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American Morning
Interview With David Chatham, Jenny Chatham
Aired December 25, 2003 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: While some U.S. troops are spending the holiday in Iraq, others are recovering stateside from injuries sustained during the war. I had a chance to spend some time at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where one man there is proving to be a source of inspiration for soldiers who are recovering from war.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTOPHER REID, COUNSELOR, VETERANS AFFAIRS: You'll be pushing yourself, huh?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., it's where servicemen and women injured in the line of duty are brought to recover.
SGT. DAVID CHATHAM, INJURED IN IRAQ: We were on the highway. It was dark. We passed by a series of buildings. The next thing I know, a blinding flash of light. I'm laying in the body of my turret, you know, choking on rocket propeller.
O'BRIEN: Thirty-three-year-old Staff Sergeant David Chatham's left leg was destroyed by a rocket propelled grenade in an attack west of Baghdad. The Fort Riley based soldier was able to save his own life.
CHATHAM: My leg was numb. I thought possibly my foot was broken. My gunner was hurt. I reached down to feel the extent of my injury and I felt some warm, wet stuff hitting my fingers and I was like, yes, I'd better this tourniquet on here or I'm going to die.
O'BRIEN: Twenty-one-year-old Sergeant Alex Leonard (ph) lost a leg and shattered the other. Eighteen surgeries later, he's still in a wheelchair, but learning to walk again. It is a slow and painful process.
SGT. ALEX LEONARD, INJURED IN IRAQ: Just recently I've gotten into my leg, my prosthetic leg, to where I can get up on it and start to make, you know, start to move on it.
REID: That's the mentality that you need to have because that's the only way you're going to get over with your, you know, losing your leg and so on and so forth.
O'BRIEN: The man who guides these soldiers is Retired Sergeant Christopher Reid, a counselor for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Reid meets the wounded as soon as they arrive at the hospital and stays with them the whole time, as a friend, an adviser and a confidante, someone who knows all too well what his patients are going through, because Chris Reid was once one of them.
REID: I suffered amputation of my right hand below the elbow, my right leg above the knee, bilateral hearing loss, bilateral vision problem.
O'BRIEN: Ten years ago, Chris nearly died in a gun battle in Somalia and came to Walter Reed in serious condition. He was blind, deaf and had lost two of his limbs. Today, he wears an artificial leg and right arm.
(on camera): It must be nice to have somebody who can say you've been through it 10 years later and he looks 100 percent.
ADOLFO LOPEZ-SANTINI: Even when I see him walking and talking, everything's fine. He just have everything. So he just makes me try harder to get better.
O'BRIEN: Adolfo Lopez-Santini is a husband and father of two stationed at Fort Hood in Texas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In there?
LOPEZ-SANTINI: You've got daddy's (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
O'BRIEN: In Iraq, his right hand was shattered, his legs injured, and, like Chris, after his injury, is partially deaf and blind. And, like Chris, his first days at Walter Reed were bleak.
(on camera): It's got to be hard to hold up a very strong front. You know, your wife's here and your kids are here. What's that like?
LOPEZ-SANTINI: Well, when my wife got here, it was, it was hard because I couldn't, I couldn't tell the difference between my kids.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's your baby?
LOPEZ-SANTINI: And I couldn't see them or hear them at first, if they were -- I couldn't tell the difference between them. And...
O'BRIEN: You said you felt if you were going to be blind and you were going to be deaf and you had two little kids, then life wasn't going to be worth living, you might as well have died. Am I...
LOPEZ-SANTINI: Pretty much.
O'BRIEN: What do you do when someone says, as we just heard, if I can't see and I can't hear my children, this is not life, I don't want to live? What do you say to that?
REID: I tell them not to give up, because even if you can't hear and can't see your kids, you can still touch them. I was rolled here in a stretcher. I was on a respirator fighting for my life. And I determined that one day, whenever that time come, I wanted to walk out of here, and eventually I did.
LOPEZ-SANTINI: He told me, it will get better. It has. Also, he said once I'll be able to see, and now I'm seeing better, seeing shadows, and they're coming into color and to focus. And the doctor said with one more surgery I should be able to see 20-40, which is great. Hopefully I can get my sight back and I can be a special ed teacher. I think I can come along and help them more because I know some of what they've went through.
