Marine Finds Strength in Book of Daily Devotions
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The father of Marine Corporal Brandon Aguiar picked up a copy of Strength for Service to God and Country at Camp Pendleton, Calif., chapel of the hospital where Brandon was being treated for esophageal cancer. “I gave a copy to Brandon who read it while undergoing radiation and chemotherapy treatments,” |
said Edward Aguiar. “We both found inspiration and strength in the book.”
First sign of trouble Earlier, Brandon had returned to his North Richland Hills, Texas, home for Thanksgiving after serving eight months in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait with the 11th Marine Expedition Unit. During the visit home, he found it difficult to swallow. Edward and Olga brought their son to a Texas physician who found a tumor the size of a quarter in Brandon’s throat.
Although his parents tried to convince Brandon to have surgery in Texas, he returned to Camp Pendleton, Calif. It was at a base hospital that the couple learned their son’s tumor was malignant. In Dec. 2004, Brandon returned to his Texas home for additional surgery and treatment at Fort As a small sample of Brandon’s courage, he had earlier been asked to speak at high school career day. Two weeks after much of his stomach had been removed, he struggled out of bed, put on his dress uniform and spoke at the school. A former star catcher on the Carroll High School baseball team, Brandon gradually returned to helping his father coach the Black Hawk baseball team, a select team of 16 year-olds. His own college baseball career had been cut short when, in 2002, he blew out an elbow playing ball for Howard Junior College in Big Springs, Texas. Edward says that Brandon joined the Marines after attending a Sunday service at Fellowship Church in Grapevine. The church, that each week attracts over 15,000 people to one of four services, constantly surprises congregants. On this Sunday, Pastor Ed Young drove a full-sized tank onto the stage to talk about |
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