The Headlines read
Bike bomb kills 4 Canadian troops September 18, 2006 KABUL, Afghanistan
Mike McTeague was one of the Canadian soldiers severely injured when a suicide bomber on a bicycle in Afghanistan blew himself up near NATO troops while they were handing out gifts to children. The explosion killed four soldiers and wounded dozens of others, including civilians. Mike McTeague was one of the wounded, taking a ball bearing to the neck from the debris and was not expected to live.
He miraculously defied death but was told he wouldn’t walk. Once again he beat the odds and regained mobility in both of his legs. Mike McTeague is now considered a “wounded warrior”. Captain Wayne Johnston, and Mike’s father Sean McTeague were Senior NCO’s together many years earlier in the Infantry and maintained contact for over 30 years, when Mike was wounded his father asked Captain Johnston to be the assisting officer to accompany the Family to Germany.
Upon return to Canada Captain Johnston continued assisting Mike and his Family. “Words cannot explain how humbling, emotional, and yet so rewarding being an assisting officer to one of the wounded has been. Suffice to say it has been the most important work I have done in my 33 years service.” said Johnston, “Mike was a miracle in that he wasn’t expected to live” (when the family goes to Germany it isn’t the best news). In general the soldiers stay in Germany no more than 2 weeks. They are then moved to a hospital in Canada. Depending on the wounds hospital stays can be a week or two or even months. They noticed in Germany that the troops had very little in the way of their own. More to the point they had little to pass the time in the way of electronics and entertainment, “they were basically staring at four walls”.
In addition the support staff was spending out of their own pockets to get the little things in life. Thus, the Sapper Mike McTeague Wounded Warrior Fund was started – the fund supports all Canadian Forces members wounded during operations, at the outset of their healing process. It also aims to improve the general morale and welfare of the soldiers and their families by working through first-line caregivers, medical staff, chaplains and assisting officers. Hospitals that care for Canadian Forces personnel are equipped with a large library of, music, DVD’s and video games, an Internet-equipped laptop or computer, telephone services and Personal hospital TVs are also provided. As part of the project a small Padre’s Contingency Fund has also been established in Landstuhl Germany to aid in the morale of the soldiers. The purpose of the contingency fund is to provide the care givers in Germany the ability to give immediate assistance for items like clothing, a meal other than the (hum drum) hospital food, etc. While being a wounded soldier can be very stressful it can be equally stressful for the soldiers’ family, both mentally and financially. The Sapper Mike McTeague Wounded Warrior fund reduces this impact by augmenting existing CF support programs. Mike still struggles to regain full mobility at St Johns Rehab Centre in Toronto to this day, he is 22 years old.
If you would like to donate to The Sapper Mike McTeague’s Wounded Warriors Fund, you can do so at www.woundedwarriors.ca
