thedrifter
01-10-07, 07:09 AM
Wounded Marine's woes spur family to aid others
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
By ELAINE D'AURIZIO
STAFF WRITER
Kathy Sturla fought back tears as amputees from Walter Reed Hospital got off the bus to attend ceremonies for the 229th birthday of the Marine Corps at nearby Bethesda National Naval Medical Center.
"It was very emotional ... very hard not to cry," Sturla recalls. "You look at these guys in wheelchairs, with canes, and they're so young. They suffered life-changing injuries. ... You just know how long the recovery period is going to be. It's impossible not to be moved."
Also recovering at Bethesda was someone close to her heart -- her son, Marine Staff Sgt. James Sturla. His left arm had been torn up and the skin stripped from his right hand when his tank was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade on the Syrian border in Iraq in September 2004.
"It was a difficult time. ... We almost lost him during the surgeries," said Sturla, who stayed in Maryland with her husband, Bob, for six weeks to be near their son, whose injured arm was reconstructed.
The emotional and financial struggles the family and their soldier endured during those weeks and for months after Jim returned home prompted family members in January 2005 to form the Family & Friends For Freedom Fund Inc. Based in Pompton Plains, the group's mission is to raise funds for injured Marines and their families. It has already distributed more than $117,000.
How to help
• Anyone wishing to make a donation in support of injured Marines or in memory of a soldier who gave his or her life can send it to Family & Friends For Freedom Fund Inc., 40 Woodland Place, Pompton Plains 07444.
• For more information, visit the fund's Web site, injuredmarinesfund.org.
"We've given financial assistance to soldiers and their families from about 20 states," said Paula Sturla of Pompton Lakes, Jim's sister-in-law and the group's president. "We have fund-raisers almost every month, do golf outings, casino nights, a band benefit, St. Patrick's Day dinner, have a Father's Day breakfast, car shows, craft fairs, a fish fry."
The Pequannock Community Theater is hosting a USO Variety Show at Pequannock High School on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Proceeds will go to the fund.
"We attend parades and sell T-shirts and sweat shirts, magnets, and bracelets off the Web site and at flea markets," Paula said. "We're working on a motorcycle run for next year."
The group's 11 members and about 25 helpers also take turns one day a month visiting the injured at Walter Reed and Bethesda hospitals.
"Many are going through brain trauma from explosions. Eight to 15 surgeries a week is average -- they have shrapnel that has to be cleaned out every day so they don't get infections; skin graftings; rehabilitation -- families want to be there," said Paula.
"You don't think about your mortgage, your credit card bills, car loans, utilities," she said.
"That second salary is gone and they're paying for a sitter for the kids because the family has to visit at Bethesda," Paula said.
Kathy Sturla took a leave from her job as a tour operator for six weeks and her husband took a month's leave when they left Pompton Plains. They first stayed at the Naval Lodge, then the Fisher House, where four or five families at a time get rooms.
Although the military pays for lodging and will eventually reimburse for meals while in Maryland, families must lay out the money.
After 6½ weeks in the hospital, Jim returned home to his wife, Allison, and their two children, Jordon, 4, and Haley, 3, in North Carolina.
The second week of December, the Sturlas went to North Carolina to baby-sit the grandkids so Allison could accompany Jim to Maryland for more surgery.
While Jim recuperated at home, the family needed a lot of help in chores he could no longer do.
"He couldn't cut the lawn, couldn't lift up his children," said Kathy.
Their hardships made the Sturlas compassionate in ways they had never considered.
"It made us realize that there were other families in the same situation," Paula said.
So the fund was born in January 2005.
Jim, now 27 and a career Marine, came so far that he passed his physical fitness exam -- still with pins in his arm -- and again sought deployment. He left for Iraq on Sept. 16.
Jim had wanted to be a Marine since he was a boy, Kathy said, adding, "The Marines are family to him."
He joined in August 1997 after graduating from Pequannock High School.
And as a military mother, Kathy said, her life has since been a roller coaster.
"You live, eat, and breathe the Marines because your son is in Iraq," she said. "You worry all the time."
But she's proud.
"This is what he worked for, this is what he wanted, this is how he healed," she said.
