ABOUT JACK FANNING: In 1997, Jack Fanning joined the Air Force and completed a pipeline of vigorous schools, including Combat Dive School, Air Traffic Control School, Airborne and Military Freefall School, Survival School, and Combat Control. Assigned to the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron he completed several deployments to South America prior to Sept. 11, 2001. Post 9/11, he deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom on five different occasions and to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom once. In 2005, Jack became a combat control apprentices course instructor at Pope Air Force base, North Carolina. He joined the 24th STS in 2009 and began a nine-month operating training course. During his course-culminating exercise on Jan. 11, 2010, he parachuted into a blacked-out drop zone and sustained a C4 spinal cord injury. Jack was paralyzed from the neck down and underwent immediate surgery to stabilize his cervical spine and had a breathing tube inserted. Currently, he is unable to move from the shoulders down. His injury is a C4 incomplete spinal cord injury. At Shepherd Center in Atlanta, GA, the top spinal cord and traumatic brain injury hospital in the country, Jack underwent four months of challenging physical and occupational therapy. During this time, he was weaned off his ventilator and feeding tube, learned how to operate his wheelchair, and conducted family training in order to function as a quadriplegic. Eventually Jack went to the Dallas VA for two more months of recovery and therapy before he finally went to his new home in Texas. Today he receives therapy three days a week at Fit-N-Wise in Decatur, TX, fighting daily to regain control of the link between mind, nerves, and muscles. His condition has not slowed him down and he still finds ways to shoot, hunt, scuba dive, and even jump out of airplanes. JACK NEEDS OUR HELP TO FIGHT BACK. Presently, Jack is searching for the best therapy available to help with his rehabilitation. He will be returning to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta for five weeks in April and May 2014. There he will undergo a new advanced surgical procedure to help with his rehabilitation and possibly help with motor function in his arms and legs. Right now the VA cannot cover the procedure because Jack’s medical insurance has reached its cap. Jack’s only dream is to have a functional arm so he can once again hug his son, Brock. Let’s unite and help our “brother” in need fund this new procedure and maybe, just maybe, we can make a difference in bettering his life as he did for others while serving with the Air Force.
TO MAKE A DONATION ON JACK FANNING’S BEHALF, PLEASE CLICK THE ORANGE “MAKE A DONATION” BUTTON BELOW. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT OF DONATION’S GO DIRECTLY TO JACK AND HIS FAMILY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!
Spirit of a Child 