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Wounded Marine Gets Warm Welcome In Riverview

Tribune photo by YVETTE C. HAMMETT

Chris and Brian Ott help Chris' son, Marine Lance Cpl. John T. Doody, out of his new van at their home in Riverview. The Veterans Administration and the nonprofit Wheels for Warriors provided the van for Doody, who is paralyzed from the neck down because of complications from a wound.

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By YVETTE C. HAMMETT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 16, 2008

RIVERVIEW - A war brought Marine Lance Cpl. John T. Doody to Tampa Bay's doorstep.

A caring community offered him a warm welcome to his new home in Riverview on Monday.

Doody, 25, was wounded by a sniper in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2007. A subsequent infection cut off oxygen to his brain and resulted in his being paralyzed from the neck down.

He will make his home here, where his mother and stepfather, Chris and Bryan Ott, purchased a home off Big Bend Road.

The East Bay High School Army JROTC welcomed him with a salute. Riverview Chamber Director Kitty Cunningham and several chamber members and community activists greeted him as he rolled down the ramp of his new specially outfitted van.

Hillsborough County Animal Services offered a dog that local business owner Karen Lewandowski will help train as a service animal to stand by his side.

"I'm tremendously glad to have all these people here," Doody said, between trading friendly barbs with Army ROTC Sgt. 1st Class Rodney Avent.

"Semper Fi, Do or Die," he told Avent in a near whisper.

"He says even if he would have known this would happen, he would have served anyway," his mom said.

She will be there to help with his every need.

Members of the chamber have already stepped up to help the family relocate to their new home. Avent's unit has offered to help finish up the move-in.

Mike and Susan Sutko of Day Star Ministries, a small Gibsonton homeless mission that serves more than 60 veterans, brought fruit and promised to bring by a fellow marine or two for a visit.

"It's just wonderful how the Tampa community has just been awesome to us," Chris Ott said. "We have no family here and we worried about that," she said, noting that their home in Utah is still up for sale.

"We moved here to help J.T. get better. We feel like we'll definitely get some help."

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 865-1566.

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