Fight for Life

We’ve spent the last few days at the Ibn Sina hospital in Baghdad, home of the 10th Combat Support Hospital (CSH) where U.S. doctors and nurses fight for the lives the “fresh trauma” victims. These are soldiers and civilians, Iraqi and American, even insurgents. It doesn’t seem to matter to these docs as they are entirely focused on saving the life in front of them. I’m sitting here trying to figure out how to describe the miracle of what we’ve seen the last few days. The experience has been overwhelming in many ways: the severity of the wounds we’ve seen, the intensity of the ER and operating rooms, the delicate care in the intensive care unit. My first day here I watched a patient very nearly die from a gunshot wound to the chest and a surgeon place his finger on the pulmonary artery to keep the blood from draining a life. I saw the surgical team refuse to give up on that patient when many would have thought it hopeless. I very literally watched a life saved and realized the miracle that was being performed through the hands, hearts and minds of these care givers. These are not docs who dispassionatly run the patient through the system, patching them up and moving on. These docs and nurses follow their patients through their treatment, often checking up on them after they’ve left the trama center for further treatment. They take personal responsibilty for the lives that are saved and the deaths weigh heavily on them. Yet everyone we’ve talked to say this is the most rewarding experience lives, to be able to save life and limb and send a soldier or civilian home to his/her family.
As a photojournalist, this story seems like the opportunity on a life time on one hand, and the most daunting I’ve ever attempted on the other. Every day I’m put through the paces mentally and emotionally, trying to figure out how express the magnitude of what is happening here with my very limited tools: an eye and a camera. I have the feeling that I could spent a lifetime and never be equal to the task but I am so grateful for this opportunity and for the people I’m covering.
Last night I got the chance to talk via email to a fellow shooter, Toby Morris, who was shot in the leg by a sniper and treated at this very hospital last week. He seemed to be in remarkably good spirits though he may have a long road to recovery. Talking to him and seeing all these injuries is a brutal reminder of how dangerous it is “outside the wire.” It scares the crap out of me when I let myself think about it and there’s no way not to think about it here. Still, I feel stonger than ever about the importance of telling the stories of these soldiers.
Please keep Toby, the docs, the soldiers and all the victims of this war in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks for reading and for your support.
JLee