Hi,
Joey's surgery was Monday, August 8th, 2005. It was a five hour surgery and he came through fine. He had two days of pain and vomiting from anesthesia but he is a fighter and is doing fine. Pray that the stump doesn't get infected because that would mean more surgery and shorter stump. I am home now as Jayme is with him and gives good care. Joey will have the other stump fixed soon. I'll let you know so you can keep up the prayers. Also, Joey is getting the Bronze Star but the date hasn't been set because of the surgeries.

The picture below is the Corpsman, Shaun Rilley, who saved Joey's live in Iraq (along with God). Shaun is now at Camp Lejune and I went to meet him on August 6th before leaving for DC. He told me the story of that night. He said that he also had been injured 4 days prior with shrapnel and wasn't to be on duty. However, he a two marines were guarding a bridge and saw the explosion below on the off ramp.

They walked 15 minutes to the site and didn't expect to find such a tragedy. He said Joey was hanging head first from the humvee and he and other soldiers removed him to the ground. Immediately, Shaun began cutting and removing Joey's clothes to assess the damage. He said only a tendon was holding the right leg and right arm.

The left foot had toes amputated and Joey was bleeding badly. Shaun immediately tourniquet the legs and arm and started an IV. Joey was in shock. A medovac helicopter was called and took Joey to Baghdad. Joey doesn't remember anything about the explosion. God placed Shaun on that bridge as Shaun was not suppose to be back to work from his injuries. Shaun is 23 yrs. old Navy corpsman from Albany, NY. He was an EMT prior to joining Navy 3 yrs. ago. The 118th MP Co. had a ceremony in Baghdad and awarded Shaun a bayonet and command coin for his service for saving Joey's life. If Shaun hadn't stopped the bleeding, Joey was have died in just a few minutes. It was a miracle and also a miracle that Shaun is at Camp Lejune, just 25 miles from where I live, so that I could meet him and ask questions and thank him. Again, thanks for your love and support. Keep praying.

Love,
Gail, Joey and Jayme