Colorado Wounded Vet Run

http://www.cwvr.org
RP Members and Connections I had the honor of riding in the 2017 Colorado Wounded Vet Run with some great veterans as we honored 2017 Honoree LCpl. Kade Hinkhouse (Check on the link above to learn more about this program in Colorado).

I've shared some pictures of those veterans riding and the ceremony in his honor yesterday!

Here is LCpl. Kade Hinkhouse story and sacrifice to our country:

Hello. My name is Kade Hinkhouse.

I joined the USMC in 2004 and trained for a year, before I was deployed to Iraq. While in Iraq, I was stationed at Camp Ramadi and my main job was Infantry rifleman. One day, October 8, 2005, while on patrol, my HUMVEE ran over a dual stacked IED. The HUMVEE exploded, ejecting and leaving me near death with injuries including a depressed skull fracture, collapsed lungs and a severe leg injury.

I was airlifted to Landstuhl, Germany where it was determined that my right leg needed to be amputated above the knee, 40% of my skull was removed to alleviate swelling of my brain, and I was put in a drug induced coma. Once stateside, at Bethesda Naval Hospital, I remained in a coma for 3 weeks. After waking up, the whole left side of my body was paralyzed due to the Traumatic Brain Injury. I stayed at Bethesda until I decided to start my rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where I stayed for over a year and a half. While at WRAMC, I had countless hours of physical therapy to learn how to do everything again. I also had several surgeries to revise my amputation and several on my skull to repair the missing piece, which resulted in a plastic plate being secured to my skull. Physical and occupational therapy also helped me regain most of the function on the left side of my body and learn to walk with a prosthesis.

Becky and I were just dating when I was injured, we were both so young and didn’t want to rush into anything too quickly. Once I came home from WRAMC, May 2007, we started our new lives together - it was rocky start to say the least. Becky was 100% civilian, but she learned very quickly how to handle not only my new standard of care and living but also the complicated mass of paperwork that comes with it. Since leaving the hospital, we have also dealt with other complications from my injury. I had 4 surgeries, resulting in a higher amputation from a massive infection, in Spring, 2011. I had several pic lines and antibiotics that had to be administered several times a day. Becky was there for me and our newborn daughter Zoe through all of it - don’t know what we would do without her.

We now live in Elizabeth, CO with our daughter Zoe, age 4, and Becky is pregnant with our second little girl, to arrive sometime in May. I have worked through my injuries and completed a trades school program in gun smithing. I currently work at a brewery and love to home-brew beer. I enjoy shooting, hunting, skiing, and being outdoors.


Semper Fidelis

Kade Hinkhouse