ENROLL IN PERSON - August 1 - 29, 2011 - Hurlburt Warrior

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A home for the brave
John and Christine Garcia see their son through his illness with help from Fisher House
By MARIANNE LIJEWSKI
Daily News Contributing Writer
EGLIN AFB — Air Force Staff Sgt. John Garcia had
only a couple weeks left of his deployment to South
Korea when he learned his son was in the hospital.
What started off as a cold and cough for 9-monthold
Jordan Garcia escalated to pneumonia and a
choking episode, which sent him to Fort Walton
Beach Medical Center in mid-April.
He was put on a nebulizer to expand his lungs
to make it easier to breathe and was prescribed a
steroid for asthma.
Jordan was released after a few hours, but his
condition worsened when he returned home as he
struggled to eat, drink and breathe.
The next day he, his mother Christine and 2-
year-old sister Mikaelah rode in an ambulance
to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, where
Jordan slipped into critical condition.
When John Garcia arrived home two
days later, he and Christine discussed
his next deployment to Italy on May
12. They had already submitted their
30-day notice on their rental house
and had to find a place to stay until
their future was more certain.
That’s when they learned about
Fisher House on Eglin Air Force
Base. On April 28 the Garcias were setting up home
in one of its 12 rooms after Jordan was dismissed
from Sacred Heart.
The Fisher House, which opened in September
2010, provides free housing for active-duty service
members, veterans, retirees and their families while
a loved one receives medical treatment nearby.
The 11,000-square-foot building provides guests
with basic cable television, Wi-Fi, two washers and
dryers, a well-stocked kitchen designed for two
families, and an ample-sized family room. All the
rooms are handicap accessible and the
backyard provides plenty of space for
children to play.
Ron Gribble, the manager at
Fisher House, says most guests are
shocked at how nice and luxurious
it is.
“The Fisher House is unique,”
Gribble said. “We are like no other.”
On average, most guests
stay from three to five days
to a few weeks. As of late
June, about 200 people had
stayed at the house, Gribble
said.
The Garcias said
they felt comfortable
with Fisher House’s
atmosphere and saw it as a blessing.
“You don’t have to worry not having a place to
stay,” John said. “You actually have a place to come
home to. Everyone here is very friendly.”
“I was telling my husband how wonderful it is
that these places exist,” Christine added. “They are
amazing to me.”
The reassurance of a secure roof over their heads
helped the Garcias focus on Jordan’s health. After
he was released from Sacred Heart, he was referred
to gastroenterologist and pulmonary specialists for
his enlarged liver, acid reflux and reactive airway
condition.
Jordan was cleared in mid-June by the pulmonary
specialist of having cystic fibrosis after a sweat test
was conducted. An ultrasound also determined his
liver appeared to be back to normal. He continued
using a nebulizer to help his breathing and taking
medicine for his acid reflux.
Although doctors never were able to offer an official
diagnosis on Jordan’s sudden health problems,
he improved over the next few weeks as his weight
increased and he became livelier.
Along with that news came John’s new orders
to Eglin instead of Italy. Although the Garcias were
looking forward to going to Italy, the doctors and
treatment available for Jordan locally was far more
important.
“I’m just focused on my son,” John said. “And I
know he is going to get the right care in Pensacola.”
The Garcias said they are grateful for all Fisher
House has done for them. The managers, volunteers
and amenities helped them so much in their time of
need that the couple wants to volunteer there in the
future.
“I just wish more people knew what the Fisher
House is; more volunteers, more help around for
anything and everything,” is needed, John said.
There are always chores to be done, such as gardening
and pulling weeds. Gribble says that is one of
the hardest jobs to find volunteers for.
“Who wants to go out when the heat index is 105
degrees and pull weeds?” Gribble said. “Let me see
of show of hands? There you go. Nobody does.”
The people who do volunteer their time help out
a great deal. They even have a dinner every second
Thursday of the month in which they cook dinner for
the guests.
“It’s been really fun, actually,” Gribble said.
With their son still needing medical attention, the
Garcias are focusing on the bright side. The family
will move into their new home later this
month.
“(This experience) has brought us
close together,” Christine said.
“For each other and as a family,” John
added. “We spend a lot more time together
now.”
Photos by Marianne Lijewski | Florida Freedom Newspapers
Pulmonary Specialist Kevin Maupin listens to Jordan’s heart beat as Christine
discusses her son’s recent behavior while at their appointment May 24 at Sacred
Heart Hospital in Pensacola. Maupin ordered a sweat test to eliminate the
possibility of Jordan having cystic fibrosis. The test came back negative. Below,
Christine Garcia plays with her daughter, Mikaelah, as her husband, John, and son,
Jordan, play together in the back yard of the Fisher House.
Choctaw Class
of 1966 donates
to Fisher House
in classmate’s name
By LAUREN SAGE REINLIE
Florida Freedom Newspapers
FORT WALTON BEACH — More than 40 years
after 23-year-old Army Sgt. Fred Gassman was
reported missing during the Vietnam War, his
classmates at Choctawhatchee High School have
made a memorial gift in his name.
Tuesday afternoon, the Class of 1966 donated
$2,500 to the Fisher House on Eglin Air Force Base
in honor of Gassman, the only classmate who died
in the war.
“He was just one of those people that everybody
liked,” said his classmate Mike Fought, who was
on hand with four other classmates to present the
Fisher House with a check in front of Choctaw. “We
just wanted to do something special for him.”
Fought paused to wipe a few tears from his
eyes as he spoke of Gassman.
Fought, who lives in Crestview, said he was
serving with the Navy in Vietnam when he received
word from his mother that Gassman had
been reported missing in action Oct. 5, 1970, after
fighting with the Army Special Forces in Laos.
He was declared dead a year later. His body
was never recovered.
The tall and lanky teenage Gassman was pictured
in his basketball uniform in Choctaw’s yearbook.
He was one of 2,500 students graduating in
1966.
“We are lucky we only lost one,” Fought said.
Fought, who serves as a treasurer for the reunion
committee, said that for their 45th class reunion the
committee decided to collect donations for a memorial
in Gassman’s name. The Fisher House seemed
the best recipient, as classmate Tom Rice serves as
the organization’s president, Fought said.
The Fisher House opened on Eglin Air Force
Base last September. It provides free housing
for service members, veterans and their families
while a family member is receiving medical treatment
nearby.
Rice thanked those classmates present Tuesday.
“This is going to go a long way to help us sustain
what we’re doing out at Eglin,” Rice said.
Maj. Jeff Robertson of the Army 7th Special
Forces Group (Airborne) also was present.
“Anytime we meet or hear about anybody from
the Special Forces — past or present — to us they
are our brothers,” he said.
Gassman’s name and photographs of him with
his family will displayed on a plaque at Fisher
House, Rice said.