Army Ranger Sgt. 1st Class Cory Remsburg was the clear “winner” during President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. The recovering Ranger sparked the longest and most bipartisan response of the evening – reportedly a two minute standing ovation.
But what you may not know: the Ranger who was severely wounded during his tenth deployment credits the staff at Tampa’s James A. Haley VA Medical Center for bringing him out of a comma and onto a path of recovery.
Remsburg did more than attend the State of the Union while in Washington D. C. He and his father, Craig Remsburg, made it a point to visit with VA Secretary Eric Shinseki according to Vantage Point, the VA blog.
Cory said it was important to meet with Secretary Shinseki while in D.C. to express his feelings about the care he received during his recovery – care that, according to Craig, made all the difference for his son. The medical attention Cory received, chronicled by USA Today’s Gregg Zoroya in 2010, involved attempts at “jump-starting” his brain while he was comatose. The medical staff at the Tampa VA Medical Center tried everything they could to stimulate the Ranger into waking up. Through the emerging consciousness program they gave him commands, physical therapy and even played episodes of Scrubs on T.V. The medical team’s unwavering efforts paid off, as Cory awoke three months later becoming part of VA’s 70% success rate of wounded warriors who fought back to consciousness. And that’s when the work began to help Cory regain his mobility and speech.
So the staff at James A. Haley gets a shout out from an Army Ranger leading the way back to recovery. Read the full Vantage Point story about Cory here.
