Army sergeant continues march to recovery - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Army sergeant continues march to recovery

Last fall, a Navy physician told Army Sgt. Tony Senecal’s family he would never recover.

His wife, Brenda, angrily scribbled the doctor’s remark into her journal Sept. 30: “This could be all there is.”

On the night of Sept. 19, Senecal was ordered aloft with a dozen other soldiers to practice firing a machine gun in a Black Hawk helicopter near Balad, Iraq. A storm-driven downdraft caused the helicopter to crash, the Army later told his wife.

The soldier sitting opposite Senecal — Spc. Michael Cote, 20, of Louisiana — died. The crash fractured Senecal’s face and cracked his skull across the top and around the base, Brenda Senecal says.

Despite the dire prognosis after Senecal arrived at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., his wife and his parents, Dean and Kathleen Senecal, refused to accept it. They sat with him as he fought through a bout of pneumonia. Brenda Senecal sprinkled her Mariah Carey perfume on his pillow so he would know she was there. His father hunted down a TV and played “Family Guy” videos for his son.

Brenda and Tony Senecal have a daughter, Kiley, 5, and infant son Kaden, 1.

By the time Tony Senecal transferred to Tampa, Fla., on Nov. 19, his eyes were open and there were flashes of consciousness — squeezing Brenda’s hand in response to simple questions. Therapists immediately began the process of prodding and pushing Senecal to respond to voice commands and physical activity.

At first, there were lapses by Senecal where nothing made sense. Department of Veterans Affairs speech therapist Kathryn Kieffer worked with him on rudimentary communication and using objects for their intended purpose. He responded, answering with a “yes” or “no,” throwing a ball or picking up on a verbal series: “One, two, three ...”

More important, he began doing this consistently, Kieffer says. She declared him clinically awake on Nov. 24.

On Jan. 15, Brenda wrote in her journal that her husband said to her, “You make me want to live every day.”

Despite weakness on his left side and painful bone growth — not uncommon with brain injuries — around his left hip, Senecal worked up a sweat in physical therapy. By April, he could walk without a cane.

During therapy April 28, Tony wore a T-shirt that read “High Voltage,” cargo shorts and gym shoes. To impress two women who entered the room, he flipped over on his stomach and began doing push-ups.

“Another day, another dollar,” he said with impish grin.

In early April, he moved into residential rehabilitation to relearn basic skills: food preparation, laundry, house cleaning, real-world functioning. Next week, he leaves Tampa for home in North Pole, Alaska, and a likely medical discharge from the Army.

Communication remains slow, a “processing” problem, says VA physician Rafael Mascarinas. Senecal often sits and listens during meals, leaving his family waiting for more. “I have no idea how he’s feeling,” his father says. “I’m waiting for the day that all this catches up to him [and] he tells me what he’s actually thinking.”

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