Run in Honor: Cpl. Todd Nicely
It is impossible to not ask Cpl. Todd Nicely what happened when you first meet him. The 26-year-old Marine uses prosthetic limbs on both arms and legs.
But Todd doesn’t revisit the day in March, 2010, when he stepped on an IED in Afghanistan as an infantry squad leader on his way back from a security patrol.
He says he lost both his hands and his lower legs in the blast and then stops. He will, “spare you the gory details,” he says.
Now, he is one of only three men - a soldier and two Marines - from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to survive an attack as a quadruple amputee.
But he doesn’t talk about that either. Instead, he will tell you how determined he was to get up out of bed, and get on with his life.
“My plan was to get up and get out of the hospital as soon as possible,” Todd said. “I knew the quicker I learned to use these [prosthetics], the quicker I could make that happen.”
Todd has undergone several surgeries and has more to face. But he was up and walking less than three months after the attack.
Still, he and his wife Crystal, were stuck. Todd has more therapy and surgeries to face and the couple was living in a single room at a hotel near Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Todd beat the odds and walked again. And now he was limited to a few feet of space between his bed and the bathroom. The couple tried to rent a nearby apartment, but the cost of living was more than they could afford.
Operation Homefront has given Todd a place to continue to heal, and a home for the couple to finally relax in.
Todd says living in the Operation Homefront Village has given him a chance to really learn to care for himself again.
“The apartment is great,” he said. “It gives me a chance to experience living on my own again.”
Time in the village has also given the couple an opportunity to relax and plan for their future.
“In my situation, the financial future doesn’t always look so great, if you know what I mean,” Todd said. “It’s a big thing we’re worried about. Living here makes us a little less stressed.”
In the Fall 2011, Todd and Heather left the Operation Homefront Villages and returned home to Missouri.
