LAKELAND —
Air Force Staff Sgt. David Fields suffers a condition that essentially attacks the brain’s cerebellum, affecting his balance and coordination.
Eleven years in the military, Fields has served in Iraq. But his condition did not come from combat or trauma. It is a progressive neurological brain disorder inherited from his mother’s side of the family.
As an active-duty military member, Fields belongs to a newly established support group at Moody Air Force Base for airmen suffering brain and spinal injuries or damage.
Fields tries his best to maintain what he has as his fellow airmen struggle to put the pieces back together.
“My intention is to be a voice for the military personnel and their families in the community,” Fields says.
The Moody group is part of Brain Injury Advocate Services of Georgia, which is led by Alan Carter. BIAS works with all individuals who have suffered brain or spinal cord injuries and their families. BIAS has been holding support meetings for non-military personnel for the past couple of years.
Given the numbers of military personnel
returning from combat situations in Afghanistan and Iraq, Carter saw a need to establish a support group dealing specifically with people who have suffered injuries in war or military personnel dealing with physical brain and spinal injuries or damage.
While Fields’ condition is not military-related, he has been in situations abroad and at home which he and other Moody BIAS participants can understand. With his uncertain gait and speech, Fields daily faces those who do not understand his situation.
“The support group helps me as a person and builds that confidence on a day-to-day basis,” Fields says.
As a youngster, Fields witnessed his mother dealing with the slow deterioration of her coordination and balance. Entering the military, Fields had no apparent symptoms that he may one day suffer from the same disorder as his mother.
In 2007, after a tour in Iraq, regularly working 13-hour shifts, Fields says he began exhibiting symptoms of the disorder. These symptoms have progressively grown worse, he says. As he has learned more about the disorder, Fields says his four children have a 50-50 chance of acquiring the disorder.
Carter says the Moody meetings are confidential. They are held on base, in Building 400, 6 p.m., the first Tuesday of each month. Families are invited to attend.
Carter knows families’ fears and frustrations. In 1989, a head-on traffic collision left his wife, Mary, in a coma for 30 days. In past interviews, Carter recalled being overwhelmed by the long hospital stay and the mounting medical bills. Mary survived. Nearly 23 years later, the Carters still live with the ramifications of the wreck.
Carter has been involved with statewide brain and spinal injury groups. He founded BIAS of Georgia to help people in the South Georgia region. Last year, Carter successfully lobbied the state Department of Drivers Services to add brain injury as an optional medical condition to Georgia driver’s licenses.
In organizing a Moody BIAS group, Carter says it is about helping men and women and families who have sacrificed much for the nation.
For more information on the Moody group or BIAS, call (229) 671-4977; or email biasofga@bellsouth.net
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