SivVulk
03-05-2007, 10:35 PM
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- You might not remember his name.
But you surely remember what happened to him.
One year ago this weekend, Capt. Trevor Greene was hit in the head by a crazed Afghan wielding an axe in an attack that horrified Canadians for its sheer viciousness and brutality.
His shaken colleagues, who shot the attacker dead on the spot, thought Greene was done for. Indeed, the blow was probably deep and deadly enough to kill most people, but not Greene.
Astonishingly, he survived the attack and today is most assuredly alive.
And he has a message for Canadians: "Despite being clobbered in the head with a Taliban axe, I would go back in a heartbeat to finish off the mission."
It is a message that manages to convey humour, optimism and determination, which pretty much sums up the man and the traits that have seen him come so far since the attack. He is still in Vancouver General Hospital, still confined to a bed and wheelchair, still struggling through endless sessions of physical rehabilitation.
But he is getting better.
"There's no impairment of his cognitive functions," says his fiancée, Debbie Lepore, who has been at his side every day since he was brought home. "He thinks as well has he did before."
For privacy reasons, she didn't want to release any recent photos of Greene, but says he looks much the same as he did before the attack, maybe a few pounds lighter.
Greene's ongoing fight is to overcome the physical handicap created when the axe cleaved into the area of the brain that controls his motor functions.
Every day he goes through physical therapy in an attempt to rewire his brain. He is relearning how to move his hands, his arms and his legs. "So, if the brain makes new connections to get those neurons through and the synapses firing then there's a chance that he'll get that back. But he was hit pretty hard in the area that controls the legs."
It must be at times a frustrating struggle for Greene, 42, who before the attack was a strapping 6-foot-4 bundle of energy who spoke English, French and Japanese and wrote several books.
It was this interest in the downtrodden that led him to volunteer as a member of Canada's Civilian-Military Co-operation team in Afghanistan.
Greene's physical progress is slow and laborious, measured in the twitch of a finger, the flutter of a hand.
His recovery will take years; there is no fast fix or set schedule. It is akin to Canada's progress in Afghanistan. Indeed, Greene's story could stand as a metaphor for Canada's mission here.
It is the story of a big-hearted and well-meaning man who sat down with people in the village of Gumbad, right in the heart of Taliban country, and in a show of trust and friendship laid down his weapon, removed his combat helmet and took out a notepad and pen to write down what the villagers needed.
That's when a teenager brandishing a weapon right out of the Middle Ages attacked.
It was the end of innocence for big-hearted and well-meaning Canada, and a reminder we are in a war zone.
http://www.canadaka.net/link.php?id=19569
But you surely remember what happened to him.
One year ago this weekend, Capt. Trevor Greene was hit in the head by a crazed Afghan wielding an axe in an attack that horrified Canadians for its sheer viciousness and brutality.
His shaken colleagues, who shot the attacker dead on the spot, thought Greene was done for. Indeed, the blow was probably deep and deadly enough to kill most people, but not Greene.
Astonishingly, he survived the attack and today is most assuredly alive.
And he has a message for Canadians: "Despite being clobbered in the head with a Taliban axe, I would go back in a heartbeat to finish off the mission."
It is a message that manages to convey humour, optimism and determination, which pretty much sums up the man and the traits that have seen him come so far since the attack. He is still in Vancouver General Hospital, still confined to a bed and wheelchair, still struggling through endless sessions of physical rehabilitation.
But he is getting better.
"There's no impairment of his cognitive functions," says his fiancée, Debbie Lepore, who has been at his side every day since he was brought home. "He thinks as well has he did before."
For privacy reasons, she didn't want to release any recent photos of Greene, but says he looks much the same as he did before the attack, maybe a few pounds lighter.
Greene's ongoing fight is to overcome the physical handicap created when the axe cleaved into the area of the brain that controls his motor functions.
Every day he goes through physical therapy in an attempt to rewire his brain. He is relearning how to move his hands, his arms and his legs. "So, if the brain makes new connections to get those neurons through and the synapses firing then there's a chance that he'll get that back. But he was hit pretty hard in the area that controls the legs."
It must be at times a frustrating struggle for Greene, 42, who before the attack was a strapping 6-foot-4 bundle of energy who spoke English, French and Japanese and wrote several books.
It was this interest in the downtrodden that led him to volunteer as a member of Canada's Civilian-Military Co-operation team in Afghanistan.
Greene's physical progress is slow and laborious, measured in the twitch of a finger, the flutter of a hand.
His recovery will take years; there is no fast fix or set schedule. It is akin to Canada's progress in Afghanistan. Indeed, Greene's story could stand as a metaphor for Canada's mission here.
It is the story of a big-hearted and well-meaning man who sat down with people in the village of Gumbad, right in the heart of Taliban country, and in a show of trust and friendship laid down his weapon, removed his combat helmet and took out a notepad and pen to write down what the villagers needed.
That's when a teenager brandishing a weapon right out of the Middle Ages attacked.
It was the end of innocence for big-hearted and well-meaning Canada, and a reminder we are in a war zone.
http://www.canadaka.net/link.php?id=19569