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Patrick McIlvain

By Christine Haines 3 min read

Uniontown native, shot in Afghanistan, battles back It has been exactly six months since U.S. Army Spc. Patrick McIlvain of Uniontown was shot in the head while on active duty in Afghanistan. His rehabilitation has been slow; his very survival just short of miraculous.

McIlvain’s unit was attacked in Khewar, Afghanistan, the morning of May 12, which was the evening of May 11 here. The bullet pierced McIlvain’s head, entering his left temple and exiting below his right temple. In past wars, that injury could have been fatal.

“The change has come in how they treat the head injuries right on the battlefield,” said his uncle, John McIlvain of Fredericksburg, Va. “The big problem is increased pressure, so they know to treat that immediately and relieve the pressure until they can get back to a medical facility. In Patrick’s case, his unit was under fire and it wasn’t easy to get him back to a place where it was safe to move him to a medical facility.”

John McIlvain said his nephew remained in Afghanistan for three or four days after he was injured, then he was airlifted to a military hospital in Germany. A day later, he was flown to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

“He got to Bethesda late on a Sunday night and we saw him Monday morning. By Tuesday his inter-cranial pressure went sky high and he was close to dying right there,” John McIlvain said. “They had drained all the fluid off his brain, but that wasn’t relieving the pressure.”

The doctors then operated, removing Patrick McIlvain’s forehead to take the pressure off of his brain. The maneuver worked. Several months later the bone, which had been kept viable by placing it in his abdominal cavity, was put back into Patrick’s head.

Patrick McIlvain remains in a veterans rehabilitation hospital in Richmond, Va., making slow progress. The injury took most of McIlvain’s sight and much of his mobility.

“He needs assistance. He gets up every day out of bed and into a wheelchair. He goes through therapy, walking between parallel bars. His right side moves pretty well. It’s the left side that is pretty much immobile. A big part of his right hemisphere was damaged,” John McIlvain said.

Shortly after Patrick McIlvain arrived in the United States, his mother, Mary McIlvain, suffered a heart attack and was also hospitalized. The entire family has stepped up to the plate, dealing with the situation with the maze of medical care.

“He’s been in medical facilities the whole time, but my wife, Susan, myself and my brother Tom have been handling the situation,” John McIlvain said.

While the experience has been incredibly hard for all members of the family, John McIlvain said there have also been positive aspects of the tragedy.

“It’s really brought us together for Patrick. That’s where all the energy is. It puts things in perspective and pushes all the minutia we all get caught up in right off the table,” John McIlvain said.

As for the prognosis for his nephew’s recovery, Jon McIlvain said it is hard to tell how much cognitive and physical ability will return.

“Every brain injury is different and the recovery can be radically different. At one end of the spectrum is a near-vegetative state. The other end is the patient wakes up one day and has greatly restored abilities,” John McIlvain said.

“The first doctor we met in Richmond said it’s one part medicine and a big part hope. He said he’s seen enough that he doesn’t discount the hope part of it.”

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