To Be At War

By Amanda Salisbury

Andy – or, Stephen Andrew Young, as the U.S. Army knows him – is a soldier. He signed the documents months ago, along with his parents, Steve and Tammy Young. You see, Andy has a plan, a purpose, and the Army Reserve is an integral part of that plan. So, with his parents’ signatures and blessing, he signed on at seventeen. For the months until basic training, Andy met once a month with his unit in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Little more than two weeks after Andy’s graduation from Okemah High School, Okemah, Oklahoma, Andy began basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He was ready. He knew how many sit-ups he needed to complete as fully as he knew the commitment he had made. Then, mere days after his eighteenth birthday, Andy’s plan was interrupted in a way no one could have anticipated.

Just after midnight in the predawn hours of Tuesday, July 20, 2010, the phone rang in the Young house on the grounds of the John H. Lilley Correctional Center in Boley, Oklahoma. The doctor told Steve and Tammy that Andy was very ill. By four o’clock that Tuesday morning, Andy had been transported to University Hospital in Columbia, Missouri.

Soon, the doctors diagnosed Andy with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, an aggressive disease that must be met with aggression. Family and friends dropped everything and traveled to see the boy we love. But we found the man, the soldier, Andy is, and we love him all the more. Now, many of us are going home, but Andy and his family – Steve, Tammy, and younger brother Jesse – remain in Columbia, where excellent physicians are continually battling the leukemia with Andy, for Andy.

Andy’s road to recovery will be long and difficult. The ancient Chinese strategist Sun Tzu wrote: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” I wrote that inscription in a gift for Andy – “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu – on the evening of his high school graduation. Those words reflect the way Andy has approached his transition to adulthood, and they also echo the doctors’ approach to Andy’s treatment. The team of doctors treating Andy has both a strategy and numerous tactics for achieving Andy’s victory over leukemia and its allies.

Take heart, this is your war, too. Your thoughts, prayers, encouragement, and support are crucial tactics that are part of the greater strategy. And we want to facilitate your engagement in Andy’s war.

We are updating Andy’s condition and resources to help this battle at www.caringbridge.org/visit/stephenandrewyoung. You can help through myriad ways. On the Caring Bridge website you can leave a message of hope and encouragement on the Guestbook. You can also send cards and letters of encouragement to Andy at MNSICU, University Hospital, One Hospital Drive, Columbia, MO 65212. For the safety of all patients in the ICU, do not send latex balloons, fresh flowers, or plants to Andy.

Two trust accounts have been established to benefit Andy and his immediate family throughout this struggle. If you would like to donate, you may deposit money at any MidFirst Bank (www.midfirst.com) to The Andy Young Support Trust or at Stockman’s Bank (www.stockmansbankok.com) to The Stephen Andrew Young Benefit Fund. You can learn more about these funds and the efforts of others on the Caring Bridge site.

One of Andy’s first handwritten notes during this ordeal expresses: “I want to finish.” In his personal fight for freedom from leukemia, Andy still wants to fight for the freedoms we all treasure. Today he is a soldier and a fighter and the Andy we each love. Today you can fight right along with him. We are human, and we share more common enemies than we believe. So, whatever your fight against our joint enemies in this world, be they cancer or poverty or something else entirely, know that we wish you the successful vanquish of our foes and know that Andy is fighting, too.