Injured Sandpoint soldier gets help from home

Patty Phelps of Rathdrum was reading the newspaper Tuesday morning when she came upon the story of Sgt. Brandon Adam, a Sandpoint soldier who lost his legs in Iraq. It started in motion something that might be called a small-world coincidence, or the hand of God, or, as Phelps puts it, “just weird.

“Good weird, but weird.”

At the bottom of the story was a mention that Adam, who was injured in an explosion on May 3 in Baghdad, was headed for Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas, where her son, Capt. Bryan Phelps, is a nurse.

Phelps called to let him know a North Idaho person was on his way; Bryan Phelps called back to say Brandon was in his ICU ward, just out of surgery, and a little down.

Considering that Adam’s legs had been amputated above the knees after being severely burned in the explosion, that he’d lost half of his blood and was clinically dead in a war zone before being brought back to life by medics and transfusions, been evacuated from Iraq to Germany to Texas in the last 48 hours, and had recently come out of another operation, “a little down” was not too bad.

But the 21-year-old sergeant could use some cheering up, Patty Phelps figured, and he and his family could use all the support they could get while facing a long recovery process as he recuperates from his wounds and learns to use new legs.

When her son was in Iraq about four years ago, she would send him care packages from friends and business associates around North Idaho, that were then distributed to the soldiers and Marines in that area. Why not do something similar for Adam and his family, she wondered.

But first, she called Adam’s father, Doug Adam, getting his approval before he left to join his wife, Karen, and Brandon at Brooke. And that’s when the world got very small, and good weird.

The Phelpses and the Adams don’t know each other, but they cross paths all the time, and not just because a Phelps is caring for an Adam in Texas. Both families go to the same church, Real Life Ministries in Post Falls. Both dads work in construction and have been on the same job sites in North Idaho. Both families have children who have been in high school sports in the Panhandle, although the Phelps children went to Lake City and the Adam children went to Sandpoint.

Patty Phelps said she can recognize “the hand of God” when it taps her on the shoulder, and she volunteered to collect things to send to Bryan that can be delivered to Brandon and his family during their long stay in Texas.

Because Brandon Adam is in an intensive care unit, Bryan Phelps had some advice for anyone who wanted to help the young soldier or his family.

The first is that patients can’t have flowers, balloons or food in the ICU. No teddy bears or other stuffed animals, no huge banners signed by grade school classes, either, at least not at this time.

“What they’ll need is the simple things,” Patty Phelps said.

Get-well cards are fine, and letters of support, but nothing longer than a page. But be sure a name and return address are on the envelope, she said, because the Army won’t deliver anonymous mail.

Phone cards are great, she said. Brandon Adam has called his unit back in Iraq, to make sure his men are all right after the blast, and his soldiers have called Brooke to check on his condition.

Blank cards or stationery, so he can write notes and letters, would be very helpful – particularly with stamped envelopes.

Books and magazines are a nice thought, but even better would be a gift card for $10 to let the family buy whatever he’s interested in reading.

“Whatever is sent should be able to fit inside a single manila envelope,” she said.

Anything mailed or delivered to Phelps at 8559 Larch St., Rathdrum, ID 83858, will be packaged and sent to Bryan Phelps in San Antonio, and delivered to Adam and his family in the ICU, she said.

Meanwhile, members of the North Idaho equestrian community have scheduled a silent auction for this month to raise money for the family.

Marianne O’Connor said Brandon’s mother, Karen, is active in dressage, and friends and supporters have scheduled a silent auction during the dressage show at the Post Falls Equestrian Center, which starts at 8 a.m. May 19.

“People have just come forward left and right and donated things, and not just horse things,” O’Connor said. “Now we just need people to come out and bid.”