CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo (Army News Service, Sept. 3,
1999) -- Soldiers with the 67th Combat Support Hospital here
recently demonstrated their heroe quality with a 6-year-old
child.
        Emergency room personnel received the child with a
gunshot wound to the abdomen, according to Maj. Lonnie Imlay,
general surgeon, who performed surgery on the child.
        Second Lt. Amanda Eli, ground ambulance platoon leader,
helped unload the child from a MEDEVAC helicopter to bring him
into the ER. She said she was very shocked by his condition,
despite what she has already seen since being here.
        "He was blue; I mean literally blue. It really struck me
so we hurried to get him into the ER. It is always a tad more
overwhelming when a child is involved," Eli said.
        "We received him in very bad shape. He had almost bled
to death by the time we took him. He was not breathing but had a
very faint pulse," Imlay said. "We managed to get him breathing
again, but our biggest difficulty was that his blood was not
clotting like it should. Initially, we used stored blood but it
was not enough."
        According to Imlay, the child required a whole blood
transfusion to make-up for the massive blood loss he suffered
and the damage done to his liver. But, whole blood is stored
broken into three components: red blood cells, plasma and
platelets, and all the components were needed to restore the
child's blood clotting ability. The only way to get the whole
blood that was needed was through direct transfusion from one
person to another.
        According to Imlay, whole blood transfusions are not
something normally done, since there are risks of it being
rejected by the host or disease transfer due to the inability to
test the blood during an emergency.  In fact, they are almost
never done in the United States or Germany, yet here it has been
necessary twice.
        "This was the fourth (patient) we have received who had
such massive injuries we had to use extreme measures. When this
happened with this child and we called for volunteers to give
blood, we had so many; we had to turn all but eight away. Some
were doctors and surgeons working the case," Col. Russell
Taylor, 67th CSH commander, said.
        Spc. Gary Escoffery, a surgical technician, was one of
the soldiers who donated his blood to help save the child's
life.  "When Col. Taylor asked for volunteers to give blood, it
wasn't really very hard to make a decision. I did it because
this may very well be the finest moment in my life. I wanted to
do this," Escoffery said.
         "It is very gratifying. Sometimes you help people and
it doesn't go the best way possible. This time I was happy
because it had a good ending."
        Imlay said over a 24-hour period, the amount of blood
given to the child was, for his size, equivalent to replacing
his blood three times. The child received three to four units of
red blood cells, several more units of plasma and eight units of
whole blood from donors, he added.
        "We first applied a patch directly to his liver and then
closed him up to allow his body to begin the clotting process.
However, the massive transfusion caused his body temperature to
drop, interfering with the blood's ability to clot," Imlay said.
"The patch was to help him begin to warm-up, but it was still
not enough. We ended up repeating the transfusion procedure ...
and his blood started clotting."
        The child, known by his first name, Arlind, lived
through his injury and surgery.  He remained in the care of the
hospital staff for approximately 10 to 12 days before being
transferred to a hospital in Skopje, Macedonia.  The Skopje
hospital is better suited for his medical needs, according to
Imlay.
        According to Maj. Jimmie Keenan, chief nurse for the ER,
she received word recently from Arlind's parents that he was
doing better and off his medication.
        "It all comes back to why we are here. We're here to do
a job. I try to do mine to the best of my ability. I am
certainly grateful to the people who gave blood. It is a true
gift, with nothing expected in return and totally selfless.
Without them, the boy may be dead regardless of anything I did,"
Imlay said. "They are heroes in the truest sense of the word."
        (Editor's note: DeHart is a member of the 27th Public
Affairs Detachment and is assigned to the Task Force Falcon
Public Affairs Office.)