thedrifter
03-31-06, 11:18 AM
Marine takes his first steps
By Sandy Miller
Times-News writer
TWIN FALLS -- Spring has arrived on the Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus in Washington, D.C.
The cherry trees are in blossom and the tulips are pushing themselves up from the soil. And Marine Cpl. Travis Greene has taken his first steps.
"He's doing very well," said his father, Terry Greene, in a phone interview Thursday from Walter Reed. "He's taking a few more steps every day."
Amputees first learn to walk on short prostheses called "stumpy legs." Later, they get their permanent full-size prostheses. Greene has been putting in some sweaty workouts walking between the parallel bars, his father said.
Greene, 24, a 1999 Twin Falls High School graduate and a star on the Bruin track and field team, lost both of his legs in an explosion in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, on Dec. 7 -- Pearl Harbor Day. One Marine was killed and three other Marines and one Navy corpsman were seriously injured, all of them losing one or both of their legs. All are now outpatients at Mologne House, a hotel on the Walter Reed campus, while undergoing intensive physical therapy.
As Terry Greene spoke to the paper, he was standing outside at Walter Reed watching a triple amputee -- a man who had lost both legs and an arm in a train accident -- demonstrate to his son and other patients how to walk downhill.
"It's a pretty steep hill," Terry Greene said. "I'm pretty surprised."
Physical therapists also have Greene using his manual wheelchair as much as possible to help build his upper body strength. And he's had numerous fittings for the sockets that attach the prostheses to his legs.
"He's going through fit after fit of sockets," Terry Greene told The Times-News. "When they get up on their legs and start moving, the swelling starts to go down rather rapidly. Now that he's got the left side working good, the right side has shrunk."
Still, the Marine is doing pretty well these days.
"He's feeling a lot better," Terry Greene said. "It's exciting to see the progress he's making each day. Each day, there's a little bit of progress."
The Marine and his father are planning to tour the Capitol today. Terry Greene helped his son put his ribbons and medals on his dress uniform, which he is required to wear for the occasion.
"It's amazing how confusing all his ribbons and awards are," Terry Greene wrote on the family's CaringBridge Web site. "They have to be in a certain order and then some of them have special insignias for valor and multiple times receiving them."
Terry Greene said Gov. Dirk Kempthorne keeps in touch with the Marine, and Greene has been invited to Sen. Larry Craig's office on Monday.
Greene was on his third tour of Iraq when he was injured. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.
Times-News writer Sandy Miller can be reached at 735-3264 or by e-mail at smiller@magicvalley.com.
Keeping in touch
Marine Cpl. Travis Greene is now at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and his parents provide daily updates on their son's condition on the family's CaringBridge Web site. To read more, or to leave a message yourself, go to the Web site at www.caringbridge.org and click "visit." In the first box, type "travisgreene" and click again on "visit."
Story published at magicvalley.com on Friday, March 31, 2006
Ellie
By Sandy Miller
Times-News writer
TWIN FALLS -- Spring has arrived on the Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus in Washington, D.C.
The cherry trees are in blossom and the tulips are pushing themselves up from the soil. And Marine Cpl. Travis Greene has taken his first steps.
"He's doing very well," said his father, Terry Greene, in a phone interview Thursday from Walter Reed. "He's taking a few more steps every day."
Amputees first learn to walk on short prostheses called "stumpy legs." Later, they get their permanent full-size prostheses. Greene has been putting in some sweaty workouts walking between the parallel bars, his father said.
Greene, 24, a 1999 Twin Falls High School graduate and a star on the Bruin track and field team, lost both of his legs in an explosion in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, on Dec. 7 -- Pearl Harbor Day. One Marine was killed and three other Marines and one Navy corpsman were seriously injured, all of them losing one or both of their legs. All are now outpatients at Mologne House, a hotel on the Walter Reed campus, while undergoing intensive physical therapy.
As Terry Greene spoke to the paper, he was standing outside at Walter Reed watching a triple amputee -- a man who had lost both legs and an arm in a train accident -- demonstrate to his son and other patients how to walk downhill.
"It's a pretty steep hill," Terry Greene said. "I'm pretty surprised."
Physical therapists also have Greene using his manual wheelchair as much as possible to help build his upper body strength. And he's had numerous fittings for the sockets that attach the prostheses to his legs.
"He's going through fit after fit of sockets," Terry Greene told The Times-News. "When they get up on their legs and start moving, the swelling starts to go down rather rapidly. Now that he's got the left side working good, the right side has shrunk."
Still, the Marine is doing pretty well these days.
"He's feeling a lot better," Terry Greene said. "It's exciting to see the progress he's making each day. Each day, there's a little bit of progress."
The Marine and his father are planning to tour the Capitol today. Terry Greene helped his son put his ribbons and medals on his dress uniform, which he is required to wear for the occasion.
"It's amazing how confusing all his ribbons and awards are," Terry Greene wrote on the family's CaringBridge Web site. "They have to be in a certain order and then some of them have special insignias for valor and multiple times receiving them."
Terry Greene said Gov. Dirk Kempthorne keeps in touch with the Marine, and Greene has been invited to Sen. Larry Craig's office on Monday.
Greene was on his third tour of Iraq when he was injured. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.
Times-News writer Sandy Miller can be reached at 735-3264 or by e-mail at smiller@magicvalley.com.
Keeping in touch
Marine Cpl. Travis Greene is now at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and his parents provide daily updates on their son's condition on the family's CaringBridge Web site. To read more, or to leave a message yourself, go to the Web site at www.caringbridge.org and click "visit." In the first box, type "travisgreene" and click again on "visit."
Story published at magicvalley.com on Friday, March 31, 2006
Ellie