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Tehachapi's injured soldier McCool on the mend
Soldier expected to be transferred to California
| Wednesday, Apr 2 2008 6:31 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Apr 3 2008 7:21 AM
A photograph hanging on a hospital wall took U.S. Army Spc. Matt McCool home.
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Matthew McCool is recovering after being injured in Iraq.
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McCool, a Tehachapi native who suffered head injuries from a bomb last week in Iraq, stared Tuesday at the picture of a dirt road in a meadow field with oak trees, lavender flowers and poppy seeds.
“I recognize that,” he told his father, Brian Wilcox. “That’s home.”
McCool, who suffered multiple skull fractures and a concussion, is undergoing physical therapy. He was hit in the head by shrapnel in an improvised explosive device attack. He’s playing memory games and performing leg exercises at Walter Reed National Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
“He’s on the road to recovery,” Wilcox said. “He’s fighting to do well.”
McCool is scheduled to be transferred to a hospital in Palo Alto sometime in the next week. He is expected to make a full recovery and so far his health is improving, family said.
McCool no longer has double vision and is surfing the Internet from his hospital bed, Wilcox said.
Instead of being pushed in a wheelchair, McCool walked down the corridor Wednesday where the picture reminding him of home hung on the wall.
“It was a little rough, but he did it,” Wilcox said.