The Cover Photograph
The cover of the book is a photo of Lieutenant Melissa Stockwell of the US Army receiving physical therapy from Bob Bahr for injuries she received in Iraq at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, DC in February 2005. Her remarkable life and determination since her injury is illustrative of the book’s themes: return, reintegration, and resiliency.
LT Stockwell was a member of the Transportation Corps stationed as a platoon leader with the 1st Calvary Division in Fort Hood, Texas. She was in Iraq for only three weeks on a routine convoy patrol when a roadside bomb struck her convoy on April 13, 2004. The blast from the bomb resulted in the loss of her left leg from the knee down. It was her husband (who was also serving with the Army in Iraq) who informed her of the loss of her leg.
She was first evacuated to Landstuhl, Germany for initial treatment and then transported to Walter Reed for rehabilitation. After 15 surgeries, further amputation to remove more of the leg above her knee because of infections, and more than a year of rehab, she was released from treatment and medically retired from the Army.
Since her retirement from the service, she has pursued new dreams and goals. Both she and her husband went back to school where she graduated with a degree from the prosthetics program at Century College in Chicago in 2007. After completing her residency and her board exams, she is a certified prosthetist in Chicago and looks forward to helping other wounded veterans. She also helps other veterans as a member of the board of directors for the Wounded Warrior Project.
Thanks to the help and support of organizations like the Challenged Athletes Foundation, Disabled Sports USA, and the Wounded Warrior Project, Mrs. Stockwell has pursued her interest in athletics – and done so with a passion. She regularly competes in triathlons and completed the New York City Marathon on a hand crank bike. She has also learned to ski with adaptive equipment and become a competitive swimmer. After training full-time at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center she qualified for the Paralympics and represented the United States in the 2008 Beijing games. She She describes this experience as “a dream come true - I feel as through I am the luckiest girl in the world.”
