Leslie Kammerdiener's resolution for this new year isn't to stop a bad habit but to start a good one.

This year, she plans to make certain her son, Kevin, 21, enjoys the life he fought against all odds to keep living.

Last year at this time, Kevin, an Army Airborne veteran and East Brady native, was hospitalized in Tampa, Fla., struggling to deal with the aftermath of a traumatic brain injury and horrific burns. A suicide bomber slammed into his Humvee in Afghanistan on May 31, 2008, killing the terrorist and two soldiers. Kevin and another soldier were critically injured.

Kevin lost the function of 85 percent of his left brain and was burned over 23 percent of his body. Even if he lived, Kevin wouldn't be able to walk or talk or have virtually any cognitive ability, doctors told Leslie, 44, and Kevin's sister, Brianna, 25.

But today, with the help of a brace, he is walking -- often without a cane. He is talking, more and more daily, correctly applying the 70 words in his current vocabulary. Sometimes he even strings them together, saying, "Close the door" the other day at the home he bought in Riverview, a Tampa suburb.

Moreover, much of his joking, devil-may-care personality has returned.

"The Kevin of old is gone forever," Leslie said, "but I have to tell you in my wildest dreams I never thought we'd have the Kevin we have today."

A year ago, Leslie dared to dream only that her son might live with some degree of dignity. But, Lazarus-like, he has risen from near-death to such a relatively high level of function that his doctors call it a miracle.

Leslie wants to inflame even more of the spark that has returned to his eyes, to broaden the smile he increasingly sports. This year, she vows, her son will live a quality life, visiting aquariums, movie theaters and the beach more so than hospitals, therapy sessions and clinics.

He's already started, riding a recumbent bike with the abandon he used to exhibit when jumping out of planes as a soldier or performing skateboard jumps as a civilian. He once depended on Leslie to be near him at all times, but he now allows a visiting aide to help him.

Still, Leslie is a realist. She is well aware there will be more surgeries, medical procedures, physical and speech therapies, and handfuls of pills for her son, who was medically discharged from the Army as a corporal in November. And, she knows, there still will be bad days, frustrations and tears.

But, she notes, "You should not live life solely with doctors and therapies. There has to be a balance. We're really going to try to enjoy life a little better. I'm determined this is going to be the year of fun for him."

On New Year's Day 2009, Leslie wrote on her daily blog -- www.lesliekamm.blogspot.com:

"I have been watching Kevin's determination and attitude decline over the last couple of weeks and I really didn't know what to do. I have tried cajoling, bribing, threatening, you name it. Each and every day has been a struggle to get him to do anything."

It was a difficult time, Leslie recalled, not knowing what would happen next.

"It's really hard to say I had any hopes. Everyone told me not to, from doctors the whole way down. They said the odds were good that he would not amount to much."

That was then, this is now. On most days, Kevin willingly goes to therapy, learning to speak and to use his limbs (his right arm remains curled and unusable). Last year, doctors inserted a plate to replace a missing portion of his skull. A noticeable dent in his skull later was corrected and several plastic surgeries have been remarkably successful, removing disfiguring burns and restoring much of the young man's pre-injury good looks.

The past year also included two return visits to East Brady, Clarion County, the second in July when Kevin received his Purple Heart medal and a hero's welcome at a ceremony capping the community's annual Riverfest celebration.

To be sure, there also have been bad times, particularly in October when Kevin contracted a life-threatening MRSA infection on the plate in his head while in San Antonio for the surgery to repair his skull. Leslie opted for doctors to take a conservative approach -- draining the infection and a course of antibiotics -- even though they'd suggested a more radical step of removing the plate altogether.

Leslie made the right call. A neurosurgeon told her he would be discussing Kevin's case for the rest of his career.

The family celebrated a "very good Christmas," Leslie said.

"Never in a million years would I have thought Kevin could be where he is," she said. "This boy has half a brain. Who thought he'd be walking, riding a bike, talking somewhat, completely aware of what's going on around him. He's a walking miracle, a true miracle."

