Before Lance Corporal (LCpl) Kurt Mason joined the United Stated Marine Corps, he was a fisherman. Years of life on the water shaped his mature outlook. A seeker of responsibility, LCpl Mason feels guilty his guys are fighting without him in Afghanistan. “When deployed, I would take cat naps; I needed to ensure my guys were ok when we were out,” he shared. Since his abrupt return to the States, he has been transitioning from hyper-vigilant to healing his injuries.
LCpl Mason and his wife, Angela, met in Moraga, California, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, where both call home. Angela was with her family in Concord, Califonia, on July 4, 2011, when she used Skype with her family to communicate with LCpl Mason. An hour after their reunion, LCpl Mason traveled outside of his base with his team, and was injured by grenade fragments. Shrapnel punctured his right lung, collapsing it, and severed tendons in his right arm.
Angela just finished her nursing degree this summer, and is about to take her certification boards. “I almost had a heart attack when he called me. He could hardly breathe on the phone, I knew he wasn’t ok. He called me just before he was to go into surgery.” Angela drove to Southern California with her husband’s mother two days before LCpl Mason returned to the States, on July 10th. They had been living in a hotel in San Diego for the three and a half weeks before the Furnishing Hope team arrived. Since then, he has been attending doctor appointments to take care of his injuries.
Supported with donated furniture items from Living Spaces and the local community, along with other costs covered by BECCA swimwear, the Furnishing Hope team of nine beat their three and a half hour record time for an installation by an hour. Nancy Carter, a volunteer, said, “It feels really good to be able to give back.” She and Leslie Thomas were flying through the kitchen set up. “I don’t know what it is about moving fast, but we’re in a groove,” she exclaimed.
The Furnishing Hope team was touched by LCpl Mason’s grateful expressions, “I think it’s amazing. It’s just nice to see that people actually care about wounded in country.” They knew their work made a strong impact that day. Angela added, “It’s absolutely amazing, it’s beautiful the way they did everything.”
Learn more about Furnishing Hope’s work with the Mason family here.
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