Thank You Letter 2012

Thank you to the supporters of American Hero Quilts, this letter says it all.

AHQ DECEMBER 2012 LETTER

www.americanheroquilts.com

Dear American Hero Quilts,

Our letter comes to you fully two years later than the story of the quilt begins.  Many times we have spoken of sending you a thank you card and many times it would seem that life intruded.  This year we will finally have our wonderful son and his very patient lovely wife home for Christmas.  As we are putting up the Christmas tree we decided that we would attempt to send you a thank you note.

Our son was a very proud Marine serving our country first in Iraq for two tours of duty and then in Afghanistan.  Three days before he was to return home he was shot once in the head, once in the jaw and once in his spine by a sniper.  He was taken to a small field hospital, where he was stabilized and then airlifted to Bagram AFB to the hospital there.  We were later told that the nurses in the field hospital had received a small shipment of quilts from you folks and it was there he got a beautiful red, white and blue quilt.  It has blue stripes and yellow stars.  He has no recall of receiving the quilt nor does he recall leaving  Afghanistan and arriving in Germany.  However, my daughter in law… recalls vividly seeing her husband arrive covered in that quilt.  The quilt spent the next four and a half months covering my son… as they waited for ..(my sons) recovery or the next in the many surgeries he had to have before he came home.  (Our daughter in law) says that when it all became too frightening for her she would crawl up on the bed and share the quilt with (her husband).  She wishes me to tell you that many times that quilt hugged her as her mother would have done had she been there.  She says it brought her great comfort.

When (my son) was stabilized sufficiently for the trip to the United States he was airlifted to Dover AFB from Germany.  While we had heard about the quilt from (our daughter in law)  we could not believe how beautiful it was to see our wonderful son wrapped so lovingly in a quilt made by all of you.  We wished that we had been allowed to take pictures because it was beautiful to see all the wounded young men coming home so lovingly wrapped in their American Hero Quilts.  (Our son) spent one night at the hospital in Dover and then he was sent to the hospital in Bethesda.  The quilt continued to hug (our son and his wife) and occasionally my husband or myself over the long six months of more surgeries and many very frightening moments.  Almost a year to the day of his injuries, (our son) was transferred to a rehabilitation center.   There were all kinds of quilts on the beds…..We were all so grateful for your thoughts for our children but your group seemed to take great care to wrap them in such beautiful quilts.  (Our son) spent a year at the rehab center always wrapped in his quilt.

It would seem that the medical professionals have done all they can do so (our son and daughter in law) have come home so that my husband and I can help with his care.  As I write this (our son) is wrapped in his quilt.  The label always brings tears to the eyes of anyone who sees it.  And so it is that we write to you to say, thank you so very much for the love and comfort you have brought to our family.  Merry Christmas to you all.  You will be in our thoughts and prayers, your gift of love beyond anything we think you could have imagined.

The ……Family