LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Former U.S. Army Reserve Col. and Nebraska congressional candidate Tom Brewer plans to have tests this year to ensure the leukemia in his blood is gone.
He told the Lincoln Journal Star (https://bit.ly/1GHzIYC ) that he hopes to have fully recovered by April so he can join a fellow Heroes and Horses organizer on a 100-day ride across the Continental Divide from Colorado to Canada.
The trip aims to raise money and awareness for the program, which helps veterans adjust to civilian life after being forced to leave the battlefield because of their injuries.
Brewer, 55, had announced his plans to run against Republican incumbent Adrian Smith for the state’s 3rd Congressional District a day before finding out he had leukemia in January.
Brewer said he considered his options and wondered if he should continue in the political race that involved a five-month campaign tour of western Nebraska.
Ultimately, he decided to run. But despite the long hours he logged, Brewer lost in the May primary to Smith, who was re-elected this month.
Brewer said he fought to find a new sense of purpose following his defeat and his retirement from the Army.
He was wounded twice in Afghanistan, once in 2003, when he was shot six times while retreating from enemy fire, and again in 2011, when he was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade while fixing a flat tire. The 2011 injury forced him to leave the military.
“I wore the uniform for 36 years and then to all of a sudden, because of these wounds, go from commanding hundreds of men on the battlefield to deciding what kind of coffee creamer you want leaves you kind of empty,” he said.
In July, Brewer reconnected to the Heroes and Horses program for a weeklong ranching and horseback journey into the mountains near Bozeman, Montana.
“Going back to the mountains this summer, after the defeat in the primary, that helped me get refocused on what was important in life,” he said.
Brewer said he plans to continue helping wounded veterans who were struggling like himself.
___
Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, https://www.journalstar.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.