REID: So, you're trying to go to Fort Riley?
O'BRIEN (voice-over): For Sergeants Leonard and Chatham, there is light at the end of the tunnel, as well.
LEONARD: When I brought my leg, my left leg up, not putting any weight on it, and I was still able to do it, that was kind of a, you know, just a pick me up.
CHATHAM: And I'm not like other people. You know, I'm not so wrapped around the idea of being perfect. If I've got a limp or if I've got a gimp, that's OK. The Army is my life. I'm going to give another five years into it and I'm going to walk across that stage and retire.
REID: These young men and women have paid the ultimate sacrifice, probably next to dying, and we need to do whatever we can, that even after you leave here, you're going to have a life. You have no choice but to have another life after you leave here anyway. So that's what I bring to them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Sergeant Chris Reid stays in touch and tells everyone they can come back to Walter Reed for help and for counseling.
Sergeant David Chatham, who you met in that piece, joins us now, along with his wife Jenny from their home in Fort Riley, Kansas.
And with them this morning, as well, sons Jared, who is three years old, and Ian, who's just seven months old.
Hey, David, it's nice to see you again.
D. CHATHAM: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: How does it feel to be home for the holidays?
D. CHATHAM: Oh, it's, it's great. The best part of it all is that I'm just here with my family. It's really good to be back with them again.
O'BRIEN: And, Jenny, how about for you?
What's it like to have your husband back?
JENNY CHATHAM, WIFE OF INJURED SOLDIER: It's wonderful. O'BRIEN: I know when you have little kids, you have your hands full.
So has he been helping out or do you find that he's catching up with his friends?
J. CHATHAM: No, he's helping out. He really is. He's stubborn, so he's trying to do a lot of things that he probably shouldn't be doing, like taking out the trash.
O'BRIEN: You know, I have to say, when we first met David, you -- I think that stubbornness came through. And you seemed really well adjusted to the point where I think some other people in the hospital really weren't that well adjusted to their new condition.
Give me a sense of what the major obstacles have been for you missing a leg.
D. CHATHAM: Well, are you talking about in the sense of since I've been home, since I've come back home?
O'BRIEN: Yes, yes, since you've been home.
D. CHATHAM: Well, actually, believe it or not, it really hasn't been -- I really haven't run into any major obstacles, really. It's a bunch of little things. Coming back in, I mean little things like going to the kitchen and making me something to drink, I can't really like take the glass, you know, back to my seat. You know, I have to ask my wife to, you know, bring it back to me.
Showering, showering obviously presents a problem. You know, I mean you've got to be very careful. And that, too -- and I have a flight of steps that I have to negotiate, you know, to get upstairs, you know?
Other than that it's, you know, I haven't run into any major obstacles or anything, I mean upon coming home, not physically, not as far as that goes.
O'BRIEN: And how has it been for you, Jenny? Has there been anything that's been particularly hard for you?
I can see your 3-year-old. He reminds me so much of my 3-year- old, which is the minute the camera goes on he goes a little wild. He's so cute.
J. CHATHAM: Yes. There's nothing major that we've had to adjust to so far, just having to change sides of the bed. And he sits on the other side of the bed now and -- because of his leg. And that's about it, really.
D. CHATHAM: I try to get the first shot to the bathroom...
J. CHATHAM: Nothing major so far.
D. CHATHAM: ... so I don't trip over, trip over the chest near the bed.
O'BRIEN: It must be really scary for you, Jenny, in all seriousness now, when you hear what happened and how David -- I mean when he told me the story of how he put on his own tourniquet in order to staunch the bleeding. You know, to know how close he came to losing his life has got to be very hard for you.
J. CHATHAM: Yes, it is. It's very hard. That's one phone call you don't want to get, is to hear that your husband's been injured.
O'BRIEN: And how have the boys enjoyed having their dad home?
J. CHATHAM: Oh, they love it. They love it.
O'BRIEN: Well, I've got to tell you guys, It's nice to see you, David, home with your family, and it's nice to see your cute kids that you were describing to me when we met at Walter Reed.
So thanks for sharing some time with us this morning.
We sure appreciate it.
