National Guard: 42 Year-Old Mother Of Two Beats Cancer Last Month And Volunteers For Dangerous Iraq Convoy Duty Starting This Month
Where’s Matt Damon Gonna Be?
Staff Sergeant Elizabeth Cowie’s mission — and dream — of serving in Iraq almost ended before it began when tests on a tumor confirmed the worst: She had breast cancer.
Her Army National Guard unit was told earlier this year it would deploy to Iraq this summer. But an Army-mandated mammogram in April revealed a tumor in her right breast that was later found to be cancerous.
The 42-year-old mother of two from Los Angeles is again poised for duty after an aggressive treatment plan — including a May 22 lumpectomy, a second surgery a week later and a five-day targeted radiation treatment. Staying behind wasn’t an option, she said.
“The commander said, ‘Are you sure? You have an opportunity to go home and be with your family and go through this.’ And I said, ‘No, I have a family here. I have my civilian family, but this is where I need to be and where I’m needed,’” Cowie said.
She will leave later this month with the 1113th Transportation Company of San Jose, California, for at least a year transporting supplies in Iraq. The 150-member unit is currently training at Camp Atterbury, 30 miles south of Indianapolis.
Soldiers with a history of cancer who need monitoring every six months or less should not deploy, according to Army guidelines. But they can still deploy depending upon the soldier’s condition, input from doctors and commanding officers, and conditions where the soldier is assigned.
Cowie qualified because she decided to forgo a potentially six-week radiation treatment and instead use a concentrated therapy, MammoSite. The procedure implants an angioplasty-like balloon that kills lingering cancer cells with radiation while sparing healthy tissue.
The implant came out June 8, and doctors declared Cowie cancer-free and clear for duty.
Dr Morgan Tharp, the radiation oncologist at the Central Indiana Cancer Centers who treated Cowie, said there are still risks, such as the possibility of an infection at the surgery site.
“She was willing and desired to take that small risk,” he said.
Cowie will see a military physician while in Iraq and must report any changes in her health to Tharp via e-mail. She will also need a follow-up mammogram and exam in six to eight months — about the time she is scheduled for a leave from her Iraq duty.
Cowie’s mother, Pearl Cowie of Moorhead, Minn., isn’t surprised that her daughter, who was stationed in the United Arab Emirates during the Persian Gulf War, still wants to deploy.
“I knew this would not deter her. She was just determined to go. That’s the kind of person she is,” Pearl Cowie said.
Sgt. Juan Padilla, 37, of Riverside, California, said Cowie’s decision to go to Iraq inspired the 1113th as it prepares to deploy.
“If she can go through all of that, through cancer and just wanting to go after all that, we can overcome anything,” he said. “That’s going to keep everybody’s morale up.”
AP
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“Where’s Matt Damon going to be” indeed!
42-year old female cancer survivor opts to serve her country and support her pals in uniform.
36-year old Hollywood multi-millionaire poof continues to rail against Global warming and the evil Bushites. Sucks up to Noam Chomsky to avoid accusations of being a dunce.
Why is it that I think there are more Americans in Iraq than in America?
June 24th, 2007 at 7:19 amAfter reading this story I have a question.
What kind of country produces such people?
June 24th, 2007 at 7:27 amSteve,
“What kind of country produces such people?”
So that’s it, blame the USA. It’s always the USAs fault, right?
June 24th, 2007 at 7:59 amFunny she’s in a transportation unit. Reminds me of Lisa, was a member of our unit at the Connecticut Street Armory in Buffalo, NY. She was actually assigned to a transportation unit in NYC. They got sent to Desert Storm, she was gone. Next we heard from her parents, they lived in Cheektowaga, a Buffalo suburb, they had just gotten a call from her. She was calling from downtown Kuwait City the first day the city was liberated. She is only about 5′2″, she had to use a pillow to boost her up so she could see over the dashboard of the 18 wheeled truck she was driving. These women are awesome.
June 24th, 2007 at 8:04 amMatt Damon will be sucking Sean Penn’s rocket while listening to Sheryl Crowe ranting about how she got shit on her fingers when her one sheet of toilet paper ripped. I can’t stand any of those liberal fuckhead bastard pussies…………God Bless our soldiers ,our heroes and the backbone of America.
