I worked for a little over two years on the spinal cord unit at the VA in Minneapolis, where my life was touched by a young veteran I took care of. He was a young Marine who would come back to the United States untouched after being in Afghanistan - but he became a tetraplegic after he was in a car accident where he was hit by a drunk driver. I admired his toughness and his resilience and his sense of humor in a really tough situation. Before he was discharged, I dug through my closet and picked out some rugby jerseys for him, because he had said he was hoping to get involved playing quad rugby when he got back home. Unfortunately, he never did get a chance to play Quad rugby - he ended up dying a few months after discharge from a pulmonary embolism ... I found out while I was working as a travel nurse with the VA in Dallas. I was just gutted when I heard the news. As nurses we try to give our best to our patients. But our lives are touched by the people we take care of as well. Every time I see a Marine Corps insignia or I watch the movie Murderball, I think about this young man who I was lucky enough to take care of. On the one hand I smile at his tenacious spirit, but on the other hand I get very choked and angry that some drunk driver forever changed this young man's life.