Bob Woodruff, Ridgewood war veteran support students’ fundraising initiative
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
“This could be it.”
It’s a simple phrase, but it provides a small insight into what soldiers go through so that others never know war.
“Every time you go out on a mission, you don’t know if you’re coming back or not. It’s getting into that mentality: ‘This could be it,'” said Ridgewood resident and Iraq War veteran Mark Steppe.
Steppe suffered a brain injury from a roadside bomb explosion during his service and later developed post-traumatic stress disorder. It took him two years “just to be normal,” he said. Today, his suffering is far from over. He deals with severe pain due to a mysterious illness that caused lesions to form in his body, potentially linked to his exposure to depleted uranium in Iraq.
Seeing him suffer has been difficult for his family, including his two sons and his wife Amy McCambridge, a Ridgewood High School (RHS) graduate and former Marine.
Last Friday, McCambridge and Steppe briefly shared their story at several Ridgewood schools in a show of support for a student-based effort to raise money for the Bob Woodruff Foundation, a charity established by American journalist Bob Woodruff and his family to help wounded soldiers and their families.
