PICTURES from March 31, 2009 Visit with Romulo Camargo
at the Veterans Hospital in Tampa
Pictures were taken on March 31st at the Veterans Hospital in Tampa and show Richard Sumner, Dave Garraway, and Jack Townsend visiting with Romulo Camargo. "Romy" is a 1993 graduate of Crystal River High School.
He was severely wounded in September 2008 in Afghanistan and is now a quadriplegic. Needless to say his wife Gabriella and family are severely impacted by his situation. They even have a young child, still in diapers. Part of his paralysis left him unable to use his chest muscles to breathe, so he also had a tracheotomy and couldn't talk until just a few days ago when they began efforts to wean him from his respirator.
He was shot multiple times and it's now thought he was a target because he was giving out food and had made an "in" with some of the local people in the area.
He comes across as a fine young man with a very positive outlook for the future. He just refuses to give up. Says more than anything he would like to go back to his unit and finish the work they started.
Jack presented his wife "Gabby" with a check from the SAR to help the family in these difficult times.