Injured brother motivates Selah graduate

published 6.9.07

    Selah High School senior Breanne Mettie credits her big brother for her plans after graduation.

    Army Spc. Evan Mettie is still recovering from a brain injury and has been in a number of hospitals after being severely wounded by a suicide bomber in Iraq on New Year's Eve 2005. More than 11/2 years later, after watching her brother's condition get better, then worse, and then better again, Breanne realized there was one thing crucial to his recovery.

    Therapy.

    Basically, the more Evan received, the better he did.

    "He got an hour of therapy a week in Palo Alto (at the Palo Alto Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center in California)," she said. "In New Jersey (at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation), he gets three hours of therapy every day. If he had been getting that from the beginning, he would be doing so much better."

    So Breanne is heading off to Yakima Valley Community College for a year and then hopes to transfer to the University of Washington or Eastern Washington University to study physical therapy.

    It's a journey toward a new career that she begins today as one of 201 Selah High School graduates who will walk across the stage at the Yakima Valley SunDome and accept a diploma.

    Like many of her classmates, she's had a challenging year, balancing school, family, sports, work and other activities along with sending out college applications and writing entry essays. But besides all of that, and having to worry about her brother, Breanne also had to deal with not having her mother by her side.

    "I think I saw her about 20 days this year," she said of her mother, Denise, who has been caring for Evan. "But
my mom did the right thing. ... I don't feel like I've been left behind or anything."

    Denise Mettie said she has been able to go to just one of her daughter's softball games this year. For her, it's very difficult to stay away because she said she has always played a very active role in her children's senior years of high school, and wanted to be there for Breanne as she was for Evan and her other daughter, Kira.

    "I was a part of the senior planning group for their senior party, worked fundraisers, went to all of their sporting events even if I had to take time off of work," Denise said. "Missing her senior year really hurts — that was one of the most difficult parts of being gone."

    In addition, Denise said her daughter has managed to take care of herself financially this year because much of the family's resources have gone to support her so she can be with Evan.

    “She was running herself ragged," Denise said. "She goes to school all day and then works afterwards. ... She had a weekend job at the Waffle House for a while as well. I think she's put a lot of stress on herself dealing with it and hiding quite a bit of it from other people."

    Although she is already proud of her daughter, Denise said she is pleased that Breanne wants to go into physical therapy, especially after having talked to the therapists who have worked with Evan.

    "They all say they love their job," Denise said. "I think it's phenomenal that she's going into that field."

    Breanne said her dream job one day is to work for a military hospital, maybe even the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where she could help others like Evan who have sustained wartime brain injuries. While there is much public attention on the war's death toll, there has not been much focus on those in the military who survive but can recover only with constant care.

    "It's made me realize how in need some people are," she said.

by Rod Antone