CALLAHAN, Fla. -- A soldier who survived the battlefields of Iraq is facing another kind of battle.
U.S. Army Sgt. Casey Watters is now at home in Callahan with his family, battling a rare form of cancer that doctors found after he was wounded in Iraq.
Watters joined the army to fight terrorism. He served two tours of duty in Iraq, where he survived several attacks. He lost a best friend to a improvised explosive device and narrowly escaped with his life during the same attack.
Fighting is nothing new to Watters, but an injury he received from the IED led to the discovery of an even bigger battle.
"When I was getting checked out had two lumps get checked out, and ended up having a rare cancer," Watters said.
The form of cancer is so rare that Watters and wife, Rachel, said doctors have not been able to give him a prognosis.
"It just rocked me. I was like, I made it through this whole gun battle and a couple other gun battles and some crazy stuff that you just pray and pray you make it through and then come home and find out you have cancer. I was like, 'I can't win right now,'" Watters said.
The battle has been costly for Watters. Although the military pays for his chemotherapy treatments and he is still on active duty, the expenses of travel for his treatments have been mounting.
"We had great credit, so we had pretty good limits on our credit card. Just going back and forth to Vanderbilt maxed out our cards," Rachel Watters said.
Despite facing numerous challenges, Watters said he has remained positive and is now home, where he can spend time with his daughter.
Even though he doesn't know what the future hold, he said he vows to continue fighting the good fight.
"What I'm going to do is just keep the fight up. I'm just going to focus on being home with my family and enjoy my family life because I haven't enjoyed having my family around me in so long -- two years," Watters said.
Anyone wishing to help the Watters family can make donations to the Watters Family Fund at any Compass Bank location.
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