.Parents Of Marine Taken Off Life Support Speak Out
COLUMBIA, Tenn. - A family from Columbia just returned from Germany where they had their final moments with their son, a Marine who was left brain dead after being shot in Afghanistan.
Lance Corporal Andrew Carpenter's parents were forced to make the decision to take him off life support. Carpenter passed away on Saturday.
"We had got a letter from him before he left, it was a like a good bye letter," recalled Andrew Carpenter's dad, Kevin.
He held the note from his son written months ago, after his second deployment to Afghanistan.
It's still too hard for Kevin and Cindy Carpenter to read the letter and cope with the loss of their son after he was shot in the neck by a sniper in Afghanistan last Monday.
"It was a very small bullet but it did a lot of damage," said Cindy Carpenter, Andrew's mom.
The bullet left him brain dead in a German hospital and left his parents with no choice but to fly across the world to remove him from life support.
"We just needed to be able to touch him and hold him. We were there when he was born and we were there when he died," said Cindy.
But the one person who couldn't be there was his wife, Crissie. She is nine-months pregnant with their first child and couldn't make the flight to Germany. Doctors said Andrew wouldn't survive a flight to the U.S.
"I feel for her so much because she wanted to be there so badly and she was doing the best thing for her child," said Cindy.
They taped a picture of her ultrasound, a little boy named Landon, to Andrew's chest during his final moments.
"For me it felt like hours, but it wasn't hours it was a matter of minutes," said Cindy.
"It was the peace I needed to find. It still hurt but we got to hold him, kiss him," added Kevin.
They were given a moment to whisper what they wanted him to know: just how proud they were of their son, their hero.
"We just want everyone to remember that Andrew is a hero, he gave his life for his country and was doing what he wanted to do," said Cindy.
Carpenter's family is still waiting for his body to be flown back to Columbia to make funeral arrangements.
Meanwhile, they are asking for donations for baby Landon in lieu of flowers. He is expected to be born in the next couple of weeks.
Details for those donations will be here on NewsChannel5.com when they become available.
Newschannle5
Lance Corporal Andrew Carpenter's parents were forced to make the decision to take him off life support. Carpenter passed away on Saturday.
"We had got a letter from him before he left, it was a like a good bye letter," recalled Andrew Carpenter's dad, Kevin.
He held the note from his son written months ago, after his second deployment to Afghanistan.
It's still too hard for Kevin and Cindy Carpenter to read the letter and cope with the loss of their son after he was shot in the neck by a sniper in Afghanistan last Monday.
"It was a very small bullet but it did a lot of damage," said Cindy Carpenter, Andrew's mom.
The bullet left him brain dead in a German hospital and left his parents with no choice but to fly across the world to remove him from life support.
"We just needed to be able to touch him and hold him. We were there when he was born and we were there when he died," said Cindy.
But the one person who couldn't be there was his wife, Crissie. She is nine-months pregnant with their first child and couldn't make the flight to Germany. Doctors said Andrew wouldn't survive a flight to the U.S.
"I feel for her so much because she wanted to be there so badly and she was doing the best thing for her child," said Cindy.
They taped a picture of her ultrasound, a little boy named Landon, to Andrew's chest during his final moments.
"For me it felt like hours, but it wasn't hours it was a matter of minutes," said Cindy.
"It was the peace I needed to find. It still hurt but we got to hold him, kiss him," added Kevin.
They were given a moment to whisper what they wanted him to know: just how proud they were of their son, their hero.
"We just want everyone to remember that Andrew is a hero, he gave his life for his country and was doing what he wanted to do," said Cindy.
Carpenter's family is still waiting for his body to be flown back to Columbia to make funeral arrangements.
Meanwhile, they are asking for donations for baby Landon in lieu of flowers. He is expected to be born in the next couple of weeks.
Details for those donations will be here on NewsChannel5.com when they become available.
Newschannle5
posted by madtom at 9:23 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home