thedrifter
03-03-07, 06:22 AM
03/03/2007
War leaves mom emotionally wounded
BY ROBERT KALINOWSKI
STAFF WRITER
BERWICK — With her son in Iraq less than two weeks, Kimberly Sheets was awakened from sleep Sept. 24, 2006, by the call she dreaded.
It was 1:13 a.m. The Marines had tragic news.
Sheets’ eldest son Lance Cpl. Derrick Sharpe was badly wounded in an explosion, his chance to survive was slim.
Having fought for his life for months, Sharpe has beat the odds and is now home visiting family and friends in Berwick for the first time since the blast.
Describing the last five months as a “roller coaster ride,” Sheets says her living nightmare included sleepless nights in overseas military hospitals and granting doctors permission to remove Sharpe’s right leg. She’s ecstatic her 19-year-old son has a renewed chance at life, but it doesn’t overshadow the tough road this mother has followed to support her son.
Sheets said she stayed up all night after the Marines called to inform her about the blast.
“We didn’t know if we were going to have Marines knocking on our door the next morning” to inform her Sharpe died, she said.
Hours after the call, Sheets left for Germany to visit her son in a U.S. military hospital. She stayed by his bedside 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. each day. Sharpe was in a coma. Shrapnel had torn through his abdomen. A chunk of his right leg was missing. Her son was on the brink of death and infections spread through Sharpe’s body. Doctors performed daily surgeries to try to save his life. Then, one day physicians made a frantic call to Sheets, telling her to come to the operating room immediately.
“They didn’t think he was going to make it,” she said. “At that point, we were allowed to say goodbye, give him a kiss. I wasn’t going to tell him goodbye. I just told him I’d see him later,” she recalled.
Sharpe made it through, and his condition improved in the coming weeks. Though still in a coma, he was moved stateside to Bethesda Naval Hospital. Then, one day doctors placed another distressed call to Sheets. They asked permission to remove his leg. The infection resurfaced and was spreading fast.
“I was nervous. I didn’t want him to be angry with me,” she said. “They told me he only had five days to live if they didn’t take it, so I said OK.”
Since the amputation, Sheets and Sharpe’s father, Barry, have also been by their son’s side from when he first began to open his eyes in November, to when he began breathing without a ventilator in December, to watching him take his first steps with a prosthetic leg in recent weeks.
Sheets said she and her proud Marine son have had some deep discussions in recent weeks.
“We’ve talked a lot lately. It’s weird. In the beginning when he left, he was the rebellious teenager and mom was the bad guy. We would collide. It took this to get us closer together,” she said.
Reared in a family where the men went to the military, Sheets can’t rest easy now, even as Sharpe will be safely on U.S. soil. Her two other sons, Damian, 17, and Dalton, 15, plan to join the Marines as well. Damian leaves in June. She said Sharpe’s ordeal hasn’t negatively affected their decisions.
“No, it’s made them want to go more — to be able to serve their country and stand up for their brother,” she said.
Their plans are tough on this mother emotionally wounded from war.
“I really don’t want to go through this again,” she said.
bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com
Ellie
War leaves mom emotionally wounded
BY ROBERT KALINOWSKI
STAFF WRITER
BERWICK — With her son in Iraq less than two weeks, Kimberly Sheets was awakened from sleep Sept. 24, 2006, by the call she dreaded.
It was 1:13 a.m. The Marines had tragic news.
Sheets’ eldest son Lance Cpl. Derrick Sharpe was badly wounded in an explosion, his chance to survive was slim.
Having fought for his life for months, Sharpe has beat the odds and is now home visiting family and friends in Berwick for the first time since the blast.
Describing the last five months as a “roller coaster ride,” Sheets says her living nightmare included sleepless nights in overseas military hospitals and granting doctors permission to remove Sharpe’s right leg. She’s ecstatic her 19-year-old son has a renewed chance at life, but it doesn’t overshadow the tough road this mother has followed to support her son.
Sheets said she stayed up all night after the Marines called to inform her about the blast.
“We didn’t know if we were going to have Marines knocking on our door the next morning” to inform her Sharpe died, she said.
Hours after the call, Sheets left for Germany to visit her son in a U.S. military hospital. She stayed by his bedside 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. each day. Sharpe was in a coma. Shrapnel had torn through his abdomen. A chunk of his right leg was missing. Her son was on the brink of death and infections spread through Sharpe’s body. Doctors performed daily surgeries to try to save his life. Then, one day physicians made a frantic call to Sheets, telling her to come to the operating room immediately.
“They didn’t think he was going to make it,” she said. “At that point, we were allowed to say goodbye, give him a kiss. I wasn’t going to tell him goodbye. I just told him I’d see him later,” she recalled.
Sharpe made it through, and his condition improved in the coming weeks. Though still in a coma, he was moved stateside to Bethesda Naval Hospital. Then, one day doctors placed another distressed call to Sheets. They asked permission to remove his leg. The infection resurfaced and was spreading fast.
“I was nervous. I didn’t want him to be angry with me,” she said. “They told me he only had five days to live if they didn’t take it, so I said OK.”
Since the amputation, Sheets and Sharpe’s father, Barry, have also been by their son’s side from when he first began to open his eyes in November, to when he began breathing without a ventilator in December, to watching him take his first steps with a prosthetic leg in recent weeks.
Sheets said she and her proud Marine son have had some deep discussions in recent weeks.
“We’ve talked a lot lately. It’s weird. In the beginning when he left, he was the rebellious teenager and mom was the bad guy. We would collide. It took this to get us closer together,” she said.
Reared in a family where the men went to the military, Sheets can’t rest easy now, even as Sharpe will be safely on U.S. soil. Her two other sons, Damian, 17, and Dalton, 15, plan to join the Marines as well. Damian leaves in June. She said Sharpe’s ordeal hasn’t negatively affected their decisions.
“No, it’s made them want to go more — to be able to serve their country and stand up for their brother,” she said.
Their plans are tough on this mother emotionally wounded from war.
“I really don’t want to go through this again,” she said.
bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com
Ellie