Tomas Young hospitalized-Cards and Prayers welcome
Ira Harritt
Below is information about the health of Tomas Young, Iraq war vet who was the subject of the documentary Body of War <http://www.bodyofwar.com/> and IVAW activist.
Your prayers, good wishes and cards I am sure would be very much appreciated. (See address below.)
Thanks for your work for peace.
Sincerely,
Ira Harritt
KC AFSC
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Tomas Young hospitalized
IVAW member Tomas Young is hospitalized in Kansas City. Tomas briefly fell into a coma brought on by a clot in his lungs. Tomas is the subject of the documentary Body of War <http://www.bodyofwar.com/> and the curator of the album Body of War Music. His contributions to IVAW are numerous. We send him and his family our best wishes in this difficult time.
Update: Tomas is back in the hospital with pneumonia . We will update this post as we get more information.
Tomas Young and his family welcome correspondence. You can write them at:
Tomas Young - patient
Saint Luke's Hospital
4401 Wornall
Kansas City, MO 64111
More information: Anti-War Vet Tomas Young Hospitalized
http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2008/06/antiwar_vet_tomas_young_hospit.php <http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2008/06/antiwar_vet_tomas_young_hospit.php>
Wounded Vet Fights New Battle
Reported by: Larry Seward
Email: sew...@nbcactionnews.com
Last Update: 6/07 12:39 pm
Tomas Young <javascript:void(0);>
Tomas Young
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - He starred in Phil Donahue's documentary "Body of War." But a local soldier injured in Iraq is fighting a devastating brain injury.
Tomas Young bounced in and out of intensive care at Saint Luke's Hopsital for a week after a blood clot put him in a coma.
His mother, Cathy Smith, said it could be months before Young can speak clearly.
"I don't think he really knows what's going on," Smith said. "He wants to go home. He thinks he's ready to go home and he's not even close to being ready to go home."
Fighting for the United States Army in Iraq, Young lost use of his lower body four years ago. The world met Young and heard his story in Phil Donahue's documentary. The paralyzed soldier became a vocal critic of the war, traveling around the country for speaking engagements. He lived to tell his story. Suddenly, though, Young is near silent.
"It's not fair," Smith said.
On May 23, a blood clot in Young's right arm moved into his lung. His family rushed him to Saint Luke's Hospital where he fell into a coma.
"Four days later, he was able to converse with us, but all of a sudden he went backwards," Smith said.
An infection put Young back in ICU with a devastating brain injury.
"He can't make words clearly," Smith said. "It takes him three or four tries until we can understand what he's saying. He's very slow when he speaks and it's almost like he's re-training his brain to speak right now."
Smith salutes care provided by doctors at St. Luke's, but she is angry with doctors who previously examined Tomas. Smith says her son complained of soreness in his right arm, but doctors from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center overlooked the clot. It forced Tomas to fight another unwanted battle.
"This is something that could have been diagnosed before it got to this point," Smith said. "I can't be certain about that at this point. But, I think it's something that could have been diagnosed and we could have avoided all of this."
In addition to speech problems, Tomas Young also lost fine motor skills. Smith said it could take months of rehab before he is back to normal.
http://www.nbcactionnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=602040f4-7f09-4a27-9cee-71f3f38db673 <http://www.nbcactionnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=602040f4-7f09-4a27-9cee-71f3f38db673>