Eric told us about the photo…
This photo was taken shortly after I deployed to Afghanistan. My wife wanted to send me a picture of what was waiting for me when I got home.
Here’s what Eric had to say about Kathleen…
My wife is amazing! She definitely has the hardest job between the two of us while I am deployed. She is taking care of our two 4 year-old and 2 year-old daughters and our 4 month-old son. Not to mention our crazy dog, Casey! She is the world’s greatest wife and mother…and I am very lucky to have her!
I received probably one of the best gifts that I could have received on Mother’s Day, 2010! My son Henry, who was deployed in Afghanistan at the time, requested that a picture of him and LtCol Ishaq (who commands an Operations Support Squadron) walking on the flight line at Kabul International Airport be made and sent to me as my gift.
At the time, I was extremely ill, and the diagnosis still had not been confirmed after 4 months, and no real treatment had been started. The tentative diagnosis was stage 4 Cirrhosis/hepatitis C; however, thank goodness the liver doctor that I was finally sent to kept testing, prodding, etc., and the final diagnosis was that my auto-immune system was attacking my liver (and there was no hepatitis). We believe it was caused by a great deal of stress because of a number of things happening in my life, and one of the biggest was my son being deployed to Afghanistan – this is the 3rd war that he has been in, and hopefully it is his last as his plans are to retire in 2013, after approximately 26 years of service in the Air Force. He returned home in late January, and it was quite a wonderful reunion with him!
I was so happy to receive the canvas and especially happy to learn why he had requested it from your company. I will always treasure it, and I also wanted to say thanks and how much I appreciate what your company does for people in a situation like I was. Since my doctor diagnosed my disease last July, I slowly began to improve as I was put on a very rigid diet and medicine program. I was in the process of being evaluated for a liver transplant; however, in December, I received the fantastic news that my liver had begun to re-generate, which was something that no one ever expected to happen.
I am so blessed that my son loves me and does many, many things for me to let me know that. I am blessed by God and all the prayers that were said for me because without them, I don’t believe that I would have recovered. I am finally beginning to feel great again, and, once again, thanks for my beautiful picture and all the others that you make and give to those who are loved by someone special in their lives.
Patricia Cecil