Photo by Lance Cpl. Chelsea Anderson | Defense Media Activity - Marines | 12.28.2011
Sgt. Josh Cooley and his mother visit with Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James T. Conway shortly before Cooley's cranioplasty surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Md. Cooley underwent multiple operations to repair injuries he received following an improvised explosive device blast in Iraq, July 5, 2005....
Photo by Lance Cpl. Chelsea Anderson | Defense Media Activity - Marines | 11.05.2009
Sgt. Josh Cooley takes his first ride on his horse RockC as part of equine therapy at Quantum Leap Farm in Odessa, Fla., November 2009. Equine therapy in addition to other aggressive rehabilitation techniques allowed Cooley to regain a significant portion of his strength, balance and mobility following a catastrophic brain injury while serving in Iraq in 2005....
Photo by Lance Cpl. Chelsea Anderson | Defense Media Activity - Marines | 06.01.2007
Sgt. Josh Cooley spends leisure time in the pool playing basketball at his home in Tampa Bay, Fla., in 2009. At the beginning of 2009, Christine started working with Josh in his pool and he would just float on his back while she held him and did exercises with his arms and legs. By 2010 he was walking into the pool down steps with help and walking around the pool on his own as well as playing......
Photo by Lance Cpl. Chelsea Anderson | Defense Media Activity - Marines | 11.10.2006
Sgt. Josh Cooley prepares to leave for the Marine Corps Ball with his mother Christine Cooley in Tampa Bay, Fla., in November 2006. Cooley enlisted in the Corps after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 following ten years of service as a deputy on the SWAT team....
Photo by Lance Cpl. Chelsea Anderson | Defense Media Activity - Marines | 07.01.2005
Sgt. Josh Cooley takes a break from his work on top of an M1A1 Abrams tank in Iraq, July 1, 2005, just days before his convoy was blown up by an improvised explosive device. Cooley, a crew chief for amphibious assault vehicles, lost a third of his brain in the blast and sustained significant burns over much of his body. Over the next six years, Cooley defied all odds by steadily improving......
