EAST TEXAS (KYTX) -- "It was weapons fire, small arms, AK 47. There were two of them. We could see them behind a building, peeking out of these windows."
In an Afghan Village, surrounded by fields of poppys and grapes, insurgents launch a surprise attack on Private Mark Chance and his band of brothers.
If the 19 year old had questions about what it meant to be a man before, what came next would answer them.
"I don't remember too much what happened," he said.
What happened, changed the world as he knew it.
From childhood, something started stirring within Mark -- a passion to defend his country. No wonder he signed up to enlist at the age of 17 and went directly into the army after he graduated high school.
"I was scared, I was really scared," Mark's mother Beth Chance said. "I cried every day he was in boot camp."
Beth and his wife Marissa of two months knew the risks. But on May 26, 2011, the day of that insurgent attack, possibility turned into reality when Mark picked up a shoulder fired AT4 rocket.
"I was told to fire an AT4 and I did," he said. "And it blew out my eardrums."
Mark lost all hearing in his right ear. Some in his left. But soon after that, he started experiencing new problems.
"I was having headaches four or five times a day," he said. "They were lasting hours. They were giving me aspirin, ibuprofen nothing was working."
Doctors found a cyst rapidly growing on Mark's brain -- non-cancerous, but dangerous, pushing on his brain and spinal cord. Military doctors operated immediately. They said the rocket blast and other explosions in combat likely agitated the pre-existing cyst on his brain causing it to grow.
His mother and brother stayed by his side during a December surgery in Syracuse. He came through it all beautifully, and was home in Lindale for the holidays.
"I felt like I wasn't really running," Marissa said. "I felt like I was running toward him. I was really happy."
But despite Mark's injuries, the army twice denied his request for a Purple Heart and offered no explanation why.
"I didn't know if there was an error or if someone is mistyping something," Mark said. "I should have it but who knows."
Is he offended? No. Mad? No way.
"I couldn't' ask more than to be here with my family," he said.
So what's next now that he can no longer serve? Mark told us, with tone of modesty and genuine compassion he wants a degree in psychology to keep helping his fellow combat veterans deal with the horrors they lived overseas.
"Things they've seen and they just want to talk," he said. "And I wouldn't mind doing that."
Right now, Mark is going through his medical discharge in New York. He should return by May or June.
We called Congressman Louie Ghomert to see what could be delaying Private Chance's Purple Heart. His office is working with the Chance family to help him get that award.
If you or someone you know would like to be featured on East Texas Heroes, contact Justin Early at jearly@cbs19.tv
