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Landstuhl Regional Medical Center

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LRMC miracle patient making strides By Kathryn Gifford, Red Cross Volunteer

LANDSTUHL, Germany – The Landstuhl Regional Medical Center team witnessed what some would call miracles this

summer as a severely wounded patient cheated death at every turn and did what no one could have imagined. One year

later, he continues to amaze LRMC medical staff.

Iveri Buadze, a Senior Lieutenant in the Republic of Georgia

armed forces, was leading a team of Georgian soldiers with

his Marine advisors on Sept. 6, 2017 as they visually

inspected vehicles prior to entering Bagram Air Field in

Bagram, Afghanistan. A suicide bomber on a motorcycle in

the line of vehicles detonated his explosives and Buadze

sustained life-threatening injuries.

After multiple surgeries in Bagram, Buadze was sent to the

U.S. Army medical center in Germany four days later, along

with the two fellow Georgian soldiers and two U.S. Marines

who were also wounded in the blast.

No expectations from medical staff

According to Buadze’s neurosurgeon at LRMC, Army Maj.

George Rymarczuk, Buadze arrived with multiple major

injuries, including significant damage to his right leg and

arm and penetrating trauma to his neck, chest and

abdomen. The force of the explosion was so strong that

surgeons in Bagram had to remove a portion of his skull to

relieve pressure from swelling and bleeding. Buadze later

lost his right eye and right leg from below the knee.

Release No. 13 Sept. 18, 2018

As NATO partners serving alongside American troops, Georgians wounded in battle are authorized to receive medical care at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the American military

hospital in Germany, for initial treatment. In some cases, the Office of the Secretary of the Defense will grant special

permission for foreign nationals to transfer to a hospital in the U.S. for continued medical care and treatment. (Map of Georgia

courtesy of the U.S. State Department)

Even before the military, Buadze was a champion in Georgia’s national martial

art, Khridoli. In 2015, he graduated with top honors at the National

Defence Academy in Georgia, one of a small group of graduates who received

their diploma directly from their nation’s president. Buadze holds two

degrees – one in Economics and the other in Military History. (Photo

courtesy of Amiran Buadze)

“He had some of the more severe injuries I’ve seen in quite a while,” said Rymarczuk. “I did not think he was going to

survive or, if he did, I didn’t expect him to have any semblance of a good quality of life.”

This was just the first of many medical predictions Buadze proved wrong.

While he remained in a medical coma for two months, his body’s natural healing systems got to work and the LRMC

medical team remained committed to Buadze’s recovery. Despite the coma, Buadze’s medical care would not be easy as

he also had head trauma, a brain injury, multiple broken bones, infection in his wounds, liver failure, amputation,

extreme blood loss and more.

Even as the team fought for Buadze’s survival, they also prepared for the worst by discussing the most likely outcomes

with the Georgian medical liaison and Buadze’s family in Georgia over phone calls and video chats. Buadze’s brother

came to LRMC as quickly as he could.

When he arrived, Amiran Buadze, an artillery platoon sergeant in the Georgian armed forces, stood at the foot of his

brother’s bed and said a special prayer. Through an interpreter, Amiran Buadze shared that he was praying with his

brother on Sept. 21, the day the Georgian Orthodox Church celebrates the birth of the Virgin Mary.

“I asked Holy Maria for Iveri to get better,” said Amiran Buadze. While Amiran was praying at the foot of the bed, he

noticed that his brother opened and closed his eye and moved his mouth slightly.

Army Capt. Hillary Battles, an intensive care registered nurse, also remembers the days when things started to turn

around for Buadze.

“After Amiran’s visit, we started hearing groans and seeing muscle twitches,” said Battles. “The doctors initially thought

it was just reflexes. Then his remaining eye started moving as we walked around the room, as if he could see us. In no

time, he started to really respond to us, nodding his head and eventually he even talking, saying yes or no when we

asked him questions.”

Buadze surprised everyone again when he started speaking not only his native language, but also English and Russian,

languages he had previously learned.

Spark of life leads to rehab

“I was very sick. I could do almost nothing for two months. I almost died,” Buadze said in slow, precise English. “But

when I first moved my right hand and leg, the nurses were excited,” he remembered. “They could not believe this!”

Once the intensive care nursing team noticed Buadze moving, they encouraged more aggressive physical and

occupational therapy and the clinic teams jumped on board immediately. When Buadze had been in a coma, physical

therapists went to his bedside to perform passive range of motion exercises to keep his body limber and prevent

secondary complications like bedsores. Once they learned that Buadze was beginning to move, they changed tactics to

help him continue to progress.

“At LRMC, we really aren’t equipped here for long term care like that,” said Petra Wine, an intensive care registered

nurse.

Strategically located near Ramstein, Germany, LRMC is the largest American medical facility outside the United States

and part of the hospital’s mission is to receive wounded, injured and ill U.S. service members, government employees

and contractors serving in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, as well as patients from NATO Allied nations and partner

countries like Georgia.

With a 99 percent survival rate, the LRMC team has successfully treated and returned more than 15,000 troops back to

forward combat theaters. The primary role of critical combat care at LRMC is to either treat and remedy the patient’s

medical concerns and return them to their units, or stabilize and transfer them to the United States for further care.

Most patients only stay at LRMC for two or three days; the long-term rehabilitation that Buadze required is not

something that LRMC typically provides.

