Who is Tara Blake? SEAL-turned-Rep Dan Crenshaw's wife is a fundraiser for fallen service members
Texas Republican Rep Dan Crenshaw will be "effectively blind" for about a month after he was rushed into emergency eye surgery to treat a detached left retina, the lawmaker revealed on Saturday, April 10. Crenshaw, who is a Navy SEAL veteran, lost his right eye and sustained damage to his left eye in Afghanistan in 2012 during an IED bomb blast.
The eyepatch-wearing Crenshaw, 37, lately saw "some dark blurry spots" in his vision before an ophthalmologist on Thursday, April 8 "discovered that my retina was detaching," the two-term Texas Republican said in a lengthy Twitter post. "This is a terrifying prognosis for someone with one eye," he wrote. "The prognosis I received on Thursday is obviously very bad." He underwent surgery at Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston on Friday, April 9. The procedure went well, according to Crenshaw, who told constituents they won't be hearing from him for several weeks. “The surgery went well, but I will be effectively blind for about a month,” Crenshaw wrote. “This is why you’re not going to hear from me for a while. I likely will not be conducting interviews and likely will not be posting on social media, except to give updates on my health and recovery."
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"Anyone who knows the history of my injuries knows that I don't have a 'good eye,' but half of a good eye," he wrote. His wife also took the same message on Instagram.
Who is Tara Blake Crenshaw?
Just like her husband, Tara also comes from a Navy family, and is an active fundraiser for families of fallen service members and suicide prevention. Both her father and brother served in the Navy; her father is Vice Admiral John Terence Blake, he retired in 2013 after 37 years in the United States Navy; her mum is Nan Connelly Blake a University of Maryland graduate. She was born in 1983 and has two younger siblings, Erin and John Terence JT.
Dan and Tara tied the knot on April 1, 2013, in Coronado, California, where they first met when he reported to SEAL training. Tara who was previously working as a dental hygienist in California met Crenshaw at a friend’s house in a kitchen while he was serving as a Navy SEAL.
“He was very witty and had a dry sense of humor. It took me a while to say yes to a date,” she said and the pair eventually got married. They moved to Massachusetts in 2016 where Crenshaw attended Harvard.
