Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund

Brain damaged.

Paralized

Burned.

Blind.

Deaf.

This is how some American soldiers come home.

In Iraq, the gravest wounds have been caused by roadside bombs---improvised explosives (packed with debris such as broken glass, nails, or gravel) that explode shrapnel up into a soldier's legs, arms, and face. They're set off by remote control as a Humvee or truck passes by.

More than 20,000 men and women have been wounded in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. But over 90 percent of them survive.

They survive and they come home.

The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund has completed construction of a world-class state-of-the-art physical rehabilitation facility for wounded warriors at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.

It serves soldiers who have been catastrophically disabled in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and soldiers and veterans severely injured in other military operations.

As of now, The Center for the Intrepid cares for traumatic amputee patients, burn patients requiring advanced rehabilitation, and service members undergoing limb salvage procedures.

Many soldiers who suffer the loss of a limb also sustain traumatic brain injury (TBI), from mild to severe. That is the nature of blast trauma. While the Center is not designed or currently staffed to treat isolated TBI, there are plans to do so in the future.

The Fund is accepting contributions to provide added support to the soldiers who will be treated in the Center. This support may include facilities for patients' children, additional medical equipment and supplies, and medical research to improve the care of patients.

100 percent of contributions go to caring for wounded soldiers and their families

The Fund was formed in October 2001 in response to Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan following 9/11.

The Fund previously provided unrestricted grants to the families of those who were lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2001 it has given over $14 million to military families. New legislation enacted in May 2005 has significantly increased the death gratuity and the Service Members Group Life Insurance support to these families. At that time, the Fund redirected its efforts to support catastrophically disabled military personnel and their families.

The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund continues the good work of the Intrepid Foundation and of Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher. Between 1982 and 1999, the Fishers made contributions of up to $25,000 to hundreds of military families who had lost a loved one in combat. The gifts helped families manage the tough financial times that often follow such a death. Zachary and Elizabeth personally funded this effort until Zachary's death in 1999.

Contributions can be made online or you can download a mail-in donation form on the Fund's website. Again, all contributions go directly to care for wounded soldiers. None are used to cover administrative costs.

Karl Vick, "The Lasting Wounds of War." washingtonpost.com. URL:
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A44839-2004Apr26?language=printer)