A 1998 Afton Central School graduate remained in stable condition Thursday in a Texas hospital a week after being wounded in the shootings at Fort Hood.
Spc. Matthew Cooke, 30, who also attended Sidney Central School, was shot several times as he was trying to help a wounded soldier during a rampage by Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, according to family members.
"Matthew is a true hero in every sense of the word," his aunt Judy Bernhardt said Thursday.
Although Cooke's condition was stabilized after the shooting, he faces a long recovery, Bernhardt said.
"Matthew is filling with fluids in his body and has an abscess in his abdomen area," she said.
This is putting pressure on his heart and is delaying follow-up surgery to repair damage in his lower abdomen, she said.
Bernhardt said she spoke to her nephew on the phone two days ago from his bed at the trauma center at Scott & White Hospital in Temple, Texas.
"His spirits were high. He was consoling me, for heaven's sake," Bernhardt said. "He is absolutely a hero."
Cooke was hit as he tried to shield a wounded sergeant from the shooter, Bernhardt said. That officer, hit in the chest, has since been released and has visited Cooke several times, Bernhardt said.
Previous reports from the family indicated the wounded soldier Cooke was trying to help was hit in the head and killed.
"Matthew was actually shot five times," she said.
Three bullets struck his upper back and one grazed his head. A fifth bullet-strike in his lower back caused most of his internal injuries, Bernhardt said. Four soldiers from his battalion were killed, she added.
Cooke was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan early next year. Cooke drives a truck as a specialist in the 20th Engineering Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade.
His father, Carl Cooke of Sidney, and mother, Diane Frappier of Norwood, N.C., have been joined in Texas by Matthew Cooke's sisters, Kimberly Miller of Delhi and Chrissy Cooke of Charlotte, N.C., as the family stays by his bedside, Bernhardt said.
Hasan, 39, an Army psychiatrist, allegedly shot and killed 12 soldiers and a civilian, while wounding dozens more.
