Devon J. Gibbons |
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Army Pfc. Devon J. Gibbons defied the medical odds for more than two
months. Just 23 days after his arrival in Iraq, a 600-pound bomb
blasted apart his Bradley fighting vehicle, burning 19-year-old from
Port Orchard over 90 percent of his body, severing both legs and his
right arm and tearing open his belly. After surgeries in Iraq and
Germany, he was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio,
which treats some of the worst trauma of war. Gibbons' condition was
beyond critical.
"They don't even call him critical," his father, Mel, told the San
Antonio Express News. "They don't have a category for it. They just
call it 'Devoncare.'"
His family set up a Web site, and people around the country followed
the story of the young man's 10-week fight to survive. Though wracked
with pain, he still found strength to joke with those who came to his
bedside in San Antonio. And his family said he drew courage from his
Mormon faith. But pneumonia set in and on June 23, 2006, Gibbons, a
strapping young man at 6-foot-3, closed his eyes one last time.
"Devon was a strong spirit and he fought to stay with us for a while,
but in the time we had with him here we were able to have some
wonderful, in-depth talks. He was ready to move on and had a sense of
urgency about him," the family said.