SAN DIEGO -- Hundreds of Marines returning from the war in Iraq face long-term rehabilitation and recovery.

The Semper Fi Fund is helping wounded Marines and their families during their recovery.

Five months into his second deployment, Cpl. Alex Sargent, like so many 3rd battalion 1st Marines from Camp Pendleton, wound up in the Battle for Fallujah.

His mission was to conduct house-to-house searches for insurgents and weapons. During a second sweep to see if they had missed anything, Sargent found out they had.

"I went in with a few other guys to clear this one house ... we went in and there was a guy waiting for us and he saw us before we saw him," Sargent told 10News.

The two Marines with Sargent were killed. Sargent was hit in the arm and leg with AK-47 bullets

When Maura Sargent, Alex Sargent's bride back in Maine, heard the news that her husband was injured, she practically jumped on a plane to the West Coast.

"From the moment I heard, I had to drop everything. I packed in five minutes and essentially my life stopped on the East Coast," Maura Sargent said.

The Sargents had to pay for plane tickets, hotels and other transportation. Plus, Alex Sargent would have an extended stay in the hospital. Luckily, the Semper Fi Fund helped the Sargents.

"Whether it's for the mother, father, sister or brother, (the goal) is to keep the family at the bedside," said Karen Gunther, one of the founders of the Semper Fi Fund.

Gunther was a nurse at the medical center at Camp Pendleton with a husband who is a Marine. She felt she could be in the same position as many of the Marines she was seeing, so an idea was born.

"Strangers are sending in large donations -- small to large -- it takes all of that to keep it going but every day we're surprised," Gunther said.

The Sargents applied for help from the Semper Fi Fund and got it.

"It's like, 'Mom, I'm kind of in a bind. I need some money.' (And she says,) 'Here's a check,'" Alex Sargent said about the fund.

In addition to helping families, Gunther is trying to establish a Semper Fi Christmas Fund to give any sailor or Marine in the hospital at Christmas time a gift of $500.

For more information or to donate online, visit the Semper Fi Fund Web site.