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U.S. Soldiers Get Comfort In Pay It 4ward Project

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Oct 10, 2008 7:13 am US/Mountain

U.S. Soldiers Get Comfort In Pay It 4ward Project

Written by CBS4 special projects producer Libby Smith
  The idea behind CBS4's Pay it Forward Colorado project is to give $1,000 to a Coloradan (or group of Coloradans) who will use the money to change someone else's life. Submit your ideas on YouReport . Below lies CBS4's Oct. 9 report. 

DENVER, Colo. (CBS4) - An injured Colorado soldier returning from Iraq is now reaching out to other military men and women trying to comfort them as they begin healing. A young woman was hit by an IED in Iraq. She served first in the Gulf War, and then in southern Iraq.

Some might say she's done enough; she, however, would say her sense of patriotic duty is just beginning.

"I remember the sand swirling around, you can taste it," said Army paramedic, Juliet Madsen about her time in Iraq.

She remembers the day her unit was hit by an IED.

"Things were exploding. We were spinning. All you could hear on the radio was screaming," Madsen told CBS4.

After the attack, things get blurry. Madsen was airlifted in a military helicopter. But she does remember when she was covered with a quilt.

"It totally brought me to tears. It was perfect timing. I have never felt so alone," Madsen added.

As she continues to recover, Juliet now passes the time by quilting.

She has a closed head injury, she suffered a stroke after the attack, and she has chronic pain. Her thoughts are focused on relieving the pain of other injured soldiers.

"If I could, I'd make thousands."

Madsen is trying to insure that there's a handmade quilt waiting for every injured soldier being airlifted out of Iraq.

Kathy Ruppert heard Juliet Madsen's story and wanted to join her mission to provide quilts for other injured soldiers. Ruppert asked CBS4 for $1,000 to make Madsen's dream come true.

"To me, she doesn't need to pay it back, she's paying it forward more times than I can count," Ruppert said.

Now with more money, more materials, this veteran, who has already paid a huge physical debt for her service to the country is now focused on paying it forward - one stitch, one patch of material, one quilt at a time.

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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