EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — Weakened by his lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis, 14-year-old Riley Woina dreams of being strong like the war heroes he watches in movies.
The Army’s 6th Ranger Training Battalion on Eglin Air Force Base recently helped him realize this unusual dream.
Susan Woina joked that her son could have taken his Plymouth, Conn., family to Walt Disney World or gone on a shopping spree through the Make-A-Wish Foundation instead of spending a week crawling in the mud with soldiers in the Florida Panhandle.
“You always want what you cannot have and he’ll never be able to join the Army because of his cystic fibrosis, so of course he wants that more than anyone else would. He would join the Army today if he could,” she said.
Thing1 lives with CF. Just over 15 years since his diagnosis. After visiting the Air Force Academy on vacation when he was in high school he started emailing the admissions staff to get details on exactly what he needed to do to try for an appointment. I had to break the news to him that he was medically unfit to serve. Tis a shame as he would have made a great officer.
Kudos to the Army Rangers and Make-A-Wish for making this happen.
via Right Thinking
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