Kevin's injuries and recovery and his family's struggles have been documented by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as an example of the unique and complex medical, financial, mental health and quality of life problems faced by soldiers who have been wounded in America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those problems only figure to increase with the additional deployment of troops to Afghanistan.

Improved body armor and medical care have saved service members in both wars that would have killed them in earlier conflicts. But that means medical professionals now must deal with debilitating injuries such as the "signature wound" of these wars -- traumatic brain injury, or TBI, caused by explosive devices. Kevin is one of more than 300,000 service members who have suffered some form of TBI.

Wounded warriors are increasingly being cared for by mothers, spouses and other relatives who choose to become unpaid primary caregivers so their loved ones can live at home rather than in a Department of Veterans Affairs facility.

Leslie, who is divorced, is among those who have quit their jobs, lost their own health care coverage, moved to new locales, incurred debt and ignored their own physical and mental health to care for their wounded warriors. Bills are pending in Congress to provide these caregivers with compensation and health care coverage.

In the meantime, residents of East Brady and surrounding towns have held fundraising events to aid the family.

Also affected are Leslie's parents and her sister and brother-in-law, all from Creekside, Indiana County, who moved to Riverview to help with Kevin.

His sister, known to everyone as Breezy, helped out, too. But in the fall, at Leslie's insistence, she accepted a job in San Antonio while the family was there for Kevin's surgery. Because of her work with Kevin, Breezy was hired as an administrative assistant at an agency serving children with special needs. She has started dating a soldier from Fort Hood who she met through her cousin.

"It's very difficult taking care of Kevin all the time," Leslie said. "At 25, she needs to have a job, a boyfriend and an apartment like a normal person does."

Like Kevin, Leslie has evolved since her son was injured. Sweet-tempered and friendly by nature, Leslie has at times become outraged and outspoken when Kevin didn't receive the medical care or attention that she felt he warranted.

That new dimension of her personality surfaced publicly in mid-September, when she was invited to speak on a panel at a seminar on veterans health care in Alexandria, Va., co-sponsored by the United States Naval Institute and the Military Officers Association of America. Leslie, who had prepared a speech as instructed, was nervous the night before the discussion, which included high-ranking government and military officials. But once there, all nervousness departed. She abandoned the speech and spoke from her heart.

"I knew what I needed to say and it just came out. It was just a burden coming off my shoulders."

Leslie said that while much of Kevin's care was great, some was not. She pointed to his transfer from a military hospital in San Antonio, where his burns were treated, to a VA polytrauma hospital in Tampa for treatment of his brain injury. No medications, hospital bed or food for his feeding tube awaited him.

"My son suffered for 30 hours because this system was not ready and willing to do what was needed to be done to take care of him for the transfer," she said.

She spoke of doctors overprescribing medication, resulting in overdoses for Kevin and other patients. Therapists missed appointments. Sitters who were assigned to watch over Kevin sometimes disappeared when she left his room.

There were clashes with neurosurgeons and nurses. And she said she received no help when, early in 2009, Kevin made a motion indicating he wanted to hang himself.

"I called the VA hospital, and I said, 'Look, my son is suicidal, help me.' Days went by and nobody called. So I finally went to a MOAA dinner and I tackled the doctor, and I said, 'Look, you guys have to help us. I'm not trained ... I'm just a mom."

Crying, she ended: "I don't know how to handle all of this, and I think it's a very sad thing that this country or Army or VA system or whatever has let us down so incredibly, and I am asking you to step up to the plate and take care of somebody who went over there and did what you asked him to do."

The crowd of 600 responded with a standing ovation.

Leslie likens Kevin's growth over the past year to watching him mature the first time she raised him.

"He's growing up, from a newborn child to a toddler to a 9-year-old to a preteen. For the most part, he is 21 years old now but he just has a tendency on occasion to be childlike," she said.

"I'm not going to be unrealistic that in 2010 he'll be walking normally, talking and I can go back to work. If you think that, you set yourself up for disappointment. I set realistic goals -- that he will be saying sentences, following conversations, walking much better and will be able to be left alone for even an hour at a time.

"He's come so far, I expect him to go farther, much, much farther. I'm anxious to see what the future holds."

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