FOR AN INJURED VETERAN, OPTIMISM IS HALF THE BATTLE
Paralyzed soldier vows he's 'still gonna walk' after sniper's bullet
By Rosanna Ruiz
Houston Chronicle
www.chron.com
February 2, 2008 - Former Army Spc. Dillon Cannon twists and settles into his wheelchair.
Just a year ago, movement like that was impossible after a sniper's bullet in Iraq left him partially paralyzed.
The 21-year-old still believes - as he did when featured in a January 2007 Chronicle article about traumatic war injuries - that he will walk again.
Although he has regained sensation in his legs, he says, his body will unlikely improve much more without medical advances yet undiscovered.
"I'm still gonna walk," Cannon vowed. "There are breakthroughs."
But for now, Cannon, like thousands of other veterans, must rebuild a life torn apart by war.
He knows he could have suffered a fate far worse - more than five soldiers in his unit did not make it home.
Since Cannon was airlifted from Iraq, the death toll among American troops there has grown by 1,000, among them more than 30 people with ties to Houston.
Thousands of other U.S. troops have been seriously injured and, like Cannon, have been unable to return to the battlefield. Since the war in Iraq began, about 4,000 troops have died and about 29,000 have been wounded, the latest Defense Department figures indicate.
Cannon's rehabilitative therapy keeps his life on hold as he struggles to adjust to life in a wheelchair and a pending divorce.
Progress in trying times He was shot in the neck Dec. 29, 2006, as he manned a gun atop a Humvee.
He was treated in Iraq, flown to Germany and ultimately arrived in Houston on Jan. 23 of last year.
Since then, he has made progress, regaining use of his arms as well as sensation in his legs.
He did experience one setback, however. Last summer, just shy of their one-year anniversary, he and his wife Heather split.
It was an amicable break, and the divorce is almost complete. Neither were ready for marriage, Cannon said. His early exit from the military forced decisions neither were prepared to make.
"It was really a hard time," he said.
He received physical therapy at the VA Hospital for several months. He and his mother, Patti Cannon, struggled to arrange treatment elsewhere, but his military insurance did not open many doors.
"I pleaded, cried and begged," she said. "I said, 'This kid served his country, and he needs more therapy than he's getting.'"
Finally, a call to the office of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, got Cannon into The Institute of Rehabilitation and Research, where he is being treated on an outpatient basis.
He concentrates on strength-training to build his upper body. The goal is to move more easily from chair to bed or into his hand-controlled car. He still hopes to attend college and pursue a career, but those goals are on hold.
Frequent muscle spasms now make movement difficult and sometimes keep him idle indoors.
Stay busy, stay upbeat Mardi Gras, wheelchair skiing in Colorado and wheelchair rugby are on his mind. Staying busy is the key to staying upbeat.
"You just get mad when you can't do something," he said. "The days I stay busy are the days I'm fine."
That can mean just hanging out with his high school friend and roommate, Mark Scisco, or his new girlfriend, 22-year-old Cassy Kish.
His mother remains by his side, although she worries that she may be hurting his chance of doing things for himself.
She still cries for him.
"I can't look at him without crying," she said. "l feel so sorry for him."
Cannon understands.
Sometimes he can't help but feel sorry for himself, too.