On November
11th, 2011, while our country was celebrating Veterans Day, USMC
Corporal Greg Caron was on his second tour of duty searching for
known Taliban compounds in the Southern Marjah area of Afghanistan.
Caron's vehicle made contact with an improvised
explosive device, and as a result he lost both of his legs
below the knee as well as a tip of his finger, received shrapnel to the
right side of his body, received a critical wound to the bronchial
artery of his right arm and a broken collar bone.
Corporal Caron was evacuated to Camp Dwyer in the Garmsir District of Afghanistan where his situation turned for the worse. He underwent emergency surgery and doctors made attempts to save his right arm. Throughout the night, Caron received multiple units of blood and military doctors stabilized him enough to enable him to be transported to a higher echelon of care at Bagram Airfield Hospital in Afghanistan. Thankfully, the medical team was able to do enough to save his right arm, but Caron still does not have full function of the arm and he cannot grasp anything with his right hand. He spent many months recovering and rehabilitating at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
Corporal Caron was evacuated to Camp Dwyer in the Garmsir District of Afghanistan where his situation turned for the worse. He underwent emergency surgery and doctors made attempts to save his right arm. Throughout the night, Caron received multiple units of blood and military doctors stabilized him enough to enable him to be transported to a higher echelon of care at Bagram Airfield Hospital in Afghanistan. Thankfully, the medical team was able to do enough to save his right arm, but Caron still does not have full function of the arm and he cannot grasp anything with his right hand. He spent many months recovering and rehabilitating at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
Corporal Caron was kind of enough to spend some time with the team this past Monday."I want to run again some day and told each player to take every day as it comes and be thankful for what you have" he stated. "I remember Greg playing soccer at Ellington High School with my son Ryan" Coach Scordato added. "He was a 2 time all state performer and still holds many scoring records"
Since returning from overseas the Ellington, CT
native participated in the Boston Marathon's Men's Handcycle Race and
finished in 1:58.49, 10th overall. He was one of fourteen
wounded servicemen from the Achilles Freedom Team of Wounded Veterans
who competed in the race.
“I wasn’t trying to be top dog. I
was just trying to finish, period,” Caron told the team. “My main
focus has been on walking. I haven't had that much time to ride a
bike.” Today Caron continues his
rehabilitation in Connecticut and recently Building Homes for Heroes
announced the Caron family as a home recipient. The home will be
built in Ellington, Connecticut his home town.
"I personally feel Greg's talk
motivated the team and took many of the players by surprise in a good
way" Scordato added. "Hopefully they will take all of his
messages to heart and assimilate it in their own lives".
