Rep. Dan Crenshaw wears an eyepatch, as you know, because of wounds received while serving his country as part of SEAL Team 3 in Afghanistan. The blast from an IED took his right eye, and severely damaged his left.
Now those injuries are resurfacing, he wrote in a statement on Saturday. He had to get emergency surgery after a “terrify prognosis” that his retina in his remaining eye is detaching. Following that surgery, he’s going to be mostly out of action for the next month.
“I am sorry to inform everyone that I will be pretty much off the grid for the next few weeks,” said Crenshaw, in the statement released on Twitter.
“Here is why: A few days ago, I noticed some dark, blurry spots in my vision, which seemed out of the ordinary. I went to get this checked out by an ophthalmologist on Thursday and they discovered that my retina was detaching,” he said. “This is a terrifying prognosis for someone with one eye, and the nature of the injuries that I sustained in Afghanistan.”
“Anyone who knows the history of my injuries knows that I don’t have a ‘good eye,’ but half a good eye,” he added, explaining that the 2012 blast caused tissue damage and “extensive damage” to his other retina.
“The prognosis I received on Thursday is obviously very bad,” he said, explaining that he went in to get emergency surgery on the retina. “The surgery went well but I will be effectively blind for about a month.”
He explained that he won’t be able to do interviews or that kind of thing for the next month at least, and how people can still reach his office and so on. “I have gotten through worse before, and I will get through this,” he added.
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) April 10, 2021
“A few prayers that my vision will get back to normal and that I will make a full recovery wouldn’t hurt, though, and would be very much appreciated,” writes Rep. Crenshaw.
You have ours, sir. Thank you for your service.