Aug 29, 2006 9:35 am US/Central
Priest Wounded In Iraq Continues Recovery
by Esme Murphy
Minneapolis (WCCO) ―
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Father Tim Vakoc, who was critically wounded in a roadside bomb attack near Mosul, Iraq in May 2004.
CBS
Two years ago, a roadside bomb in Iraq critically injured a Twin Cities Catholic priest who was serving as an Army chaplain in Iraq.
Major Tim Vakoc has been recovering at the VA Hospital in Minneapolis since the bombing. The bomb tore apart his Humvee outside Mosul, leaving him with massive brain injuries.
Doctors at first said his brain was not functioning at all, but Father Tim has proven the experts wrong.
In a recent visit with his brother Jeffrey and sister-in-law Jill, Father Tim followed simple commands and was able to lift a hand weight.
The family has battled the VA to keep it from cutting his therapy, but last December, the VA ordered a stop to all of his physical and speech therapies.
A VA spokesperson said the order came because Father Tim was not responding to treatment.
For six months without professional therapists, teams of family members and friends did their own therapy.
The progress in the small room filled with religious icons and hundreds of cards is detailed on Father Tim's Web site, which has received nearly 1 million hits from around the world.
The VA recently resumed Father Tim's speech therapy and said it plans to resume his physical therapy soon, but Father Tim's supporters said they will continue their work for the priest who said they has never stopped ministering form his bedside.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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