thedrifter
12-16-07, 08:20 AM
Donations unite family of wounded veteran
PARENTS, WIFE ABLE TO BE NEAR HOSPITAL
By Kristina Peterson
Bay Area News Group
Article Launched: 12/16/2007 01:41:48 AM PST
Last year Sam and Erin Nichols spent their first holiday season together in four years of marriage after boot camp and two overseas deployments had kept them apart.
On Friday, Erin Nichols, 24, held up a photo of the couple in their Oceanside apartment last year.
"That was our first Christmas tree," she said.
This year the high school sweethearts from Citrus Heights will be together again, but in Palo Alto.
Sam Nichols, a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps, is recovering at the Veterans Affairs hospital's polytrauma unit after being severely injured in an IED explosion last July in Iraq.
Earlier this month the couple found out that their families will be able to join them in Palo Alto for the holidays, thanks in part to $500 in hotel vouchers and contributions from the Bayside Church in Granite Bay, the Sacramento Marine Corps Veterans Association and the Injured Marines Semper Fi fund, which has donated more than $10,000 to help the couple the past four months, Erin Nichols said.
Her father, Tony Neria, said the donations will help defray the cost of expensive travel and lodging.
"Our budget has been stretched very thin," he wrote in an e-mail. "My wife and I aren't even thinking about buying Christmas presents for each other. But that's OK because that kind of gift doesn't really mean anything to us right now."
His wife, Julie Neria, said the couple has adored their son-in-law since he began dating their daughter, when the two were 14 and 15, respectively.
Erin and Sam Nichols were married in 2003 four years to the day after their first date.
Sam Nichols enlisted in the Marine Corps in October 2003 and did one tour in Iraq, followed by seven months with a Marine Expeditionary Unit to Japan, South Korea, Guam, Thailand and the Philippines, where he helped in the disaster relief effort that followed a landslide in February 2006.
It was on his second deployment to Iraq that Sam was injured. On July 24, an improvised explosive device in the Diyala province killed four men in Sam's unit and left him unconscious, with a broken arm and leg, and traumatic brain injuries.
A neurosurgeon in Germany called and told her Sam was a "3" on the Glasgow coma scale, with "3" being the worst possible condition.
"Originally they didn't think he would survive or wake up," Erin said.
She spent her fourth wedding anniversary flying to Germany with her brother-in-law to spend 30 hours in the country just to see her husband briefly.
Sam Nichols was then sent to Bethesda, Md., where he spent seven weeks at the National Naval Medical Center and began making progress. In September, doctors sent him to Palo Alto so he could benefit from the traumatic brain injury rehabilitation unit.
In the past four months, Sam Nichols' progress has far surpassed the doctor's initial expectations, Erin Nichols said. Though he cannot talk yet, he communicates with his fingers one means yes, two means no.
"And he gives me a thumbs up for good," she said. When she wants a hug, he can lift up his arm, so she can curl under it.
Last week, Sam Nichols took his first ride in a wheelchair, she said.
She spends the majority of the day at the hospital, talking to her husband and consulting with his doctors, nurses and physical therapists.
"We call her Dr. Erin," her mother said.
Recently, Sam Nichols seemed to be in pain in the afternoons, and it was Erin Nichols who figured out through patient questioning that he was suffering from migraine headaches, Julie said.
Back in Citrus Heights, Tony Neria has been writing a blog about his son-in-law's progress since the week of his injury.
"We were just walking around the house crying, and he had to do something," Julie Neria said. "It was born out of anxiety and stress," but now has thousands of readers tracking Sam Nichols' progress, she said.
"We just have a lot of faith that he will continue to heal and get back to being Sam," she said.
At the moment, Erin Nichols does not know how much longer she and her husband will remain in Palo Alto.
"That's to be determined," she said, "but he's making progress."
E-mail Kristina Peterson at kpetersondailynewsgroup.com.
Ellie
PARENTS, WIFE ABLE TO BE NEAR HOSPITAL
By Kristina Peterson
Bay Area News Group
Article Launched: 12/16/2007 01:41:48 AM PST
Last year Sam and Erin Nichols spent their first holiday season together in four years of marriage after boot camp and two overseas deployments had kept them apart.
On Friday, Erin Nichols, 24, held up a photo of the couple in their Oceanside apartment last year.
"That was our first Christmas tree," she said.
This year the high school sweethearts from Citrus Heights will be together again, but in Palo Alto.
Sam Nichols, a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps, is recovering at the Veterans Affairs hospital's polytrauma unit after being severely injured in an IED explosion last July in Iraq.
Earlier this month the couple found out that their families will be able to join them in Palo Alto for the holidays, thanks in part to $500 in hotel vouchers and contributions from the Bayside Church in Granite Bay, the Sacramento Marine Corps Veterans Association and the Injured Marines Semper Fi fund, which has donated more than $10,000 to help the couple the past four months, Erin Nichols said.
Her father, Tony Neria, said the donations will help defray the cost of expensive travel and lodging.
"Our budget has been stretched very thin," he wrote in an e-mail. "My wife and I aren't even thinking about buying Christmas presents for each other. But that's OK because that kind of gift doesn't really mean anything to us right now."
His wife, Julie Neria, said the couple has adored their son-in-law since he began dating their daughter, when the two were 14 and 15, respectively.
Erin and Sam Nichols were married in 2003 four years to the day after their first date.
Sam Nichols enlisted in the Marine Corps in October 2003 and did one tour in Iraq, followed by seven months with a Marine Expeditionary Unit to Japan, South Korea, Guam, Thailand and the Philippines, where he helped in the disaster relief effort that followed a landslide in February 2006.
It was on his second deployment to Iraq that Sam was injured. On July 24, an improvised explosive device in the Diyala province killed four men in Sam's unit and left him unconscious, with a broken arm and leg, and traumatic brain injuries.
A neurosurgeon in Germany called and told her Sam was a "3" on the Glasgow coma scale, with "3" being the worst possible condition.
"Originally they didn't think he would survive or wake up," Erin said.
She spent her fourth wedding anniversary flying to Germany with her brother-in-law to spend 30 hours in the country just to see her husband briefly.
Sam Nichols was then sent to Bethesda, Md., where he spent seven weeks at the National Naval Medical Center and began making progress. In September, doctors sent him to Palo Alto so he could benefit from the traumatic brain injury rehabilitation unit.
In the past four months, Sam Nichols' progress has far surpassed the doctor's initial expectations, Erin Nichols said. Though he cannot talk yet, he communicates with his fingers one means yes, two means no.
"And he gives me a thumbs up for good," she said. When she wants a hug, he can lift up his arm, so she can curl under it.
Last week, Sam Nichols took his first ride in a wheelchair, she said.
She spends the majority of the day at the hospital, talking to her husband and consulting with his doctors, nurses and physical therapists.
"We call her Dr. Erin," her mother said.
Recently, Sam Nichols seemed to be in pain in the afternoons, and it was Erin Nichols who figured out through patient questioning that he was suffering from migraine headaches, Julie said.
Back in Citrus Heights, Tony Neria has been writing a blog about his son-in-law's progress since the week of his injury.
"We were just walking around the house crying, and he had to do something," Julie Neria said. "It was born out of anxiety and stress," but now has thousands of readers tracking Sam Nichols' progress, she said.
"We just have a lot of faith that he will continue to heal and get back to being Sam," she said.
At the moment, Erin Nichols does not know how much longer she and her husband will remain in Palo Alto.
"That's to be determined," she said, "but he's making progress."
E-mail Kristina Peterson at kpetersondailynewsgroup.com.
Ellie