I received an email this morning from Rory's Mom & Step Dad.  He's made the news again.  Rory is the soilder from Washington State that was injured in Iraq that I gave a puppy too.

Here is the email:
few weeks ago, we received a call from Captain Tina Sundem, who had been a
critical care nurse in Iraq.  Last July, she picked up the Tacoma Tribune
and saw Rory on the front page
(LINK to News Article).  In this article there's a picture of Rory playing with his puppy!
She came undone -- having been Rory's critical care nurse in Baghdad for
five days and then helping to load him on the medivac to Landstuhl, she
believed him to be brain dead and expected that he might even die enroute.
Memories of Rory and his terrible injuries haunted her until she found out
that Rory was alive and well.  Cynthia and I arranged to meet her for lunch
shortly after she made contact with us -- a lunch that ended up lasting
almost seven hours!  We talked and talked and shed many tears as she related
her experiences taking care of our beloved son and so many other American
heroes.  We also were able to make Tina laugh and smile telling her our
collection of Rory stories.  Rory was so happy to get together with her
finally himself -- it was another step in both their healing:
Link to News Article

Other news:  Rory just this week made an offer on a beautiful condo, and the
sellers accepted his offer.  The condo is really wonderful, complete with a
patio and little grassy backyard.  He remains close to shopping and
restaurants and close to us.  (Rory takes Cynthia out for coffee and/or
lunch a couple times a week, so we are happy he is close to another
Starbucks and his favorite Mexican restaurant.)  He is busy this week going
through the process of arranging a loan and scheduling the inspection, the
appraisal, etc.  We are so happy for him as becoming a homeowner was one of
his major goals for 2006.

Another one of Rory's goals was to give up smoking.  He tells us he is down
to one cigarette a day and won't be buying anymore after his current supply
is gone. Rory says that he will not be smoking in his bright, clean, new
condo.

Rory is still enjoying visits to the cabin and fishing trips with us.  He
talked Cynthia into joining us and has offered to come over and teach her to
flycast.  Rory is waiting for the next round of hunting dog classes to start
for his dog, Duke.  We are making contact with Dr. Poffenbarger (the
neurosurgeon who saved Rory's life) to try to arrange a future fishing or
hunting trip.

Rory continues to bowl with friends every Monday night, have his regular
poker nights, and goes to the golf course to hit a bucket of balls now and
again.  He dug out his first set of golf clubs for Cynthia and has been
asking her to learn to play.  Rory comes over often to BBQ or cook for us.

 

Needless to say, we remain thrilled with Rory's ongoing progress and the
fact that he has proven so many predictions for his future WRONG . . .

Best regards,

Cynthia & Stan

Updated picture of Rory:

That's so cool. Thanks Patty. I am glad things are going well for him. Give him my regards.

Thanks for the update. So glad to hear. Go Rory!

Thanks Patty
It is so good to see how well Rory is doing.