A Maine soldier who was critically injured last December in Iraq has been sent to a brain rehabilitation facility in Florida where he continues to heal, despite setbacks in his recovery process.

Sgt. Harold Gray, 35, of Penobscot is one of three members of the Maine Army National Guard’s 133rd Engineer Battalion who were injured last year when insurgents attacked their convoy in Mosul.

The soldier suffered serious injuries to both eyes and to his left arm and has shrapnel in his brain and chest.

Gray was showing signs of improvement earlier this year, but suddenly at the end of February, “he got really, really sick,” his wife, Laurie Gray of Penobscot, said Wednesday in a phone interview.

The sergeant was diagnosed with spinal meningitis and took a step backward in his recovery.

“So we’re starting all over again,” his wife said from Florida.

She has been at her husband’s side since he was brought back to the United States and taken to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

The soldier was transferred Sunday to the James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa, Fla., where he has been moved from intensive care to the Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit. There, he will begin a strict physical therapy routine, but his condition has declined since the meningitis.

In addition, during one of Gray’s many surgeries since he was wounded, doctors found a cotton ball lodged in the soldiers’ sinuses that had been there since he underwent field surgery in Iraq, Laurie Gray said.

“He’s not really responding much,” she said. “He’s starting to wiggle his toes when you ask him to, not always, but sometimes.”

Harold Gray still has a tracheotomy to help him breathe but has stopped trying to speak. His wife, however, said he might be able to recognize voices even though he likely will never see despite previous surgeries that attempted to improve his vision.

“I think he does [recognize voices], but I can’t say for sure,” Laurie Gray said.

Although he’s not heavily sedated, Harold Gray sleeps most of the time and is confined to his bed. As long as he’s showing some progress, Laurie Gray says the doctors likely will keep her husband in Florida.

“They’re going to see what they can do for him here,” she said.

Harold Gray is expected to undergo surgery in four to five months to replace the bone in his head, Laurie Gray said.

Eventually, her husband likely will be transferred to a long-term care facility, most presumably Togus VA Medical Center in Augusta.

The soldier has three daughters from a previous marriage who still have not been able to see their father. The family, however, has received a lot of support from family, friends, and others, Laurie Gray said.

“I want to let everybody know that I appreciate all the cards, all the support, [and] all the donations,” she said. “I don’t have to worry about working right now. My main concern is I get to stay here and take care of Harold.”