Mystery illness kills Missouri soldier

[Guest guest]

Personally, I think this is from the " inoculations " given .... or radiation

exposure .....

 

 

>

>

> Mystery illness kills Missouri soldier

> Josh Neusche died Saturday; his family waits for answers.

>

> By Eric Eckert

> News-Leader Staff

>

> 07/16/03: Montreal, Mo. Seventeen-year-old Jacob Neusche spent Tuesday

> morning packing up his big brother's belongings books, a high school

> letterman's jacket and a Class A uniform.

> " That's what Josh will be buried in, " the teenager said, referring to the

> uniform.

>

> Missouri National Guard Spc. Josh Neusche, 20, died Saturday at the

Homburg

> Hospital in Germany from a mysterious illness. A member of the 203rd

> Engineer Battalion, he is the only Missouri National Guardsman on the

> Department of Defense's casualty list.

>

> Family and friends are awaiting the soldier's body, scheduled to arrive

> Thursday in the United States.

>

> They are also waiting for autopsy results, and his parents, Mark and Cindy

> Neusche, are calling for an investigation.

>

> " He's always been healthy, " Mark Neusche said. " Hell, he's a cross-country

> runner. There's no reason for a boy of his health to deteriorate so

quickly. "

>

> Cindy Neusche said her son collapsed July 2 while in Baghdad and was

> transported to Germany. Doctors there told the family they believed Josh

> suffered from pneumonia due to fluid that had collected on his lungs. But

> then his liver, kidneys and muscles started to break down, his mother

said.

>

> " They were doing some things there, trying to get his kidneys flushed

out, "

> she said through tears. " They told us his potassium levels came up so far

> and he needed to go on dialysis. "

>

> The Neusches traveled to Germany Friday to be with their son. When they

> arrived, they found him in a drug-induced coma. The grief-stricken couple

> weren't able to talk with their boy, but they believe he knew they were

there.

>

> " In our hearts, we felt he heard us, " said Cindy Neusche. " You could tell

 

> by the machines he was on. His heart rate got faster when we talked to

him. "

>

> Josh Neusche died the next day.

>

> Doctors and family members are still befuddled by the strange illness.

> There's got to be an explanation, Mark Neusche said. He prays the

> hospital's autopsy will reveal the cause.

>

> " I know the doctor over in Germany said he got into some type of toxin, "

> Mark Neusche said. " Several soldiers were in similar conditions while we

> were there. "

>

> So far there has been no hint of an official inquiry.

>

> " That's not under investigation, " said U.S. Army Spokesman, Lt. Col. Jeff

> Keane, from Virginia.

>

> " To my knowledge, we've not been asked to do that (investigate), " added

> Whitney Frost, a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton.

>

> Meanwhile, friends and family have been reminiscing about their loved one.

>

> " I lost the person I looked up to the most, " Jacob Neusche said of his

> brother. " I guess now the role I'll have to step into is caring for my

> mother and dad. My brother always did that. "

>

> Friends remembered how Josh loved to play his trombone, his reign as

> Camdenton High School's 2002 prom king and his penchant for mathematics.

>

> " He was a tutor for little kids, " said friend Danny Pacholski. " The guy

was

> a genius at math. ... It's really heartbreaking that this happened. We

were

> always supposed to grow up with each other. "

>

> Josh's high school sweetheart, Krissy Lewis, said he lived his 20 years to

> the fullest. The couple broke up after high school, but stayed close

friends.

>

> " He was the most outgoing person I'd ever met, " Lewis said, adding that

> friends have been consoling each other since they learned of the death.

> " One moment, I'm OK and then it hits me that I've lost the first love of

my

> life. "

>

> Josh joined the National Guard in high school. When he was activated in

> March, the young man was enrolled at Southwest Missouri State University

as

> a freshman.

>

> He was taking general-education courses and had been dating fellow student

> Layne Clark for eight months. Clark, 19, said she and Josh talked many

> times about getting married.

>

> " We met at college through a friend of ours, " Clark said Tuesday. " We

loved

> to go dancing. We saw a lot of movies and we enjoyed just being together

> doing nothing. "

>

> Clark said the young soldier believed in his mission.

>

> " He was so proud to serve his country. He thought this was the right thing

> to do and he wanted to do it. He was the most courageous man I'd ever

known. "

>

> On Sunday the day after learning of Josh's death Clark received a two-page

> letter from her boyfriend; it was postmarked June 30.

>

> " He just told me that everything was going all right and he'd be home

soon. "

>

>

> http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4130.htm

>