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Wounded Iraq war vet will soon give up fight to live

Posted at 11:06 AM, Mar 26, 2013
and last updated 2013-03-26 11:12:53-04

Kansas City, Mo. (Fox4KC.com)  – A vocal critic of the Iraq War that left him paralyzed says he will no longer fight to stay alive.

Tomas Young was hit by a bullet years ago – just five days into his tour in Iraq.

He says he signed up after Sept. 11, but if he had known he was going to Iraq instead of Afghanistan, he never would have enlisted, and never would have had to make the decision to end his own life, according to Fox4KC.com

Today, the 33-year-old sits on his bed and can’t do much of anything without the help of his wife, Claudia Cuellar. The veteran says his body is deteriorating – he deals with waves of nausea, he has skin ulcers, he can’t cough without assistance and has constant urinary tract infections.

Sometime in the next couple of weeks, he will stop using life-extending medicine and quit eating and drinking.

Young and Cuellar hope his decision will change the country’s views on the right-to-die.

The veteran has also posted a letter to former President George W. Bush and Vice President Cheney online calling them out for taking the country to war in what he feels was the wrong country.

Read more about Young’s struggles at Fox4KC.com.