June 24th, 2007 at 8:14 am[…] National Guard: 42 Year-Old Mother Of Two Beats Cancer Last Month And Volunteers For Dangerous Iraq … […]
June 24th, 2007 at 8:33 amQuestion: What kind of country produces such people?
Answer: Hard to say why some people “get it” and some do not. It’s definitely not from drinking the water. It must be something that comes from the American spirit and the American heart.
Hence the reason why “assimilation” into this society is so important. Those that cannot or will not assimilate should be cast into the abyss of whatever pest-hole that they come from.
Thi American spirit doesn’t come from the education system. It is a legacy passed down to this generation from people like us.
June 24th, 2007 at 9:03 amI would hasten to add that some of our women have more balls than some of our men have. Are you listening douchbag Reid, Kennedy and the rest of you ball-less wonders up on Capitol Hill?
June 24th, 2007 at 9:06 amI don’t mean to get too far off the subject. However, since I brought the subject up. How about this for a headline: “Troops should show their support of Congress by sending them home”. Catchy huh?
http://blacktygrrrr.townhall.com/g/067f7c3b-415d-4a7d-af06-d54f73329bb6
June 24th, 2007 at 9:34 amBanned by PBS: Muslims Against Jihad is going to be on foxnews tonight (6/24) at 9et.
Just wanted to pass that along. Love ya Pat!
June 24th, 2007 at 9:36 amAs a fellow female American … she puts me to shame.
June 24th, 2007 at 9:44 amDid we really expect a millionaire anti-war american like matt damon, to really enlist or show up in Iraq? You’ll have better chances at winning the mega millions than seeing that ever come true. Both he and his cohort, Ben Affleck, are known democrats voters, the same party that wants to end the war by pulling out prematurely. Just knowing that there are people like Elizabeth Cowie makes me feel safer because of her bravery and courage! Sadly, more and more anti-war sentiment is growing in this nation partly because of the media and sadly, because of our own President. He no longer gives the good fight for the war as he did in the beginning. Instead, you hear him saying things like shutting down Guantanamo Bay jail where all the KNOWN TERRORISTS are currently being held. Then he proposes to put them in other military jails which may mean they might end up here in the United States! This wrong message as well as imprisoning US soldiers for doing what they were told to do and lowering morale, is the reason why more americans can no longer support this very necessary war. They no longer feel it’s in our best interest and no longer feel that they, the terrorists will come over here, should we pull out of Iraq! The ignorance of the media and the democrats as well as some known republicans, have ruined any possible chance of a military victory in Iraq and will no doubt, bring a more devastating terrorist act in our soil again if we continue to fall in this manner. The courage of our brave soldiers like Sgt. Cowie and the deaths of so many american soldiers, will have been in vain if we do not continue the fight! Like someone in the earlier blogs said “there are there more americans in Iraq that here” and sadly, he may be right.
June 24th, 2007 at 10:25 amFUCK YEAH. That is all I can say. As long as we have people like her, we’ll be ok.
June 24th, 2007 at 10:52 amThese are the type of people we should be teaching our kids to recognize as HEROS, not pompus sports figures and movie “stars”.
June 24th, 2007 at 11:49 amStrong woman-stronger than the feminist types who shriek over crude jokes and comments.
June 24th, 2007 at 12:03 pmMatt Damon will be nowhere near. Acts tough on screen, maybe he is, but he’s not really a fighter.
God bless and protect this woman (and, indeed, all of our troops).
June 24th, 2007 at 1:40 pmMatt Damon is a punk in my eyes in comparison to SSG Cowie. She’s got more canastas than he’ll ever have.
Face it, some people talk tough. Some people act tough on TV. This chick IS tough.
It’s not what you say that is important. It is what you do that is important. Talking shit is for punks.
Real men and women put their actions where their words are.
I wish the good SSG health and luck.
June 24th, 2007 at 3:17 pmEric you missed it, Dan you got it.
drillanwr, you should feel no shame, but pride and humility that you are fellow citizens. I am humbled by the grace and strength in her actions and beliefs.
We field a volunteer army, citizens who have chosen for a variety of personal reasons to serve for the greater good of us all.
Give thanks in your prayers that we are blessed with such noble and selfless citizens.
June 24th, 2007 at 3:38 pmSteve in NC:
“We field a volunteer army, citizens who have chosen for a variety of personal reasons to serve for the greater good of us all.
