My cell phone buzzed Saturday evening as I left the “wine and spirits” store with a selection of fine vino. It was my cousin Drew. I hastened to answer because when I miss a call from Drew, it’s hard to reconnect.

Drew is confined to a wheelchair and can’t use his hands like he once could. He has multiple sclerosis (MS), one of the unusually high number of Gulf War veterans afflicted by the neurological disorder. He lives at the Veterans Administration (VA) facility in Butler, Pennsylvania. I grew up a mile from that VA building, the same time that former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s parents worked there. It’s just down the road from the Butler Farm Show Grounds where Donald Trump was shot on July 13. Sirens had wailed past the building as the former president was rushed toward Butler Memorial Hospital in town.
Among vets from the Korean War, Vietnam War, and World War II, Drew stands out. He’s only 57 years old but has been confined to a wheelchair for years now.
Growing up, Drew was an athlete, a wild man, and a fun guy to be around. He was the quarterback for his high school football team, an impressive achievement anywhere in western Pennsylvania, where our high school QBs become college QBs and sometimes NFL Hall of Famers: Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Jim Kelly, Joe Namath, Johnny Unitas, and George Blanda.
Drew went on to play in college, though scholastic life wasn’t for him. He instead joined the military and served his country in the 1991 Gulf War, commissioned aboard a battleship. Something happened during that time that severely affected Drew’s health. He has various theories. Shortly thereafter, his body shut down from a strange form of MS. The condition has been called Gulf War Syndrome.
Drew had called to talk about Pennsylvania college football — Pitt was getting trounced by Louisville and Penn State barely edged out Minnesota. Our conversation turned to Thanksgiving at our grandparents’ house. This would be my dad’s parents and Drew’s mom’s parents...