“Support Our Troops”…  Here’s how you can turn a far-too-often hollow catchphrase into something real and meaningful for a very deserving friend of mine I went to grammar/middle school with for a short time in the late 70s/early 80s when I lived in Maryland, who I was lucky enough to reconnect with through Facebook years ago. With the holidays fully upon us, the difficulties he is going through are that much more frustrating, and this GoFundMe campaign is that much more needed. My appeal to you is a bit of long story, but I hope you will read it through to the end.

 

Who is that deserving friend…? Henry "Pete" Warner is his name. He is someone who, for many years, has endured a host of debilitating medical issues yet has always been able to dig deep to find the mental determination and physical strength to fight through it all to be the very best version of himself he can be for himself and his six children (four of which--3 teens and 1 adult--still live at home).

 

Pete served in the US Army from 1988 through 1992 with the Headquarters 82nd Airborne Division and the Headquarters (Commo Platoon) 313th Military Intelligence Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division. While serving, he took part in Operation Just Cause (Panama) and Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm (Iraq/First Gulf War).

 

By 1992, he started having medical issues – intermittent periods of numbness, muscle pain, joint pain, sinus issues, and gastrointestinal problems. Before long, it became more severe and life-threatening. He had several surgeries, including the removal of his gall bladder, which had become necrotic. As Pete says, “Doctors were baffled why I had inflammation all over my body and why nerves and organs were mysteriously dying.” Eventually, a VA program at Johns Hopkins University diagnosed him with a strange, unique inflammatory disease attributed to Pete’s service in the First Gulf War – now known as Gulf War Illness.

 

In 2012, Pete applied for disability benefits from the VA. Gulf War Illness is supposed to be a presumptive claim for disability, but, unbelievably, his claim was denied as the VA’s doctor said Pete failed to prove that his illness was service related. (Absolutely ridiculous.) Pete appealed the decision, and that hearing is finally on the docket to be heard next year. (Fingers crossed, though, that it doesn’t get pushed back due to a backlog of cases due to COVID.)

 

On a daily basis, Pete battles constant muscle and joint pain, headaches/difficulty concentrating, and chronic fatigue. The inflammation has killed the peripheral nerve cells in his arms and legs, so he no longer has feeling in his hands or feet. His sense of balance is gone. On multiple occasions, he has suffered partial blindness due to inflammation of the optic nerve. He takes a combination of 17 medications along with infusions every three weeks to keep the disease from rendering him paralyzed.

 

Two months ago, despite him and his kids taking every precaution, Pete caught COVID. Thankfully, he pulled through it, but not without consequences. He has since been diagnosed with Long-Haul COVID and is no longer able to work. While all this was going on, his private insurer (MetLife) put his short-term disability case into an “under review/pending” status, causing his job to stop paying him, which, in turn, stopped payments by his job towards his health insurance policy.

 

At this point, Pete has filed for long-term disability. This meant hiring an attorney because he simply doesn’t have the fortitude to get through all that paperwork and keep up with all the back-and-forth communications with multiple parties on his own. And attorneys cost money. And so does keeping a roof over your head and food on the table, not to mention medical treatments and prescriptions.

 

When I first suggested to Pete that a GoFundMe page should be set up to help him get through these trying times, he very nicely turned me down with his reasoning neatly summed up with his familiar refrain of, “This, too, shall pass.”  As circumstances progressed, I asked him to reconsider, and, again, he very nicely turned me down, explaining he wanted to set a good example for his children on how to get through hard times. Respectful of his position but hoping to change his mind, I told him that accepting help is its own kind of strength, and it would help him to keep going after the VA and MetLife to do right by him. It took a little bit longer, but he finally agreed.  : )

 

So, I ask all who read this to please contribute what you can to Pete’s GoFundMe page to help him get through these lean times. Pete is running out of money. His job stopped paying him on November 5. His short-term disability case is under review and not paying him either. His long-term disability claim is in its early stages, so there is no money there yet. His savings will run out December 1, right when his next rent payment becomes due on his home.

 

As Pete shared with me: “I did everything right. I worked hard and bought the right insurance – 2/3 disability policy and even paid it After Tax so that, if I ever needed to use that policy, the benefits would be paid tax free. Now, thanks to corporate bureaucracy and greed, I am left just waiting for the attorney and the insurance company to do their thing. All of this as I also continue to wait for the VA appeal…”

 

So, please, let’s show this all-around great man and military veteran some love by rallying together to help counter the setbacks Pete has been enduring as of late so he can “keep on keeping on” to take care of himself and his children—not only this holiday season, but far into 2022. Thank you so much!

 

Note: I am beginning this fundraiser with a goal of $8,200 (as a nod to his time with the 82nd Airborne), but that's only enough to get him through about a month and a half of living expenses and past/current medical expenses payments (and doesn't take Christmas into consideration). I am hoping we reach that goal quickly and that I can double or even triple that goal amount in the days/weeks ahead.