|
|
||
|
Longing for a normal life Anthrax survivor learns to cope Date published: 12/28/2003 By PAMELA GOULD LEROY RICHMOND used to ride bikes with his son Quentin after the youngster got home from school. Sometimes they'd play soccer together or walk to the local library--about a mile away. But today, Richmond's 8-year-old is learning board games like chess and checkers to give the pair some more sedentary activities to share. It's a transition the North Stafford man finds discouraging--especially since he never lacked energy before. But that was before inhalation anthrax sapped his strength. Before the bacteria sent through the mail in October 2001 killed two of his co-workers. And before he became a statistical anomaly--a survivor of inhalation anthrax. Richmond, who lives in Stonehill Estates subdivision with his wife, Susan, and their young son, is now free of the deadly bacteria that had invaded his body. But the 59-year-old father of three--he also has two grown daughters--is reminded of its impact daily. He's discouraged because memory lapses and his lack of stamina keep him from returning to the Brentwood postal facility in Northeast Washington--where he'd worked for more than 34 years. The only medication Richmond now takes is an anti-depressant. He struggles with depression because he can no longer find meaning for his days. "At times, it feels there's no value to things," Richmond said. "I'm not suicidal, but there's no value to the day." He found his job satisfying and used to look forward to getting to work--even though it meant leaving home before 3 a.m. "I think I miss the routine of accomplishing something anonymously every day by processing the mail," Richmond said. For Richmond, whose primary job was processing Express Mail, the meaning behind the work wasn't lost. He knew someone at the end of the line was looking for the packages he was sorting. "My reward wasn't my paycheck," he said. "It was that I've accomplished my job and someone else is going to be happy." But, at least temporarily, those days are gone. "Right now, I'm in limbo," Richmond said. Anthrax-tainted letters sent to Sens. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., were processed at Brentwood. And though Richmond didn't normally process letters, he was asked to clean up the area around the machine contaminated by the letters and suspects that's how he became infected.
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
|
|
|||||||||
