Progress Update: Marine Jeff Dugan

Some very good news today on Jeff Dugan, the injured Marine we've been following since he was medevac'd to Landstuhl hospital here in Germany.

Marine taking steps to recover
2004 RMHS graduate won’t lose his leg after injury in Afghanistan
By KEVIN DARST

For the first time in 17 days, Marine Lance Cpl. Jeff Dugan got out of bed Monday.

It was painful as the blood rushed to his left leg, which was broken in multiple places Sept. 30 by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. The blast, which detonated under the Humvee he and three other Marines were riding in on a narrow mountain road, blew the 19-year-old out of the vehicle. He landed by the right rear tire, his broken left leg hanging over a cliff.

His first victory was surviving the blast. His second was the news that five surgeries to clean the wound saved his leg from amputation. Another victory came Monday.

“It was painful at first, of course,” Dugan said from his bed at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. “I didn’t really get too far. I had all the blood rushing around my body. It was pretty painful, but I stood up, so that was a pretty good accomplishment."

Read the whole thing.

Jeff received one of our Blankets of Hope made by Soldiers' Angel JoAnne in an SA backpack while in the hospital. Because personal belongings take a while to catch up with injured soldiers, it was one of the few things he had with him upon arrival in the US.

Thanks to Mudville Gazette and The Indepundit for the Open Posts.