Ashleigh Byrnes 2020-05-28 14:53:11
Michigan chapter rallies behind Vietnam veteran in time of need
At nearly six-and-a-half feet tall, Army veteran Sharon Herron towers over most people in a room and tells a war story as well as anyone. An imposing, yet warm and charismatic figure, Herron both is—and isn’t— like every other Vietnam veteran you’ve ever met.
That’s because in 2005, Herron transitioned from male to female.
“There was, in the back of my mind, the question … was there gonna be a problem with me transitioning and the chapter accepting me,” recalled Herron, who first set foot into DAV Chapter 114’s headquarters in Livonia, Mich., in 2017. “But there was none of that. I came here and it was just like I belonged.”
“She’s just one of us,” agreed Chapter Commander Gary Busch, a fellow Vietnam veteran. “We don’t look at people at face value, at how they look. We look at what type of a person they are. It doesn’t matter about their sexual preference or orientation. We’re all human beings, and that’s how we treat people.”
And Herron jumped in with both feet, taking up the helm as chapter adjutant, helping to completely refurbish their building over the past year and ensuring local veterans were welcomed and embraced by the organization.
“The reality is she is a veteran that served honorably and is giving back through her membership and leadership in DAV,” said National Adjutant Marc Burgess. “Acceptance is a real issue in the military, our veterans community and society as a whole. The closer we get to those we may differ from in various ways, the more we realize there is more that binds us than divides us, and her being welcomed and encouraged by her fellow members is an example of this.”
But just before Christmas in 2018, sudden cloudiness in Herron’s eye put a halt on her involvement, requiring emergency surgery to repair a detached retina. Though the surgery was successful in saving her vision, the anesthesia caused painful burns to her mouth, tongue and esophagus, making it difficult to eat or drink. After several weeks, Herron was so badly dehydrated that her kidneys began to fail. Worse still, routine follow-up appointments led to another devastating diagnosis.
“I found out that I had multiple myeloma, which is an undetermined cancer and it’s in the bone,” Herron said. “I’m now in the process of getting kidney dialysis as well as chemotherapy.”
For Herron, spending nearly every weekday in the hospital undergoing treatment, though physically draining, isn’t the hardest part— it’s the inability to stay involved with those she’s closest to.
“I love the guys; they’re like family to me,” she said. “This is like home. And when you can’t go home it hurts.”
Just as things seemed like they couldn’t get much worse, life dealt Herron and her spouse, Bobbie, yet another blow. National Service Office Supervisor Jason Zielke was able to help Herron get her VA disability claim for cancer approved within a matter of days, but the financial strain had also put Herron’s home in jeopardy.
“In January, we got a notice from the county that if we didn’t pay our back taxes by March 1, the house was going to be confiscated and sold,” said Herron. “We were having a rough time. I tried to pick up as much work as I could, but when I got sick there was no way.”
As soon as the members of the chapter caught wind, they mobilized an effort to keep Herron in her house.
“When it got to the point where she told me she might lose her house, that’s when I made a phone call to Gary Busch and I told him about it,” said Zielke. “He said he’d call a special chapter meeting, vote on it and get it taken care of.”
“Our DAV mission is to help veterans and their families, and that’s what we do,” said Busch. “There was never a moment of hesitation.”
“We’re a family,” said current Chapter Adjutant Ricky Sowders, who described feeling “heartbroken” by the news of Herron’s diagnosis. “I treat her as a sister, I love her as a sister, and I’d do anything I could to help her.”
Though Herron’s compromised immune system has kept her from spending time at the chapter, she had an emotional reunion with a room full of friends in March. “It’s a chance you’ve got to take,” she said. “They mean that much to me, that I want to be here. It bothers me a lot that I can’t be here and can’t be around them.”
As for the support she’s received from her fellow veterans, Herron said it’s simply what veterans do— creating a community of brothers and sisters that connects across social identifiers.
“When someone was down and out like we were, they all cared, and that made all the difference to me,” said Herron.
“I think it has a lot to do with how each veteran has suffered over the years. We’re all just looking for a place to fit in.”
Published by Disabled American Veterans. View All Articles.
This page can be found at http://digital.dav.org/article/ONE+OF+US/3361052/582106/article.html.