We wanted to share with you the recent news of our son, Christopher who was wounded in Baghdad recently. His attitude is strong but the road to recovery will not be short. Appreciate you sharing this with especially those members of the great Lax Class of '05.

He can be best communicated with via his wife Jessica's email at: jessica.l.larsen@us.army.mil.

Thanks, Mark and Cynthia Larsen

Dear friends/family,

I wanted to let our friends/family know the status of our son Christopher so I have lumped you all together for the moment.  I apologize in advance if what follows is too descriptive, but I also believe that in giving you as full a picture as possible, you will better understand Chris' situation in terms of the road ahead for him. The first part below is what I have tried to capture to the best of my ability based on what Chris told me this morning, while he was taking his first walk (20 minutes) in quite a while.

Chris was wounded while leading a patrol in an area about 20 miles west of Baghdad Friday morning, August 17. Earlier that morning a drone had shot film of men laying down IEDs and Chris, his interpreter, and seven of his platoon went to investigate on foot leaving a portion of the platoon with their humvees and Bradley fighting machines; after walking about 800 meters they came across a couple of suspicious young Iraqis standing across from them on a canal. Through his interpreter, Chris asked them a series of questions and it became clear that the young men were part of the IED team. Chris' team handcuffed them and went forward across the canal towards an area that had a few buildings including a mosque.

They soon encountered enemy fire, and as Chris began returning fire from the firing position, he was hit as he turned to his left by a bullet through his left hand that continued in parallel to his rifle barrel piercing his ring finger of his right hand, went through his palm and then exited out of his right wrist. By swinging to his left when he did and the bullet hitting his right hand/finger, he was probably saved from a more severe head or neck wound....

Unable to hold anything he dove for cover under some small  earth mounds and with four of his troops in front of him across the second canal, used his radio to call for backup firing support from his sergeant who was with the vehicles and the rest of the men 800 meters behind them.

The fire power created enough havoc to allow Chris' men who were forward to eventually return safely to his team, and after the additional engagement, helicopter gun ships were brought in who destroyed the building where the terrorists were firing from. Chris and his team were able to get to an empty building where a tourniquet was put on both of his hands and they drove back to Patrol Camp Courage,( their base). From the time he was wounded until the time he got back to his base, over an hour had passed.

Chris was medivaced by helicopter to the Green Zone in Baghdad where 2 surgeries were performed that day, and on Saturday he was airlifted to Balad in northern Iraq and then flown overnight to Landstuhl, Germany where the U.S. has a major medical base. He had additional surgery on Sunday and then flew to San Antonio all day Tuesday arriving at the Brooke Army Medical Center on Tuesday evening about 9 pm Texas time. His wife Jessica, her mother Jane, Cynthia, Andrew, Jennifer and I flew down to San Antonio on Tuesday morning so that we could be there when he arrived. We have been with him since and he has had one more surgery with a fifth surgery planned with a hand surgeon Friday morning.

Chris has suffered serious wounds to both hands; his left hand was only pierced once through the metacarpal and a couple of fingers are broken as well. The prognosis is that the bones and tendons in his left hand will show some significant healing in about 6-10 weeks. We are still unsure of how much nerve damage there is in his left hand. He seems to have "feeling" in all of his fingers and his thumb.

His right hand was less fortunate. After leaving his left hand the bullet severed his right ring finger on his right hand from the lower knuckle, entered the palm of his hand and exited through his wrist area. This caused extensive tissue, bone and likely nerve damage. All of his remaining fingers and thumb appear to have feeling, but it is too early to tell what fine motor skills either hand will have going forward.

The pain is excruciating in his hands. He is on continuous doses of morphine derivatives which gives him some comfort. The challenge has been that continuous surgeries to clean out the wounds and dead tissue only resurrect the pain. We are hoping that the surgery tomorrow will be the last one for a week or so, to give his hands a break and to also bring the pain (and pain medication) down.

He is also pretty helpless. Imagine not being able to use your hands at all for anything, and you have a pretty good idea of Chris' situation. He cannot feed himself, go to the bathroom by himself, hug his wife, shave, turn on the TV, etc. So far he has handled the inevitable frustrations compounded by lack of sleep, incredible pain, 4 surgeries in 5 days, etc. extremely well, but the next weeks and months will likely be equally trying.

We are lucky he is at Brooke Army Medical Center which is an extraordinary place. I encourage all of you to go "Google" it to get some idea of what it is. The facilities, the professionalism, the team spirit of the entire staff be it the cafeteria worker or the surgeon or nurse are truly extra ordinary. Unfortunately this is the best trauma center in the US for the kinds of wounds the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are inflicting on our young men and women, but you would be most proud of what is being done to give them back some of the life they have sacrificed. The Fischer family of homes which allows parents/spouses to stay next to the hospital and the unbelievable rehab center (named appropriately "The Intrepid"), without any financial worries so that the injured can receive full attention not only from their medical support teams but also their loved ones is also a great example of American generosity. I encourage you to consider making a donation to this great foundation which does so much to help these young hurt people get better quicker by allowing their families to be with them.

While we could be feel sorry for Chris or ourselves, we choose to look forward. The constant anxiety of waking up every day not knowing if our son is safe has ended, but replaced by new concerns.

I want to thank you on behalf of all of the Larsen family for your caring thoughts and concerns as well as your prayers. They have all made a difference for Chris and for us, and we only ask that you continue your prayers especially for all of the troops who are still in Iraq and Afganistan.  We are hopeful that within a year or two, Chris will be able to get most of his hand abilities back; we know the Army is committed to doing that, and we know that Chris will do his part especially with the wonderful love and support his beautiful wife Jessica is giving him.   

Chris can best be reached via Jessica's email at: jessica.l.larsen@us.army.mil

Mark