E-mail: daurizio@northjersey.com
Ellie
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
By ELAINE D'AURIZIO
STAFF WRITER
Kathy Sturla fought back tears as amputees from Walter Reed Hospital got off the bus to attend ceremonies for the 229th birthday of the Marine Corps at nearby Bethesda National Naval Medical Center.
"It was very emotional ... very hard not to cry," Sturla recalls. "You look at these guys in wheelchairs, with canes, and they're so young. They suffered life-changing injuries. ... You just know how long the recovery period is going to be. It's impossible not to be moved."
Also recovering at Bethesda was someone close to her heart -- her son, Marine Staff Sgt. James Sturla. His left arm had been torn up and the skin stripped from his right hand when his tank was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade on the Syrian border in Iraq in September 2004.
"It was a difficult time. ... We almost lost him during the surgeries," said Sturla, who stayed in Maryland with her husband, Bob, for six weeks to be near their son, whose injured arm was reconstructed.
The emotional and financial struggles the family and their soldier endured during those weeks and for months after Jim returned home prompted family members in January 2005 to form the Family & Friends For Freedom Fund Inc. Based in Pompton Plains, the group's mission is to raise funds for injured Marines and their families. It has already distributed more than $117,000.
How to help
• Anyone wishing to make a donation in support of injured Marines or in memory of a soldier who gave his or her life can send it to Family & Friends For Freedom Fund Inc., 40 Woodland Place, Pompton Plains 07444.
• For more information, visit the fund's Web site, injuredmarinesfund.org.
"We've given financial assistance to soldiers and their families from about 20 states," said Paula Sturla of Pompton Lakes, Jim's sister-in-law and the group's president. "We have fund-raisers almost every month, do golf outings, casino nights, a band benefit, St. Patrick's Day dinner, have a Father's Day breakfast, car shows, craft fairs, a fish fry."
The Pequannock Community Theater is hosting a USO Variety Show at Pequannock High School on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Proceeds will go to the fund.
"We attend parades and sell T-shirts and sweat shirts, magnets, and bracelets off the Web site and at flea markets," Paula said. "We're working on a motorcycle run for next year."
The group's 11 members and about 25 helpers also take turns one day a month visiting the injured at Walter Reed and Bethesda hospitals.
"Many are going through brain trauma from explosions. Eight to 15 surgeries a week is average -- they have shrapnel that has to be cleaned out every day so they don't get infections; skin graftings; rehabilitation -- families want to be there," said Paula.
"You don't think about your mortgage, your credit card bills, car loans, utilities," she said.
"That second salary is gone and they're paying for a sitter for the kids because the family has to visit at Bethesda," Paula said.
Kathy Sturla took a leave from her job as a tour operator for six weeks and her husband took a month's leave when they left Pompton Plains. They first stayed at the Naval Lodge, then the Fisher House, where four or five families at a time get rooms.
Although the military pays for lodging and will eventually reimburse for meals while in Maryland, families must lay out the money.
After 6½ weeks in the hospital, Jim returned home to his wife, Allison, and their two children, Jordon, 4, and Haley, 3, in North Carolina.
The second week of December, the Sturlas went to North Carolina to baby-sit the grandkids so Allison could accompany Jim to Maryland for more surgery.
While Jim recuperated at home, the family needed a lot of help in chores he could no longer do.
"He couldn't cut the lawn, couldn't lift up his children," said Kathy.
Their hardships made the Sturlas compassionate in ways they had never considered.
"It made us realize that there were other families in the same situation," Paula said.
So the fund was born in January 2005.
Jim, now 27 and a career Marine, came so far that he passed his physical fitness exam -- still with pins in his arm -- and again sought deployment. He left for Iraq on Sept. 16.
Jim had wanted to be a Marine since he was a boy, Kathy said, adding, "The Marines are family to him."
He joined in August 1997 after graduating from Pequannock High School.
And as a military mother, Kathy said, her life has since been a roller coaster.
"You live, eat, and breathe the Marines because your son is in Iraq," she said. "You worry all the time."
But she's proud.
"This is what he worked for, this is what he wanted, this is how he healed," she said.
E-mail: daurizio@northjersey.com
Ellie