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David Zucchino / Aimee Herd reporting : May 27, 2005  L.A. Times

The L.A. Times featured a heartfelt story today about Marine Cpl. Eddie Ryan and Marine Cpl. Bryan Trusty, two soldiers who were wounded in battle in Iraq and were recovering at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. The two didn't know each other though both enlisted in response to the Sept. 11th attacks. Both were brought to the medical center in hopes of their recovery from severe brain injuries suffered in battle.

Bryan, who recently turned 21, had been wounded when he rushed to help his fellow Marines during the attack on the Abu Ghraib prison. Shrapnel had opened a hole just below his left eye and pierced the length of his brain, finally lodging against his brain stem. He survived emergency surgery in Baghdad only to go into cardiac arrest during the Medivac flight to the U.S. His doctors did not expect him to live.

But Bryan, defying the doctor's odds, was now sitting up in bed "wolfing down a chicken dinner on a hospital tray," much to his parents' amazement. "I call him my miracle child," his father said.

Across the hall was a different scene. Eddie Ryan lay quiet and pale in his hospital bed surrounded by his family, a Bible rested against his leg. Robert Rosenbaum, the neurosurgeon, had explained to the young Marine's family that his frontal lobes had been "terribly damaged" from a bullet he took in the skull during a firefight. Rosenbaum's prognosis was that he probably "would never fully regain consciousness or recover full cognitive activity."

But permeating the vigil around Eddie was an atmosphere of faith as his father Christopher, said, "We need a miracle. Eddie's going to be our miracle Marine. We're praying that God gives us this miracle because my son is a great American."

Eddie, a sniper and one of the Marine's Elite, had signed up for service out of high school and went right over to Iraq, he had been on his second tour when stopped by the enemy's bullet. The Ryans, having taken leaves from their jobs, rarely left their son's side. "Wherever Eddie is, that's our life now," said his sister Felicia.

They took turns reading to him from the Bible, frequenting his favorite verse: Psalm 50:15: "And call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee and thou shall glorify me…. " "Eddie's faith is very important to him," said his mother Angela, who would sing to him in the evenings. "He loved being sung to at night as a boy, and often he would fall asleep to Jesus Loves Me, This I Know.

Slowly, Eddie began to improve. One day his sister was holding his arm in a playful arm wrestle like they once used to do when suddenly he responded. "I was holding his hand down and I was like: Come on, let's arm wrestle - and he pushed my hand down," explained Felicia. "So I pushed back and I was like: Are you going to let me win? And he pushed my hand back down. That's Eddie - he's very competitive."

Back across the hall, Bryan Trusty was preparing to go home after just a few weeks, but not before searching out Christopher Ryan, Eddie's father. Bryan told him to "just be patient" and to "keep the faith" and his son would get better. Bryan's mother told Angela Ryan, "We've seen amazing things happen here, and so can you." The Trustys left for home with their son by their side. And the Ryans settled in for another day of waiting for their miracle.

And last week, it came…at least the first part.

They received word that Eddie was stable enough to be transferred to a VA Hospital in Virginia for rehabilitation therapy. Now Eddie, alert and responsive, moves his hands and fingers on command, does not need a feeding tube and he recognizes friends and family. He has just recently smiled for the first time since he was wounded.

And just about four days ago, his father said, Eddie was able to speak his first word; "Mom."

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