D. CHATHAM: All righty, thank you.
J. CHATHAM: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 25, 2003 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: While some U.S. troops are spending the holiday in Iraq, others are recovering stateside from injuries sustained during the war. I had a chance to spend some time at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where one man there is proving to be a source of inspiration for soldiers who are recovering from war.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTOPHER REID, COUNSELOR, VETERANS AFFAIRS: You'll be pushing yourself, huh?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., it's where servicemen and women injured in the line of duty are brought to recover.
SGT. DAVID CHATHAM, INJURED IN IRAQ: We were on the highway. It was dark. We passed by a series of buildings. The next thing I know, a blinding flash of light. I'm laying in the body of my turret, you know, choking on rocket propeller.
O'BRIEN: Thirty-three-year-old Staff Sergeant David Chatham's left leg was destroyed by a rocket propelled grenade in an attack west of Baghdad. The Fort Riley based soldier was able to save his own life.
CHATHAM: My leg was numb. I thought possibly my foot was broken. My gunner was hurt. I reached down to feel the extent of my injury and I felt some warm, wet stuff hitting my fingers and I was like, yes, I'd better this tourniquet on here or I'm going to die.
O'BRIEN: Twenty-one-year-old Sergeant Alex Leonard (ph) lost a leg and shattered the other. Eighteen surgeries later, he's still in a wheelchair, but learning to walk again. It is a slow and painful process.
SGT. ALEX LEONARD, INJURED IN IRAQ: Just recently I've gotten into my leg, my prosthetic leg, to where I can get up on it and start to make, you know, start to move on it.
REID: That's the mentality that you need to have because that's the only way you're going to get over with your, you know, losing your leg and so on and so forth.
O'BRIEN: The man who guides these soldiers is Retired Sergeant Christopher Reid, a counselor for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Reid meets the wounded as soon as they arrive at the hospital and stays with them the whole time, as a friend, an adviser and a confidante, someone who knows all too well what his patients are going through, because Chris Reid was once one of them.
REID: I suffered amputation of my right hand below the elbow, my right leg above the knee, bilateral hearing loss, bilateral vision problem.
O'BRIEN: Ten years ago, Chris nearly died in a gun battle in Somalia and came to Walter Reed in serious condition. He was blind, deaf and had lost two of his limbs. Today, he wears an artificial leg and right arm.
(on camera): It must be nice to have somebody who can say you've been through it 10 years later and he looks 100 percent.
ADOLFO LOPEZ-SANTINI: Even when I see him walking and talking, everything's fine. He just have everything. So he just makes me try harder to get better.
O'BRIEN: Adolfo Lopez-Santini is a husband and father of two stationed at Fort Hood in Texas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In there?
LOPEZ-SANTINI: You've got daddy's (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
O'BRIEN: In Iraq, his right hand was shattered, his legs injured, and, like Chris, after his injury, is partially deaf and blind. And, like Chris, his first days at Walter Reed were bleak.
(on camera): It's got to be hard to hold up a very strong front. You know, your wife's here and your kids are here. What's that like?
LOPEZ-SANTINI: Well, when my wife got here, it was, it was hard because I couldn't, I couldn't tell the difference between my kids.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's your baby?
LOPEZ-SANTINI: And I couldn't see them or hear them at first, if they were -- I couldn't tell the difference between them. And...
O'BRIEN: You said you felt if you were going to be blind and you were going to be deaf and you had two little kids, then life wasn't going to be worth living, you might as well have died. Am I...
LOPEZ-SANTINI: Pretty much.
O'BRIEN: What do you do when someone says, as we just heard, if I can't see and I can't hear my children, this is not life, I don't want to live? What do you say to that?
REID: I tell them not to give up, because even if you can't hear and can't see your kids, you can still touch them. I was rolled here in a stretcher. I was on a respirator fighting for my life. And I determined that one day, whenever that time come, I wanted to walk out of here, and eventually I did.
LOPEZ-SANTINI: He told me, it will get better. It has. Also, he said once I'll be able to see, and now I'm seeing better, seeing shadows, and they're coming into color and to focus. And the doctor said with one more surgery I should be able to see 20-40, which is great. Hopefully I can get my sight back and I can be a special ed teacher. I think I can come along and help them more because I know some of what they've went through.
