Long road to recovery

Michael Stilson displays his Marine uniform and his Purple Heart.
YouNewsTV™
By Lindsey Davis and Greg Meyer

CLARKSTON - After fighting for his country in Iraq, a local hero is glad to be home with friends and family.

A 2006 Clarkston High graduate, Michael Stilson joined the Marines after graduation. On September 3, two months after being deployed to Iraq, he was fighting for his life, after being wounded while on a foot patrol.

"I thought maybe I was hit by a sniper, just because the wind was knocked out of me," said Stilson. "Then I realized I couldn't walk and I realized my arm and my legs were hit real bad. Then I realized it was an IED."

Stilson said his fellow Marines saved him, with one Marine covering Stilson's body until they were able to Medivac him to safety.

"There was four arteries cut," he said. "I was pumping out a lot of blood."

Stilson arrived at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland on Sept 7 and spent three weeks in the Intensive Care Unit.

He has had around 30 surgeries to reconstruct his legs and left arm. He still needs more, but right now he is just thankful he can walk.

"For awhile there, I was just thinking there's no way I'd ever be able to again," said Stilson. "Just because I couldn't for four months. I've only been walking for a little over a month kind of, and only about a month by myself"

Stilson said he owes his life to the fellow Marines, who put their lives at risk to save his.

"I told all of them, my friends, I owe all those guys my life," he said. "They just kind of laugh and say, 'We know you would have done the same thing for us.'"

Along with many other medals, Stilson was honored with a Purple Heart.

"They says that's the medal you don't want to get," he said. "But, I was proud, though."

Stilson was able to come home from the hospital Christmas morning.

He says he was born to be a Marine.

Story Published: Jan 25, 2008 at 7:15 PM PST

Ellie