Give thanks in your prayers that we are blessed with such noble and selfless citizens.”
I’d underline the phrase “serve for the greater good” and the word “selfless”. Perfect descriptions of our fighting men and women.
I raise my glass and “hooah” to those comments.
An excellent summary and thanks.
June 24th, 2007 at 3:48 pmDamn, she has more guts and conviction than practically any liberal male. God bless her!
June 24th, 2007 at 5:12 pmWow. What can I say? I suck!
I’ve got enormous respect for this gal. Best of luck to her for her health and her mission!
June 24th, 2007 at 5:29 pmEric: I think Dan meant to say “What kind of GREAT COUNTRY” produces this kind of people. He was lauding her and us.
June 24th, 2007 at 5:35 pmJudith. Steve nailed it good. His comments were superb.
June 24th, 2007 at 6:35 pmAnd you are right.
Hell, this woman has more guts than practically ANY male, liberal or not!
God bless her and her family, they are the kinda people that make our country great.
Pat, I think you need to change the title of your site to: “REAL Americans.”
If you disagree with more than ~5% of what you read here…YOU AINT A REAL AMERICAN!!
[and some of us aren’t so young any more
]
June 24th, 2007 at 8:07 pmBTW, let’s see how much publicity this story gets vs, saaaayyyy, the “Haditha Massacre”…Can’t let the American people see our heroes as heroes, can we?
June 24th, 2007 at 8:09 pmUnbelieveably fantastic! I am constantly amazed that, no matter how hard some jackass in Washington or some talking head in the MSM decries the war, the heroic accounts of our fighting forces mount astronomically. It’s as if God is daring them to keep up their liar, liar routine.
God bless her, her family back home, and the countless others whose stories we will never hear.
Hey, Code Pink, the lot of you can f-off.
June 24th, 2007 at 8:42 pmEric, if you get a chance go to www.littlegreenfootballs.com They have a video of the BBC reporter.
June 24th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
Gen Patton was right when in one of his speech he said …”30 years from now when you’re Grandchild comes up to you and ask “What did you do in the war? Staff Sergeant Cowie’ can proudly say I wasn’t shoveling sh** in Louisiana! She can hold her head high for showing all of us how to serve your country no matter what your health or disability is! Not much I can say for the so called movie stars of this pathetic generation! My salute goes to you Staff Sergeant Elizabeth Cowie’s for your courage and honor serving our Country.
June 25th, 2007 at 7:34 amI met a woman like this when i was training as a chaplain candidate at fort jackson. Out of 70 + men and women(only six women) she was given the top award for work ethic, morale boosting, leadership and physical strength and endurance. She kicked my a**. I voted for her. she trained alongside men, never complained and led by example. She was a 33 year old mother of 3 at the time.
good jog ssg cowie
June 25th, 2007 at 8:31 pmThis is the kind of story that can make a grown man cry.
June 26th, 2007 at 3:11 pmGod bess you darlin. You are heroic.
Take care of yourself
I happen to be the lucky stiff that can claim, Staff Sgt. Elizabeth Cowie is my Girlfriend and I”m not saying she can kick your girlfriends *^%# but My pet name for her is Warrior Princess, I am Auggie Cavanagh and I can NOT begin to impress upon to whom ever may be reading this, how much of a strong Modern day woman she truly is. She has not ceased to amaze me with her dedication, true care and concern for her fellow man (and Not just her soldiers)but Reg Americans also, I mean Liz helped to found, along with civilian Carolyn Blasheck one of the most important All Volunteer Non-profit orginizations in this country. Named Operation Gratitude, Op.Grat lets Americans show their support to our Service men and women deployed in far aways lands By packing and sending Care Packages with letters from home. And then when life threw a proverbial Monkey-wrench into her plans and commitment to deploy to Irac with her troops, by giving her breast cancer, she said in her usual Fargo North Dakota Drawl, “What’d we gotta do to get this done so I can go with my soldiers? Not missing a beat, she gets this proceedure done called Mammosite,the cancer’s gone, and now she is too. She left today taking my love my heart and my deepest admiration with her to Irac, I missed her the moment she told me she was going to Irac.
July 10th, 2007 at 1:01 amUntil she gets back, I will keep her spirit, enthusiasim and determination alive and well.
Am I bias? You bet! After all I do Love her, Duh!
Hurry home my Warrior Princess!