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May 14, 2007 11:26 pm US/Eastern
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A Soldier Faces His Future
by Mary Bubala
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
On the battlefield it can take just seconds for a soldier's life to be turned upside down. Airmen A1C Michael Fletcher's life changed forever on August 12, 2005.
"We were on a routine reconnaissance mission, and I'm not quite sure what happened," said Fletcher. "It was like a tunnel. I felt everything just beginning to move far away from me and I said 'is this how death feels.'"
Fletcher was riding in the gunner position on a Humvee in southern Iraq when the vehicle flipped. He was wearing body armor, which blunted the force of the impact, but his injuries were still devastating. Fletcher's left arm was ripped off. He also lost a significant portion of his mid-face, including his nose.
"I got up, took a couple of steps, threw my helmet off and passed out," said Fletcher to
WJZ's Mary Bubala.
He woke up 6,000 miles away at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
"The first thing I saw was my wife. I didn't know what happened. I didn't know how bad I was," said Fletcher. "My family and the doctors kept it a secret. When I got a chance to see myself in the mirror. I just didn't believe it. How do you prepare to see something that you are not used to?"
"I hate to say it, but it was like walking into a room and seeing a monster," said Yolanda, Michael Fletcher's wife. "But I told him with that face or with a new face, I am not going anywhere."
Reality set in and Michael set out to reclaim his identity. For the last year
WJZ 13 has been with him every step of the way.
After the accident Michael recalls simple tasks being made uncomfortable. Even as his life regained a semblance of normalcy, going to a grocery store or any place in the public's eye would remind him of his injuries.
"Life started becoming normal, but I wasn't happy because I didn't have a nose and nobody wants to go through life without a nose. I felt like having a nose was a thing I wanted."
A Walter Reed physician who had trained in facial plastic surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital and who was familiar with the reconstruction work of Dr. Patrick Byrne referred Fletcher to Hopkins in January 2006 for the reconstruction. Byrne would help Michael become whole again.
In a series of six operations over a year-long period that ended with the removal of the last sutures on May 2, a team of more than 40 medical specialists, including Byrne, have performed one of the most complicated nasal reconstructions ever performed.
"Quite honestly when I met Michael first my heart stopped," said Byrne. "He came in holding his newborn baby in his one remaining arm, with his young wife Yolanda. We have a big cancer department, but there were certain aspects of his face that just stopped me in my tracks."
In 60 checkups and 40 hours of surgery, Byrne and other specialists pieced together more than a dozen bits of bone, cartilage skin, arteries and veins to rebuild his nose.
Just before Michael's final surgery in April, the progress was remarkable.
"I can feel it perfectly. The skin feels the same," said Fletcher. "It feels like a normal nose except for the fact that it is not.
His wife Yolanda has also been impressed with the transformation that has taken place.
"[In] the beginning he had nothing," said Yolanda. "It's just totally amazing."
The plan to rebuild Fletcher's nose was based on techniques already being used to help survivors of nasal cancers. But Fletcher's facial injuries suffered in Iraq and new advances in biomedical engineering made his surgeries stand out.
The final bandages came off just weeks ago to reveal a changed face. But the real difference comes from those who don't even notice.
"We go through the grocery store and people don't take a second look," said Michael. A kid sometimes says, 'Mommy he only has one arm.' They don't think about the face, and I think I can deal with that anytime."
Michael is ready to face a new future--one that includes working with some of the nearly 25,000 servicemen wounded in Iraq. He will be by their side as proof that war wounds may leave scars, but don't scar for life.
"I want to help these soldiers. I don't think they are getting all the help they need. People need to support the troops."
Stay with WJZ 13 Tuesday at 6 P.M as Healthwatch Reporter Kellye Lynn takes viewers step by step through these incredible surgeries.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)