Support the Troops… or at least just one now that he is home

Dear Friends:

Staff Sgt. Stephen Valyou, right, spends time playing with toys with his 2-year-old son,
Nathaniel and his wife, Melissa Valyou, while hanging out in their Jensen Beach home
Valyou was almost fatally wounded by a sniper on March 29 in Iraq. Last Friday, there was a
fundraiser to help Valyou obtain an all-terrain wheelchair that will allow him to go with his son to the beach.

Asking for donations is not what I usually write to all of you about, but this is a really worthy cause, not only for the recipient, but for all veterans who have sustained traumatic brain or spinal cord injuries.

Sgt. Valyou needs medical help. He is eligible to receive a stem cell transplant from Dr. William C. Rader of Medra Inc. (www.medra.com). Dr. Rader is kind enough to perform this medical procedure for free, which would cost $30,000, since he believes that our veterans need this type of help, which may allow Sgt. Valyou to walk again.

All Steven needs is to cover his transportation costs to the Dominican Republic which will total about $3,000. I was asked to speak to my friends in the movement and help raise the funds. This could prove to be a breakthrough for all our returning wounded veterans, and he will be a walking testiment to future transplants which can help those with TBI and spinal cord injuries!

Please read his story below, and if you can, donate whatever you can! You can send money directly to him at:

Steven Valyou
16 Deer Run Road
Millterton, NY 12546
Phone #: 518-697-9290

email: [email protected]
or
to the travel agent at:
Travel Circuit
Agent: Bryan, 310-833-8760

Steven would love to hear words of support, as well as anything you can contribute. If you can’t, please forward this message to all those who are on your lists. Curing him could help cure others.

Thank you.

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U.S. ARMY SERGEANT Steven Valyou INJURED IN IRAQ SHOT IN SPINAL CORD

Sgt. Steven Valyou, who was paralyzed by a sniper bullet while probing for an improvised explosive device in Iraq in March 2007, needs your help!

JENSEN BEACH — Every morning, Staff Sgt. Stephen Valyou wakes up knowing a sniper in Iraq has robbed him of his ability to walk.
But it hasn’t taken away his ability to hope and to enjoy life with his wife, Melissa, and son, Nathaniel.
“It was the first thing I thought about, playing with my son, when I realized I had been shot,” he said.
Valyou can play with his son everywhere except on the beach. A fundraiser was held in hopes of amassing at least $2,688 for an all-terrain wheel chair. Valyou, born in Connecticut, was working for his father-in-law and as a firefighter, before 9/11. His response was to join the Army. He took his basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and was assigned as a combat engineer to the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum in Watertown, N.Y.

In 2003 the unit was sent to Afghanistan, where Valyou saw explosive ordnance experts and became fascinated with their work. He volunteered to learn explosive ordnance demolition. His division was sent to Iraq.
“We were northeast of Baghdad near the Iranian border,” Valyou said.

The unit was securing the province so it could be turned over to Iraqi forces.

“I heard the shot,” he said. “I was spinning around and I dropped in a heap. I tried to get up. I thought my legs had been blown off, but I could see they weren’t.”

The shot penetrated his spinal column, damaged his liver, heart and one lung. Medics evacuated him to the hospital and Landstuhl, then to Walter Reed Medical Center, and finally to the James A. Haley Medical Center in Tampa.
In Tampa, the couple decided to move to Jensen Beach to be near relatives.

[Ed. Note: This message was received directly from World Can’t Wait via email]