thedrifter
01-16-07, 02:44 PM
Marine will need several surgeries to repair arm
By Terry Loney - Daily world writer
Tuesday, January 16, 2007 10:34 AM PST
Alexander Becker, a 20-year-old Marine lance corporal whose parents live in Aberdeen, was more seriously injured during a fire fighting with insurgents in Iraq on New Year’s Day than previously thought.
A bullet struck Becker’s left arm, shattering his forearm and damaging his wrist, hand and tendons while he was on a mission in Iraq’s Anbar Province.
But the bullet also destroyed the group of muscles that control hand an thumb movement, his mother, Stephanie Becker, said last night.
“There is going to be a longer recovery time than we thought,” she said. “He is going to have many surgeries. The damage is extensive.”
His arm and hand can be saved, she said, adding it is a question of how well he will be able to use his hand.
She had said her son was hit by two or more bullets, but found out after arriving at Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune in North Carolina that he had been hit by just one bullet fired from a Russian-made Kalashnikov — commonly called an AK-47.
He has been moved to Cape Fear Hospital in Wilmington, N.C., about 1 hour and 15 minute drive from Camp Lejeune, to be treated by a hand specialist.
Alexander Becker has undergone three surgeries on his arm and wrist so far, with the last done Monday night in Wilmington.
Stephanie Becker said doctors have used a total of three metal plates and 20 screws to secure the bones in his forearm that were shattered by the bullet.
The hand surgeon, Dr. Derrick Hickey, is now determining the best method to graft muscles, tendons, skin and bone into the arm and wrist to repair the damage, said Stephanie Becker, who is the secretary at the Aberdeen First Presbyterian Church.
She said her son has regained his sense of humor.
When told the muscles that control his hand are missing, Alexander Becker quipped “they are probably on the Humvee somewhere,” his mother said.
“It is good he has not lost his sense of humor.”
Alexander Becker is expected to undergo two more surgeries in the near future. After the second, his mother said she will bring him back to Aberdeen with her.
Those two will not be the last, she added, saying many more will be needed to repair the injuries.
Ellie
By Terry Loney - Daily world writer
Tuesday, January 16, 2007 10:34 AM PST
Alexander Becker, a 20-year-old Marine lance corporal whose parents live in Aberdeen, was more seriously injured during a fire fighting with insurgents in Iraq on New Year’s Day than previously thought.
A bullet struck Becker’s left arm, shattering his forearm and damaging his wrist, hand and tendons while he was on a mission in Iraq’s Anbar Province.
But the bullet also destroyed the group of muscles that control hand an thumb movement, his mother, Stephanie Becker, said last night.
“There is going to be a longer recovery time than we thought,” she said. “He is going to have many surgeries. The damage is extensive.”
His arm and hand can be saved, she said, adding it is a question of how well he will be able to use his hand.
She had said her son was hit by two or more bullets, but found out after arriving at Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune in North Carolina that he had been hit by just one bullet fired from a Russian-made Kalashnikov — commonly called an AK-47.
He has been moved to Cape Fear Hospital in Wilmington, N.C., about 1 hour and 15 minute drive from Camp Lejeune, to be treated by a hand specialist.
Alexander Becker has undergone three surgeries on his arm and wrist so far, with the last done Monday night in Wilmington.
Stephanie Becker said doctors have used a total of three metal plates and 20 screws to secure the bones in his forearm that were shattered by the bullet.
The hand surgeon, Dr. Derrick Hickey, is now determining the best method to graft muscles, tendons, skin and bone into the arm and wrist to repair the damage, said Stephanie Becker, who is the secretary at the Aberdeen First Presbyterian Church.
She said her son has regained his sense of humor.
When told the muscles that control his hand are missing, Alexander Becker quipped “they are probably on the Humvee somewhere,” his mother said.
“It is good he has not lost his sense of humor.”
Alexander Becker is expected to undergo two more surgeries in the near future. After the second, his mother said she will bring him back to Aberdeen with her.
Those two will not be the last, she added, saying many more will be needed to repair the injuries.
Ellie