BURLESON, Texas — Michael Gonzales has not been able to walk freely on his own since 2010. But the Marine veteran, now under the care of doctors at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, is getting help every step of the way in that long journey.
"Yeah. It's definitely been a long road," he said from his home in Burleson a few weeks ago.
A long road that began when the Marine suffered a traumatic brain injury and lost his left eye and left leg to a bomb blast in Afghanistan. The added difficulty for him was that the amputation was above the knee, which can make prosthetic legs and mobility more difficult. Even after he healed, Michael says he could never get traditional prosthetic leg sockets to work for him.
"Some of the best prosthetists in the U.S.," he said. "And it ultimately, it just wasn't working out."
So he opted for something called osseointegration. The procedure involves anchoring a titanium fitting and rod directly into the residual bone of his leg. That initial procedure took place several months ago. Now he is at Walter Reed again for additional surgeries that will eventually include being fitted with a mechanical knee.
"For me, it was definitely the solution that I needed," Gonzales said. "And hopefully in about three months, I could be up and walking on my own."
Walking on his own, but on a journey he is making with substantial help.
"To everybody, this is more than a job. This is just what we are called to do," said June Cartmill, a case manager for the Semper Fi & America's Fund.
The nonprofit pays for transportation, hotels, meals and many of the other expenses that the military might not. Michael is one of more than 31,000 veterans helped by The Fund so far.
"To get to appointments, medical appointments, wherever they need to go to live their life as normal as possible," said Cartmill, who is the spouse of a Marine veteran as well. "My husband served on multiple combat deployments and anytime it could have been him."
"They really just give you a phone call and say 'hey can you be here at this point in time' and I say yes and they say 'OK we'll take it from there,'" Gonzales said of the now 12-year relationship he's had with The Fund and his case manager.
Gonzales' current stay at Walter Reed could last a couple of weeks. But after he returns to Burleson, he has one major goal: college graduation next March and walking on his own across the stage to get his diploma.
"Hopefully everything works out. I'm hopeful but we will see," he said.
The Fund relies on donations. And from now until the end of the year, The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation and PXG will match every donation made to The Fund dollar-for-dollar up to $10 million.