EDMONTON — Cpl. Jeffrey Bailey was pulled from a puddle of human waste after the G-Wagon he was riding in near Kandahar was blasted apart by a suicide bomber. The head wounds the army engineer suffered in January were so serious he wasn’t expected to live. And if he did, his family was told he may spend the rest of his life in a stupor.
He took enough of that waste into is lungs that heÂ’s still on medication to prevent complications five months later.
Monday, the man doctors are calling a “miracle” was walking, talking, and planning his future. “If I could, I’d go back there (Afghanistan) again. But I don’t think my mom will let me now,” Bailey kidded while speaking to media at Edmonton Garrison.
His mother, Pattie Wolfram, and his father, Ron Bailey, were at his side, just as they’ve been for the months of his continuing recovery. Asked about her first reaction to her son’s near death, Wolfram – wearing a bracelet on her wrist that says Miracles Happen – struggled for words. “It’s tough. It’s probably one of the worst days of my life,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “We used to go 10 minutes at a time. Now we go one day at a time. One Oilers game at a time, really.”
Asked whether he was angry at the bomber, Bailey said he wasn’t. Nor are his parents. “I think about his mother,” said Wolfram. “If I saw her today, I’d probably give her a hug. I don’t think she raised a monster. I think something else created that monster.”
BaileyÂ’s brain swelled so badly after the explosion that doctors removed a chunk of his skull to minimize damage. In mid-May, he underwent surgery to replace the same piece of skull. He sports a circular scar on the left side of his head, but his hairÂ’s grown over.
He continues to struggle with memory loss – he can’t remember anything within the last year-and-a-half. “It’s terrible,” said Bailey. “I just want (my memory) back. I think it will come eventually. I’m just waiting for that day.”
He’s still undergoing speech, physical, and occupational therapy, and continues to work on remembering the past. “I just want to get on with things now. I want to help myself, but everybody’s helping me. It’s getting old,” said Bailey, adding the support he’s been given by the military, doctors, family and friends has been outstanding.
Tuesday, heÂ’ll likely have surgery to bring movement back to his right foot. Shrapnel badly damaged a leg nerve, leaving him unable to lift his foot.
He hopes to return soon on a reduced work assignment.
His dad, Ron, broke down in tears as he talked about nearly losing his son. “Jeff is kind of an inspiration now,” he said. “He’s a very driven young man with strong character.”
The suicide attack killed diplomat Glyn Berry and hospitalized two other Canadian soldiers.
Tough and inspiring guy.