Brooke Army Medical Center
Some Kind of Normal
Not all therapy occurs in a gym. Corporal Sebastian Gallegos, a Marine infantryman who lost his right arm to a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, had been learning to use his new robotic prosthetic for less than two weeks when he tried to cook. "My wife does a lot for me, so I tried to make eggs for her," Gallegos says. "I tried to scramble them in the pan and I couldn't hold it so I got eggs all over the kitchen." So he tried again, this time under the watchful eye of Lisa Smurr, his occupational therapist. The top floor of the Center for the Intrepid contains a fully-outfitted apartment where wounded troops learn to do everyday tasks —fold laundry or make the bed — to learn to use their new limbs and prepare for life outside of the rehab city.