MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — In less than two weeks, West Virginia Air National Guard Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, who was injured in the line of duty while patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C. last fall, will have a follow-up surgery, according to his mother, Melody.
“It’s actually less than a month. It’s not this week. It’s the following week,” Melody Wolfe said Monday on WEPM Radio’s Panhandle Live.
“He’ll have his cranioplasty, which is where they will go in and put a piece It’s actually a 3D printed piece that they’ll put in to replace where the skull was. They were unable to preserve his original skull, so they had to print one 3D. So I think that’s pretty cool,” Wolfe said.
Most of the time at public events, SSgt. Wolfe wears a ball cap. “Right now we’re in a new normal. He’s just gotten used to it,” she said.
She said all things considered, her son is doing well physically.
“He’s still got his little spunky personality and he has just been doing so well physically,” Melody Wolfe said.
“Thank God he’s here, but some of the deficits, it’s similar to me teaching my second graders when they first come in. and learning words,” she said, adding “He told me last week, ‘I just have to relearn so much.’ And I said, ‘You do, but you’re going to get there.'”
Wolfe said her son is in the community a lot.
“He’s been with friends a lot like he would before the injury, out without us. (We are) so very thankful to those trusted friends that help him feel normal again.”
During fair season, Andy, his younger brother, and some friends worked on their derby cars so they could run them in area derbies.
“He’s been doing that over the past month with his buddies and his they go to all the derbies in the area,” Mrs. Wolfe said. “He can’t drive of course in any of them but his little brother drove Andy’s car from last year. They had fixed it up and drove it in the Jefferson County Fair this year. And Trenton actually won. ”
“It’s a timeline that is a miraculous timeline,” said Melody Wolfe, adding, “If you thought about this back in November, that he’d be this far. He has already made miraculous progress.”
She talked about some of the challenges that remain.
“The physical part isn’t as worrisome now, as now we’re starting to really look at the aphasia, focusing in now on reading, writing, math, numbers,” she said. “Whenever he comes out of his therapy sessions, he’ll have paperwork or something. And it just is kind of a gut punch and reminds me, we still do have a bit to go.”
Aphasia of speech is a communication disorder caused by brain damage that affects how a person speaks, writes, and understands language.
Support for mission continues
This month marked one year since Andy Wolfe was deployed to Washington, DC. It was during that deployment that he and Specialist Sarah Beckstrom were shot during an ambush-style attack. Beckstrom died from her injuries.
For her part, Melody Wolfe, says she has been noting the days leading up to the November 2025 incident as she marks the year since he was deployed from his base in Martinsburg.
“It was the 15th (of August), and that was the first day that Andy had left to go to DC. And you’re thinking, okay, he’s going to DC. It’s an hour and a half away. We’re good. And little did we know, it’s kind of like where you see a movie and it leads up to the bad part. It’ll show like a timeline,” she said. “Danger was coming and we were just clueless.”
Still, Melody said she and her son support his being deployed to help patrol the streets of D.C.
“Andy still stands by the fact that it really wasn’t a bad experience being down there. I mean, of course, what happened was terrible, but before that, things were fine.”
Wolfe said she believes Fuard members are making a difference in the nation’s capital.
“The camaraderie with everybody and just a lot of younger people were there and it gave them some job experience if you think about it,” Wolfe said.
“I mean, they were kind of an extension of law enforcement and I think we’ve seen a lot more in the news now where they’re helping people like with apartment fires — running and getting people, birthing babies, (helping) people with medical needs.”
“So to me, it is an extension of the law enforcement community, EMS staff,” she said, adding, “They can get people there and they can stabilize.”
Andrew Wolfe and his family have helped raise awareness at local events, like blood drives. He will also be the grand marshal at this year’s Apple Harvest parade.
Melody Wolfe gained worldwide notoriety for her steadfast faith that God would heal her son. All she asked in the days following the shooting was for prayer.
She was asked to speak at a recent Women’s Conference at New Life Community Church.
“I was kind of a blubbering mess,” she said. “I have a harder time speaking in my community than I do on national TV.”
“I don’t know what it is. I think it’s because our community has just been so great and when we were singing and worshiping and the tears were flowing and I said, it’s not all sad tears. They’re very happy tears. I’m just so thankful for God and the blessings and our community,” she said. “So whenever I cry, sometimes it’s out of sadness, but other times it’s just out of just the glory of God and what He’s provided.”
She has used her social media platform to connect her followers with worthy causes. Among them, ways that they can help and how West Virginia Guard members are helping with flood recovery around the state. ”
I was in touch with General (Jim) Seward last night. This is amazing. They have gotten rid of or taken out 21,000 tons of debris or 42 million pounds,” she said. “It’s just devastating to those people, but I know people are still working and helping with debris.”
Melody Wolfe’s full interview is available on the Panhandle News Network Spotify page.