WEBVTT 00:07.718 --> 00:11.885 - I expected to work with, you know, our military folks 00:11.944 --> 00:15.194 and our allies and taking card of them. 00:16.425 --> 00:18.771 Not in a thousand years, did I expect that I would 00:18.771 --> 00:21.521 help a child learn to walk again. 00:23.960 --> 00:26.877 (slow piano music) 00:29.106 --> 00:31.018 - A little six year old girl with a gunshot wound 00:31.018 --> 00:33.769 in the tibia which is below the knee, 00:33.769 --> 00:35.174 I have a seven year old little girl 00:35.174 --> 00:36.440 so that kind of resonated with me, 00:36.440 --> 00:38.448 but I think anybody would, you know, 00:38.448 --> 00:41.711 geez, I mean you come here expecting to see war trauma. 00:41.711 --> 00:43.220 I don't know that I was geared up, 00:43.220 --> 00:44.787 necessarily, to see trauma on a six year old. 00:44.787 --> 00:46.436 I guess I should have thought that that could happen, 00:46.436 --> 00:50.603 I just hadn't, wrapping my mind around that a little bit. 00:54.339 --> 00:55.628 They brought her to us to try 00:55.628 --> 00:57.718 to either save the leg or save her life. 00:57.718 --> 00:59.529 I mean, step one, save the life, 00:59.529 --> 01:02.280 so stop the bleeding, prevent infection, 01:02.280 --> 01:04.626 and then figure out what you can salvage from there. 01:04.626 --> 01:07.261 Then we tried to take muscle from her back 01:07.261 --> 01:09.595 and tie it into an artery, taking the artery with it, 01:09.595 --> 01:11.789 tie it into an artery on her leg, 01:11.789 --> 01:15.206 and unfortunately, that was unsuccessful. 01:17.130 --> 01:18.372 That was the low point. 01:18.372 --> 01:20.183 That was tough just to live with, 01:20.183 --> 01:22.308 and of course, you know, everybody around, 01:22.308 --> 01:23.561 well, she's a child, 01:23.561 --> 01:26.069 pediatric, those vessels are so small, 01:26.069 --> 01:27.381 any body could have it happen, 01:27.381 --> 01:28.907 there was a high energy wound. 01:28.907 --> 01:30.060 But none of that really helps ya, 01:30.060 --> 01:31.302 you're just laying in bed going 01:31.302 --> 01:33.644 what did I do wrong to not make that work? 01:33.644 --> 01:36.930 There were three guys that I called on back home 01:36.930 --> 01:39.716 but, I mean, the calls were coming from me at, 01:39.716 --> 01:40.781 you know, one in the morning, 01:40.781 --> 01:42.401 Go, hey, what would you do in this scenario, 01:42.401 --> 01:43.234 and they're like, wait, wait, 01:43.234 --> 01:44.673 who you are you again (laughs) 01:44.673 --> 01:45.695 at one in the morning? 01:45.695 --> 01:47.178 But yeah, that was very helpful. 01:47.178 --> 01:48.617 And I have, um, you know, 01:48.617 --> 01:50.823 I've tried to tell those guys thank you. 01:50.823 --> 01:53.740 (slow piano music) 01:54.446 --> 01:56.292 - I think she was still a little scared, 01:56.292 --> 01:59.589 a little nervous, uh, just the new people, 01:59.589 --> 02:01.888 new faces, she had never seen us before 02:01.888 --> 02:06.055 so she was very quiet, wasn't as active as she is now, 02:07.112 --> 02:08.945 and didn't speak much, 02:09.214 --> 02:13.381 didn't know any English at all when she first arrived here. 02:14.222 --> 02:16.911 (mid-tempo uplifting music) 02:16.911 --> 02:19.494 Now, she knows so much English. 02:20.266 --> 02:24.433 She has her own little personality, it has come out. 02:24.550 --> 02:27.633 She put our names on her arm in henna 02:28.195 --> 02:30.195 and she had it all over. 02:30.947 --> 02:32.793 And so, when I came into work that night, 02:32.793 --> 02:34.848 she was so excited, she was, 02:34.848 --> 02:36.740 "Amanda, Amanda, come see! 02:36.740 --> 02:37.855 "Look at my arm." 02:37.855 --> 02:41.175 And she showed me her arm and she was just so proud 02:41.175 --> 02:43.416 to have our names on her arm. 02:43.416 --> 02:46.969 It was amazing, um, but even before she had the henna, 02:46.969 --> 02:50.163 she would kind of pretend that the markers were henna 02:50.163 --> 02:52.759 and she'd grab our hands and grab my hand 02:52.759 --> 02:55.638 and do little decorations on my hand. 02:55.638 --> 02:57.721 And it was just too cute. 02:57.856 --> 03:00.480 - Initially, you know, every time I came to see her, 03:00.480 --> 03:03.031 she would immediately hide and start crying 03:03.031 --> 03:05.991 and worrying about what I was going to do. 03:05.991 --> 03:10.008 Um, and now she, you know, she sees me, and she's like, 03:10.008 --> 03:11.529 "Are we gonna walk, are we gonna?" 03:11.529 --> 03:12.760 And she's ready to exercise 03:12.760 --> 03:14.699 and she knows, kind of what to expect. 03:14.699 --> 03:16.751 - I just asked one of the nurses 03:16.751 --> 03:18.039 that was taking care of her, 03:18.039 --> 03:19.305 thank you so much for what you do, 03:19.305 --> 03:20.663 I know you spend all your time with her. 03:20.663 --> 03:22.428 I know it must be tiring 03:22.428 --> 03:24.239 helping doing all the dressing changes 03:24.239 --> 03:26.538 and carrying her and diaper changes for awhile 03:26.538 --> 03:28.964 and getting her in and out of the wheel chair for awhile, 03:28.964 --> 03:31.518 and they're like, nah, man, you know, 03:31.518 --> 03:35.141 it's made the deployment great, I just hate to see her go. 03:35.141 --> 03:38.399 So I think everybody has had a blessing here from her. 03:38.399 --> 03:39.810 (child chattering) 03:39.810 --> 03:43.483 - The opportunity that it's given me to serve 03:43.483 --> 03:46.524 but also to grow and to be challenged in a different way, 03:46.524 --> 03:49.648 it's helped me really stay connected with my family. 03:49.648 --> 03:52.898 As far as, when I go and work with her, 03:53.514 --> 03:55.847 I see any one of my children 03:57.461 --> 04:00.598 and to know that, uh, you know, to see, 04:00.598 --> 04:03.679 you know, if it were one of my children in that situation, 04:03.679 --> 04:06.846 I'd want whoever was working with them 04:07.023 --> 04:09.078 to give everything that they had 04:09.078 --> 04:12.995 to make sure that they could have a life again. 04:13.606 --> 04:16.689 - Having lost her folks, her parents, 04:17.008 --> 04:20.508 not having a dowry for a marriage someday, 04:20.595 --> 04:22.975 not really having her parents to raise her 04:22.975 --> 04:25.843 and then being a female in this culture 04:25.843 --> 04:27.526 can be a challenge, in and of itself. 04:27.526 --> 04:30.928 So add to that no parents, and a situation 04:30.928 --> 04:34.910 where, you know, she's gonna be living with in-laws, 04:34.910 --> 04:38.243 aunt and uncles, it's a tough situation. 04:38.486 --> 04:39.972 And even they, were coming to me 04:39.972 --> 04:42.851 expressing that if she were to lose her leg, 04:42.851 --> 04:44.488 that it would be especially difficult 04:44.488 --> 04:46.821 for her here in Afghanistan.