National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.

Age Does Not Define a Hero

If you only notice a hero by the trophy he carries from the act of his bravery, you may miss meeting the most remarkable people in life. In the beginning of NBCF, when the internet was barely in existence and no one knew what to do with it, a quiet, red-haired teenager frequently came to our home to visit our high-school son, Kevin. His name was Scott Markle. You would never know beneath his shy smile that there was a hero inside.

Scott was always good at tackling difficult tasks and figuring out how to do things. His father was a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, so Scott grew up with flying in his blood. The teenagers practiced flying with video games and occasionally in a real flight simulator. Many times I heard Kevin say, “Scott has the most amazing hand/eye coordination. Someday he is going to do something special with his talents.” And he did.

NBCF Network

One day Kevin and Scott swung our front door open carrying a package. They tore into the rectangular box marked, “Internet in a Box”. My husband, Neal, and I knew nothing about computers, so Kevin and Scott trained us how to operate a computer and move around on the internet. That was the first NBCF computer. A network of computers followed in later years.

Heroism in Action

Kevin kept in touch with his buddy, Scott, over the years, so we tracked his life. As he joined the Air Force and matured with his skills and character, a hero was born. He is now a decorated 30-year old war hero. You can read from the link below about how Scott rescued 15 members of U.S. special forces who were surrounded by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The U.S. fighters were combating 40 Taliban fighters on the ground and in the air. The odds were against them and no aircraft could fire on the Taliban without possibly killing the U.S. soldiers. That’s when Scott made several low-flying passes directly into the line of fire of the Taliban causing them to retreat several times until they fled.

Another Rescue Mission

On another similar mission, U.S. soldiers were under heavy attack by the Taliban. Scott told Kevin about one of the soldiers who spent hours behind a rock in a creek, waiting to be rescued. The Taliban repeatedly shot at him, chipping away at the rock until all that was left was a small jagged edge. He was lying flat on his back in a pool of water with nothing but his nose above the water. He was terrified and unable to see anything from under the water. When he heard the screams of elation from his fellow soldiers, the man burst out of the water in disbelief. Scott ’s fierce air attack on the enemy had saved the lives of another group of soldiers.

Scott is an ordinary young man who moved with opportunity into extraordinary circumstances and did not let anything in life stop him, even fear. That’s how heroes are born. He has been awarded two of the highest military awards given for heroism.

A trophy hardly seems like enough. Click the link for his story.

http://www.airspacemag.com/issues/2007/august/moments_and_milestones.php

Thought for Today

If you are facing breast cancer and are afraid, open your eyes to the heroes around you–those who care about your smallest needs, those who champion your recovery, those who are there to rescue you from your fears.

Live Life,

Janelle