all, or just emotionally scarred from this," he said. "With everything that's going on, you wonder how long the morale is going to stay up. I'd like to know what they do to keep their morale up, because they don't show that on television."

He shies away from media coverage of the war, preferring instead to hear from those who wage it.

"I'd rather hear it from them, what they're going through," he said. "They're living through it, we're not."

A welcome gesture

Maj. Celeste Ross, a spokeswoman for Engineer Company B, said she finds it "so inspiring" that Chodzinski, while gravely ill, is reaching out.

"He is bedridden ... but his first thought is, 'How can I go about spreading cheer?'" she said.

For his part, Chodzinski is eager to see what happens when he writes.

"I'm sure there are people from my state here in Indiana," he said. "They'll have someone to talk and maybe tell their problems to. They'll have a shoulder to lean on.

"The P.S. will be that if they want to write back and forth, it will be great," he said. "I will answer any letters."

Staff writer Joshua Stowe:
jstowe@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6359

Ellie