Skip to playerSkip to main content
Devotella-Club
  • 3 months ago
follow us :
https://linktr.ee/club.devotella

Category

✨
People
Transcript
00:00My name is Sarah Rudder. I'm from California and I was a United States Marine Lance Corporal.
00:09I only served two years in the Marine Corps. I was injured at the beginning of my service.
00:13At the end of August in 2001, my husband and I were on our way to visit his family for the
00:22first time and a vehicle cut us off and we hydroplane and hit the center divider at 70
00:27miles an hour head-on. I was tossed around the car and I broke my nose, my rib, I
00:33broke my scapula and I had a brain injury and I was lifeline to the hospital.
00:39I reported back to duty three days later and on September 11, 2001, I was being
00:46promoted. It was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. After I was
00:50promoted, we stepped outside and we heard about the Twin Towers and we started
00:55discussing the Twin Towers on the smoke deck and saying how we couldn't
00:58believe it and within minutes the Pentagon was hit and the ground shook and there
01:04was a huge explosion and black smoke filled the air. Immediately all of us ran
01:08towards the Pentagon and as the survivors exited the building, we separated them
01:16onto tarps depending on injury. The next day when the fire went out, we entered the
01:22building and was responsible for pulling non-survivors. When I was pulling someone
01:28from the building, I stepped into a hole and I shattered my left ankle and I
01:34didn't know at the time and I continued pulling people for another 24 hours. On the
01:41third day, I realized I couldn't take my boot off my foot and from then I suffered for 13 years.
01:52After my amputation, I was feeling sorry for myself and I gained a bunch of weight and I
01:59didn't want to go out of my house pretty much.
02:05When I saw veterans throwing a shot put and riding around a track that have two and
02:12three limbs missing, I looked at myself and I said, this is a paper cut what I have
02:16compared to what they have. And how can I sit here and complain about my situation
02:23when they're doing something about theirs?
02:26So my husband has been there since day one of my injury and he's seen all the
02:32progressions that I've gone through from drinking heavily on a daily basis and
02:39wanting to fight anyone that looked at me in a different direction because of the
02:43anger I held inside. I was so angry because I saw the devastation that was
02:49left behind from 9-11 and all I wanted to do was get even. And I told them, stick a
02:55boot on my foot and let me go. This is my job. And they wouldn't. And they actually
03:01took my job from me and they discharged me.
03:06The anger that I held inside for them not allowing me to do my job and work side
03:15by side with my brothers and sisters in arms and and fight for what I saw
03:19happen that day. To this day I still hold anger inside. But I release that anger
03:26through physical fitness after my injury. Cal became of an extremely strong support
03:41system besides my husband and son. There's only so much that they could do as far
03:45as showing that they love me and care and that they're there for me. Lifting
03:51weights and going to the gym each day allows me to get that anger that I hold
03:56inside out so I can continue the rest of my day at least in somewhat normalcy. I
04:03couldn't go to Iraq and fight for my brothers and sisters. But I can fight for
04:09the ones now. I can fight for the ones that need help just like I needed help.
04:15And I want to be there for them in a way that I can be now as what I couldn't be
04:22back then. So this is my way of fighting.
Be the first to comment
Add your comment