REID: So, you're trying to go to Fort Riley?
O'BRIEN (voice-over): For Sergeants Leonard and Chatham, there is light at the end of the tunnel, as well.
LEONARD: When I brought my leg, my left leg up, not putting any weight on it, and I was still able to do it, that was kind of a, you know, just a pick me up.
CHATHAM: And I'm not like other people. You know, I'm not so wrapped around the idea of being perfect. If I've got a limp or if I've got a gimp, that's OK. The Army is my life. I'm going to give another five years into it and I'm going to walk across that stage and retire.
REID: These young men and women have paid the ultimate sacrifice, probably next to dying, and we need to do whatever we can, that even after you leave here, you're going to have a life. You have no choice but to have another life after you leave here anyway. So that's what I bring to them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Sergeant Chris Reid stays in touch and tells everyone they can come back to Walter Reed for help and for counseling.
Sergeant David Chatham, who you met in that piece, joins us now, along with his wife Jenny from their home in Fort Riley, Kansas.
And with them this morning, as well, sons Jared, who is three years old, and Ian, who's just seven months old.
Hey, David, it's nice to see you again.
D. CHATHAM: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: How does it feel to be home for the holidays?
D. CHATHAM: Oh, it's, it's great. The best part of it all is that I'm just here with my family. It's really good to be back with them again.
O'BRIEN: And, Jenny, how about for you?
What's it like to have your husband back?
JENNY CHATHAM, WIFE OF INJURED SOLDIER: It's wonderful. O'BRIEN: I know when you have little kids, you have your hands full.
So has he been helping out or do you find that he's catching up with his friends?
J. CHATHAM: No, he's helping out. He really is. He's stubborn, so he's trying to do a lot of things that he probably shouldn't be doing, like taking out the trash.
O'BRIEN: You know, I have to say, when we first met David, you -- I think that stubbornness came through. And you seemed really well adjusted to the point where I think some other people in the hospital really weren't that well adjusted to their new condition.
Give me a sense of what the major obstacles have been for you missing a leg.
D. CHATHAM: Well, are you talking about in the sense of since I've been home, since I've come back home?
O'BRIEN: Yes, yes, since you've been home.
D. CHATHAM: Well, actually, believe it or not, it really hasn't been -- I really haven't run into any major obstacles, really. It's a bunch of little things. Coming back in, I mean little things like going to the kitchen and making me something to drink, I can't really like take the glass, you know, back to my seat. You know, I have to ask my wife to, you know, bring it back to me.
Showering, showering obviously presents a problem. You know, I mean you've got to be very careful. And that, too -- and I have a flight of steps that I have to negotiate, you know, to get upstairs, you know?
Other than that it's, you know, I haven't run into any major obstacles or anything, I mean upon coming home, not physically, not as far as that goes.
O'BRIEN: And how has it been for you, Jenny? Has there been anything that's been particularly hard for you?
I can see your 3-year-old. He reminds me so much of my 3-year- old, which is the minute the camera goes on he goes a little wild. He's so cute.
J. CHATHAM: Yes. There's nothing major that we've had to adjust to so far, just having to change sides of the bed. And he sits on the other side of the bed now and -- because of his leg. And that's about it, really.
D. CHATHAM: I try to get the first shot to the bathroom...
J. CHATHAM: Nothing major so far.
D. CHATHAM: ... so I don't trip over, trip over the chest near the bed.
O'BRIEN: It must be really scary for you, Jenny, in all seriousness now, when you hear what happened and how David -- I mean when he told me the story of how he put on his own tourniquet in order to staunch the bleeding. You know, to know how close he came to losing his life has got to be very hard for you.
J. CHATHAM: Yes, it is. It's very hard. That's one phone call you don't want to get, is to hear that your husband's been injured.
O'BRIEN: And how have the boys enjoyed having their dad home?
J. CHATHAM: Oh, they love it. They love it.
O'BRIEN: Well, I've got to tell you guys, It's nice to see you, David, home with your family, and it's nice to see your cute kids that you were describing to me when we met at Walter Reed.
So thanks for sharing some time with us this morning.
We sure appreciate it.
D. CHATHAM: All righty, thank you.
J. CHATHAM: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
