In 2020 Independence Corps was finally able to fulfill the dream and request of Dr. Kristy Henderson M.D., a retired USAF Colonel who had developed MS after her last combat tour in Iraq. Sadly, Dr. Henderson died after a brief battle with a systemic infection.
Col. Kristine Henderson trained at the Uniformed Services University medical school and upon completing her military commitment, she briefly returned to pediatric anesthesia at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, but there joined the USAFR as a flight surgeon for the Hurricane Hunters out of Keesler AFB.
Following 9/11, Dr. Henderson volunteered and trained as a Critical Care Air Transport Team physician and in 2003 deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom to Iraq.
When she returned from Iraq, Kristy became chief of the Critical Care Air Transport Team at Patrick AFB in FL. Unfortunately, she was then diagnosed with multiple sclerosis forcing her to retire from her career as an AF physician.
Since her retirement, Kristy has been a part-time adjunct faculty for the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she teaches via the distance learning program. Her MS decline plateaued and she has become active in adaptive sports, playing power soccer for the past six seasons and competing twice in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games.
