New start for wounded veterans
Golf clinic unites, strengthens group
By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff | June 21, 2007
CONCORD -- Standing on the neatly trimmed greens at the Nashawtuc Country Club yesterday, Sean Lewis dug a left cleat into the turf and unleashed a powerful swing that cut through the muggy air.
As the golf ball sailed down the middle of the practice fairway, a dozen men who had lost limbs or sustained other injuries while fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan watched its flight. Lewis, whose entire right leg was torn from his body by an improvised explosive device three years ago in Iraq, stood steady on his one remaining leg. Although he has a prosthetic limb, he plays without it because it limits his swing. He tapped another ball into position and swung again, uprooting a chunk of grass. The ball curved to the right.
"I have my good days and bad days," Lewis said.
Lewis, an Army sergeant, and the other soldiers and Marines were part of a golf clinic held during the annual Bank of America Championship. The clinic, which promoted the sport as a rehabilitative tool for wounded veterans, was a partnership between the Wounded Warrior Project and Disabled Sports USA and was sponsored by the bank.
"Golf helped me with my balance," said Dan Nevis, 34, who lost his left leg below the knee and suffered extensive damage to his right leg in 2004 after an IED blew up under his vehicle. After 27 surgeries to repair his right leg, he used golf to help regain agility. He said he recently shot an 82, his personal best. Nevis, who uses a prosthetic limb when he plays, has become a spokesman for the Professional Golfers' Association .
More:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/06/21/new_start_for_wounded_veterans/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+City%2FRegion+NewsSee also:
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George’s uncle advised against the surgery, but Barbara decided to go ahead. Thirty-six years later, she cried when talking to a reporter about this lonely decision. Robin never came out of the operation, though George reached the hospital before she died.
According to Barbara Bush’s own account, they next day the Bushes went golfing.
We called our families and told them the news and went to Greenwich for a memorial service. (There would be no funeral; we had signed papers giving Robin’s body to research.) Those few days were a little vague, but several things come to mind.
The day after Robin died, George and I went to Rye to play golf with Daddy, at his suggestion. As we drove out to on the parkway, I was shocked to see that the leaves were at the peak of their beauty. I remember realizing life went on, whether we were looking or not. I also remember changing my shoes in the locker room and seeing my childhood friend, Marilyn Peterson.We talked briefly, and I did not mention Robin. I wondered later if she thought it was weird that we were playing golf the day after our baby died. I, for one,was numb.
And then they came home to tell seven-year-old George.
On a fall day in 1953, George and Barbara Bush drove their green Oldsmobile up the gravel driveway at Sam Houston Elementary School in Midland, Tex., looking for their oldest child. George W. Bush and a friend from second grade were lugging a Victrola from their classroom to the principal’s office when he spotted his parents’ car. He was sure his little sister was in the back seat.
More:
http://www.republicoft.com/2007/06/11/the-myth-of-a-bush-recovery-pt-1/
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