New Orleans Photojournalist and Editorial Photographer Edmund D. Fountain - The Wounded Among Us
Marine Lance Cpl. Michael DeLancey, 27, was deployed once to Afghanistan and once to Haditha, Iraq. DeLancey was shot by a sniper while on patrol two weeks before coming home from his deployment in Iraq. The bullet injured his spine and left him a paraplegic.
‘I heard the gunfire and I remember returning fire and then seeing the back of my shoulder was popped out of place. I kind of started going in and out of consciousness at that point.
"I'm very proud of my injury. It sucks to have gone through that and I do wish I was still up and walking and everything like that. I look around and I look at the house and I look at the way I've been taken care of. My medical care has been top-notch.
"It's been, I wouldn't say an equal trade, but there ain't no sense in worrying about what I've lost. I've been provided opportunities that I would have never had if I wouldn't have got injured. Certain things like money, schooling. I've traveled all over the nation. I wouldn't have been able to afford to do that, but I'm doing it — going and mentoring and talking to other people."