Amazing medical breakthrough - (today's Oprah show, Iraq veteran, miracle Soldier)

Oprah Winfrey ^ | November 13, 2006

[RDTF]

When she was a senior in high school in Akron, Ohio, Jessica Clements joined the Army reserves. She was deployed to Iraq, and though she was scared, she was ready to defend her country.

On May 5, 2004, Jessica's worst fear came true. A roadside bomb was detonated near the unarmored truck she rode in, along with eight other soldiers and a civilian. The shrapnel from the bomb shot into Jessica's lower back and penetrated her skull into three different lobes of her brain.

-snip-

She was given only a 2 percent chance of survival.

To remove the largest pieces of shrapnel from Jessica's brain, neurosurgeon Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Poffenbarger had to perform a craniectomy—he removed almost half of her skull. Then, on the hopes that the right section of Jessica's skull could one day be reattached, Poffenbarger sliced open Jessica's abdomen and placed the four-inch bone inside her body.

Then Dr. Poffenbarger put Jessica in a medically induced coma in hopes that the brain swelling would go down, a common course of action for severe head trauma patients. Even though some of his colleagues thought she should be sent home to die, he refused to give up and insisted Jessica have further treatment.

-snip-

Jessica has been called a "miracle girl" because after four months with nearly half her skull missing, three months in the hospital and nine months in outpatient care, she has recovered from her injuries.

-snip-

Dr. Poffenbarger—an Army neurosurgeon—says he performed up to seven craniectomies on soldiers a day in Iraq.

"I had decided when I went to Iraq that we were going to go straight to the wall for every wounded soldier," he says. "We weren't going to give up on any of them. In [Jessica's] case, she had a very devastating injury."

[paulat]

(I assume he had a good reason for using her abdomen as a depository).

Bone is a living thing. Blood vessels regrow when they are in contact with other blood vessels.

This wonderful surgeon wouldn't have done it if your "Tupperware" nasty comment would have sufficed.

[Just A Nobody]

Thanks SandRat! Our troops are amazing, as are the doctors that save them.

[Constantine XI Palaeologus]

Thanks for the info. I just assumed it'd die in there since it wouldn't be connected to anything (not that you would want it growing onto some part of the body). I never was any good in biology.

[Reagan Man]

Amazing is right.

Jennifer Clements

Jennifer and Dr. Poffenbarger

[Reagan Man]

Oops, make that Jessica, not Jennifer.

[tubebender]

Ya gotta read this...

[NormsRevenge]

God Blessed both the patient and the doctor in a very special way. Incredible is all I can say. Thanks for the ping.

[2rightsleftcoast]

I wrote the same thing on another thread the other day.
Since the day after the election, CNN has been running stories about our troops. Good stories. They couldn't seem to find anything good about them before. Now the Dems are in and the soldiers are Heroes. We knew this all along but the MSM has decided that now it is safe to tell us.

[AmericaUnite]

What happened to that Duckworth vet who ran as a Dem?

[CalvaryJohn]

Great story, but a lousy piece of journalism. I was wondering what was the extent of her neurological injuries, and what lingering effects does she suffer, and when she might get her skull reattached. I guess the reporter went to a modern school of journalism.

[snugs]

She lost

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Trauma is the one area that doctors do miraculous things. Thank God for this great doctor and also thank God for saving this precious life.

[snugs]

As much as I cannot stand the majority of the MSM I feel I must say that I have seen on CBS many times positive articles about the troops either in action on on their return to the US and not just recently. Often what would be called human interest stories not news articles which I would say this one would also fall into.

Of course they are sandwiches between CBS rhetoric about how bad the war is going and should we be there in the first place.

[NonLinear]

With all the helos, tracks, and off-road capability, I just don't understand the Army's insane insistence on using roads. Good grief, they even drive tanks down roads. All the vehicles in the inventory have expensive off-road capability, even the delivery trucks and tankers.

I believe the majority of the roadside IEDs are being placed within the cities. If you look at Baghdad on, say, Google Earth, you'll see that most "off-road" is occupied by buildings.

JMHO FWIW.

[Ladysmith]

Wow! She looks wonderful after going through all that! God bless them both, especially the doctor for using his talents to SAVE lives!

[coop71]

I think the piece was just highlights of what was covered on the show - where she did discuss her recovery and therapy. She talked about having terrible migraines, having to learn to read and write correctly all over again, the feeling of having a piece of her skull in her abdomen, etc. I believe her skull is back where it belongs now - her head looked completely normal yesterday on tv.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for the ping.

[MEG33]

I saw a portion of this..Remarkable. Thank you to our doctors!The process was not easy for patient.. but she is a marvel! Thank God for her recovery.