“Our physical and occupational therapy staff have been so

innovative,” said Wine. “PT has been adapting equipment

and inventing exercises to help [Buadze] progress. OT

created hand grips for him, adapted eating utensils and they

have been manually making things that a place set up for

long-term rehab, like Walter Reed National Military Medical

Center, would normally have on hand.”

Maria Duluc, a physical therapy assistant at LRMC, said she

has never had a patient with such a strong drive or so few

complaints about his pain, although she knew he must have

felt it.

“He would say to me, ‘You are my commander, whatever you tell me to do, I’m ready,’” said Duluc.

Each time she asked Buadze if he wanted to do more exercises, he would typically grin and reply, “Why not?”

Sunshine follows dark days

Buadze recalled the emotional roller coaster as he began to fully understand the extent of his injuries.

“[The big] surprise was my leg. I didn’t know I had lost my leg,” said Buadze. “When I started bike exercises and saw my

leg, then I knew.”

Things turned around for Buadze when Air Force critical care technician Staff Sgt. Antwan Williams motivated and

encouraged him with stories about innovative prosthetics other amputees use to regain quality of life.

“I felt angry,” said Buadze. “Now I feel good.”

Iveri Buadze, a Senior Lieutenant in the Republic of Georgia armed

forces who was wounded in a suicide bomb attack in

Afghanistan, practices walking with Physical Therapy Assistant

Maria Duluc April 25, 2018 at Landstuhl Regional Medical

Center in Landstuhl, Germany. (U.S. Army photo by Stacy

Sanning, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center Public Affairs)

Easy, breezy, lemon squeezy

From passive exercises while Buadze was in a coma, to helping him regain the ability to sit upright in a wheelchair, the

physical therapy team pushed him to keep progressing.

“Between the PT team and [Buadze’s] own strong will, now he is walking in less than six months,” said Wine as she

watched Buadze take slow and steady steps down the ICU hallway.

“I didn’t even think he would walk and look at him now!” said Duluc.

“[LRMC has] very good therapy specialists. They helped me every day to work out in the gym and I keep progressing,”

said Buadze during a physical therapy session in April. “First light, then harder and harder. And you saw today, my

walking. Easy breezy lemon squeezy! I learned that saying here.”

Focus on the future

Buadze explained that he was pushing so hard to progress because he has big plans for his future; future challenges are

seen as opportunities to get stronger.

“I have to start walking on two legs, one that is a prosthetic leg. I have to be able to run. That will be the last step,” said

Buadze. “I think that then I will be finished and I will go back to Georgia.”

Family is important to Buadze. He said is looking forward to getting back to his family and friends and plans one day to

marry and have children.

“I have two nieces and nephews in Georgia,” said Buadze. “They know that when I get back home, I can walk with

them.”

Buadze is well on his way. He transferred to Walter Reed National Military

Medical Center and has already achieved the first of his many goals: to walk

with a prosthetic leg. The team at WRNMMC will continue the progress that

the LRMC team helped Buadze begin.

A team mentality

“The whole team was vital to his recovery,” said Battles, one of Buadze’s

intensive care nurses at LRMC. “Everyone came together to help take care of

him.”

One ICU administrative assistant brought Buadze sausages that he liked and were easy for him to hold. Other people

throughout the hospital heard he liked a certain type of candy bar and soon he had enough to share with visitors.

Someone from another ward brought in a Georgian flag to decorate his room.

Iveri Buadze practices walking with a prosthetic

leg at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in July 2018. (Photo

courtesy of Amiran Buadze)

“I remember the day our housekeeper started talking to him in Russian early on, and he responded,” Battles recalled. “I

really think she did a lot for his motivation; she was such a comfort to him. She’s a phenomenal housekeeper and a

phenomenal person.”

While the dedication of the LRMC staff was recognized by Buadze, many on his care team indicated that his presence

and public display of fortitude and resiliency also touched their lives as well. Those who worked closely with him on a

daily basis called him by his first name, and he did the same with them.

“The central piece here is family,” said Battles. “Here at LRMC, we all worked together to take care of [Buadze]. The

American Marines and the Georgian military working side by side and learning each other’s language are like a family

too.”

LRMC’s team of Army and Air Force personnel also includes a small cohort of Navy, Marines Corps and special

operations service members who make up the liaison office that transitions, orients and tracks wounded, ill and injured

troops from forward operations Because Buadze’s unit was working alongside the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan, the

Marines at LRMC embraced him as their own.

“Soon after he woke up from the coma, he was able to recognize the uniform,” said Sgt. Merrick Morin, a Marine liaison

at LRMC. “When he saw us, he would smile and say, ‘I was with the Marines.’ I would happily fight alongside [Buadze]

any day.”

Many LRMC staff were thinking of Buadze this September on

his Alive Day, a common phrase in the military that

celebrates the anniversary of the day a service member

cheated death on the battlefield.

“The moon is the limit for him,” Wine said before changing

her mind. “No, nothing limits him. Every time I have a bad

day I think of him. Overall, he was so positive. Now he can

walk and even use his prosthetic leg.”

Advice from Buadze

“Life is very strange. I want to say, never give up. Keep progressing and life is good. My bad health is not finished but I

will continue to fight. I will show everyone that nothing is impossible,” said Buadze.

###

Iveri Buadze (left) spends time with

his brother, Amiran, at Walter

Reed National Military Medical

Center in July 2018. (Photo

courtesy of Amiran Buadze)