In Home Care Giver Disabled

Disabled Veterans Forced to Rely on Parents for Caregiver Duties ...

As the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continue, more and more American soldiers are surviving impossible injuries as the result of improved medical treatment and state-of-the-art rehabilitation. At home, each seriously injured vet faces another kind of battle – a life filled with daily needs and unending challenges. Many of these young men and women won't be able to make it on their own without some kind of caregiver assistance. Who is going to care for them?

Who cares for the seriously-injured young soldier once he's home? Who picks up the pieces of a soldier's shattered life? How does a mother or father cope when a traumatically-injured son or daughter returns home from war with a diagnosis that could last a lifetime? It's time for America to wake up and recognize these injured soldiers and the unsung heroes of war – the mothers, fathers and other family relatives who respond to the call of caregiver.

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has already started spreading the word concerning the dilemma faced by thousands of military soldiers and their caregiver families. To help support the effort, journalist and television anchor Jane Pauley took part in a video broadcast, titled, " Picking up the Pieces: When Wounded Vets Come Home " (May 2008). The video gives viewers a chance to see what takes place when Johnny comes marching home with a debilitating war injury that could last months, years or even a lifetime.

Pauley interviews two parents; each suddenly finds herself in the role of caregiver for an adult child who was wounded in the war. At the beginning of the video, Pauley states that as many as 10,000 recently wounded soldiers must now rely on their parents for long-term care. She also interviews ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and his wife Lee, who share their personal story of recovery and healing.*

* Bob Woodruff is the ABC News correspondent that was nearly killed by a roadside bomb on Jan. 29, 2006, in Iraq. He suffered a severe brain injury and was in a coma for over a month. His recovery has been a long and difficult journey – and a phenomenal victory, to say the least.

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