Cheating death, living a miracle
Published: January 22, 2007
John McClellan stepped out of the passenger side of his family’s car Sunday evening and walked up the path to the Family Worship Center — no cane, no wheelchair and not even a shoulder to lean on.
Some people at the center were surprised to see him move so easily, knowing that only four months ago he was shot in the head while serving in Iraq. About 125 well-wishers gathered Sunday to honor and meet McClellan and his family.
Joan Rawsen, McClellan’s next-door neighbor who has known him since he was born, came to the celebration service to “give thanks for all the good will that has come his way to help him heal.”
McClellan, 20, a Hickman High School graduate, is still recovering from a gunshot wound to the head he suffered in September 2006. He was hit by a round from an AK-47 while serving with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Echo Company in Haditha, Iraq.
This is the second injury he received while serving in the Middle East. In October 2005, while in Afghanistan, McClellan was shot twice in the right arm.
After undergoing an operation in Badal, Iraq, McClellan was transferred to a medical center in Germany, followed by a 3½-week stay at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
McClellan is still undergoing a variety of therapies, making progress and keeping his sense of humor.
“I just went skydiving yesterday,” he said. “I’m just kidding. The left side of my face is working better, and my memory is getting better.”
As friends and family gathered around McClellan to hug him and speak with him, his mother, Connie McClellan, asked her son to smile for them to show the degree of progress.
Shortly after his injury, doctors, family and friends were unsure as to the level of his recovery, fearing mental and physical impairment, and possibly death. He soon showed signs of improvement, however, and underwent physical therapy at James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa, Fla.
In November 2006, McClellan returned to Columbia to a crowd of supporters, friends and family.
“It’s pretty cool,” McClellan said of the service Sunday night. “It’s a chance for me to thank everyone for what they have done.”
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