My Hero

When I was four years old, I absentmindedly jumped into the deep end of a pool without floaties. Not sure how I managed to forget this vital detail, but the important thing is that my seven year old brother, Aaron, came to my rescue. After he pulled me out of the pool and I finished choking up water, I declared him "Myyy hero!" I would like to share one of many reasons Aaron still deserves this title.
Yesterday was the five year anniversary of Aaron's survival after being injured by a road side bomb in Iraq. He was flown to Germany where his left leg was amputated below the knee. I remember the 4 days before Aaron woke up from sedation as some of the longest I've ever experienced. We were all so worried, and didn't know if he'd been conscious during the explosion and its aftermath. When he woke up in Bethesda Naval hospital where our parents and his new wife Kelly were waiting for him, he told my dad that he'd woken up while being transported to the States and someone had told him about his leg. He later recounted his experience of the blast. He was awake when a comrade tied the tourniquet and he'd known as soon as he saw his leg that he wouldn't keep it.
We had always know what a strong and determined person Aaron was, but during the months following the attack, we witnessed super-human strength we couldn't have known to expect. We watched as Aaron pushed himself through rehabilitation with a confident attitude and a cheerful spirit. I know there were days when rehab was excruciatingly painful and discouraging, and while Aaron didn't deny this, he was never resentful and never let himself sink. I saw him comfort others instead of pitying himself. I will never forget the first time I saw Aaron in the hospital after he was injured. Audrey and I had spent the silent plane ride to Maryland nervously wondering what we could say that would be any comfort to him. When we saw him, he pulled himself upright in his bed, stretched out his arms to us, kissed our faces and immediately began explaining why he would be fine. He told us that they made prosthetics so advanced now that he would be able to swim better and run faster than he ever could with his old leg. He'd always been so persuasive, and here he was in a hospital bed, trying to debate us out of our worry. We laid our heads on either of his shoulders and cried as he comforted us. This was March 25, one week after the explosion.
This year, on January 6th, Clark Randall Rice, Aaron and Kelly's first son was born. Aaron is such a proud, doting father, and I'm so thankful for his life and the precious new life he and Kelly have brought into our world.


You can view Aaron and Kelly's blog here.

I would like to leave you with some facebook status updates from yesterday.

Kelly Anne Rice: Today is Aaron's 5th Survivor Day. I, personally, am very glad he is alive and am grateful for everything he did for us.

Audrey Rice: Five years ago today, God saved my brother Aaron's life. Praise God for this and his many other blessings he has shown my family.

Haley Rice Wachdorf: thankful for my brother Aaron, his wife Kelly and their awesome baby Clark on Aaron's 5th Survivor Day.

And finally, Aaron Rice: Ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin alive, stayin alive. Ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin alive.

Happy Survivor Day, Aaron, and thanks for making sure I survived my preoccupied childhood. If natural selection had it's way, I'd be a goner.