Miracles from my Sgt Norris Galatas..my inspiration and my hero

My Inspiration and my hero....and his many miracles.....this is a tribute to my dearest friends Norris and Janis...for their courage and strength and their never ending support of our deployed men and women of the military........

Sgt Grayson " Norris" Galatas

In the words of Janis Galatas

1.  April 19, 2005, Norris was driving a 10-ton HEMTT (Heavy
Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck) which is very high off the ground, so
when he ran over the 155 mm artillery round, some of the explosion was
deflected and/or absorbed underneath the clearance of the high
cab....there was no armor on the truck except "hillbilly" armor plates
on the doors of the cab.  Had he been driving one of our un-armored
HUMVEEs, he would have been killed instantly.

2.  Our best medic, SGT Winston Walker, was already at the scene,
waiting at the burned out vehicle that Norris was going out to recover.
Winston was a civilian who worked at the Trauma Center at Turo Infirmary
in New Orleans.  He was out of our unit, but got back in because he
"knew the guys were going to need my expertise".  He could have been
anywhere that day, but he was already on the scene because of a 155th
BCT HUMVEE which had run over a similar IED, and the four soldiers were
evacuated by Blackhawk medical helicopter to the 86th Combat Support
Hospital in Baghdad...same place they took Norris.  One of the soldiers,
SSG Tommy Little was at Fort Sam Houston (Brooke Army Medical Center)
when he died of his burns on May 2, 2005.

3.  SGT Walker ran about 300 yards to Norris's side and administered
aid...Norris was bleeding profusely, and to stop the bleeding, Winston
used a new drug (never before used in our unit)in the IV drips to stop
the bleeding. 

4.  SGT Walker would not have been able to use this new drug in the
IV's if there had not been a Lieutenant with the convoy who was a
MEDICAL OFFICER who could "OK" the use of this drug on the scene.  If
Winston had had to await the OK from higher up the command chain, Norris
would have bled to death.  This Lieutenant was not part of the 155th
BCT.  How or why he was with our convoy that day, no one has been able
to determine.  There were many bloody missions that day and he just
ended up with the HHC 150th at Camp Dogwood on April 19, 2005.  So far,
I have not been able to find anyone who knew him so we can talk to him.

5.  Later on, when talking to Winston, he said when they put Norris
on the bird, he thought "he's a gone-er" but Norris said "Winston, you
said that this was my ticket home and that I was going to be just fine,
and I BELIEVED YOU!"  You LIED to me...Winston just smiled.

6.  Major Donald Robinson at the 86th Combat Support Hospital in
Baghdad was in charge of the trauma team during his December 2004-July
2005 tour of duty...he is one of the most respected trauma surgeons in
the USA.  (Cooper Hospital in Camden New Jersey)...He said 70% of his
patients were IED victims and he took each patient to heart.  When a
patient died, his staff knew to leave him alone. He is currently at Fort
Benning Georgia training other trauma surgeons for the horrors they will
see in the hospitals of Iraq.  He was there for Norris.

7.  Major Robinson's crack surgical team had to tie off some of
Norris's major blood vessels that supply his trunk and pelvic region.
If that had not happened in Baghdad, Norris would have continued to
bleed.  His blood supply has had to find "another route" for him to heal
as well as he has.  It has.

8.  They like to fly the injured troops to Landstuhl Germany to the
Army Medical Center there in 24 hours.  It took Norris an extra day to
stabilize enough to make the flight.  While he was in Landsthul, his
high school friend George Warner called me and said "My brother Thomas
lives in Landsthul and his wife works at the medical center!  I'll check
in on him for you."...George said Thomas's report was very tearful and
that Norris was very critical.  "He never knew I was there, Thomas
said"...But I knew Thomas was there.  He was like an Angel to look in on
Norris for me.  I needed that connection from so far away.  Then it took
an extra day in Germany for him to stabilize enough again to make the
9-hour flight to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.  SGT
David Folkerts from Pennsylvania had an injured hand and made the flight
over with Norris.  He was fully awake during the flight and so he
watched over the other soldiers ... He said Norris had a "rough flight
over".  Norris was given more sedation on the way over.

9.  When Norris arrived at WRAMC on April 24, 2005 he remained in
the medically induced coma, but would not wake up. They were trying to
wake him up when I arrived on April 25, 2005.  All pain medication and
sedation had been removed, but it took two more days to wake him up.  A
nurse named "Wonder" was the talk of the SICU about what miracles he
could work with the soldiers...he bent over Norris and yelled "Norris"
and Norris's eyebrows went up...he was used to Major Bratu and Captain
Ozment barking orders, so he resonded to one.  Wonder woke him up on
April 27, 2005.  He was there for Norris and was moved to another ward
shortly thereafter. 

10. Norris had 16 surgeries at WRAMC between April 24, 2005 and his
first convalescent leave on July 24, 2005, to clean and flush is open
belly and cut away dead and dying tissue from his right buttock and
back.  He spent 90 days flat of his back and stood for the first time on
June 2, 2005, very briefly...he had to stay in bed or a wheelchair
mostly...he lost 50 pounds in 30 days.  Every major organ was damaged
except his heart.  (We don't think he has a spleen anymore).  He
developed a blood clot in his left lung, but it dissolved on its
own...he aspirated stomach bile during surgery number 8 and burned his
lungs and this usually leads to pneumonia (which would have killed him
in his condition)...He did not develop pneumonia. The surgeons were
amazed how quickly he healed...the wound on his back healed enough that
they stitched it closed before he came home in July.  His buttock would
was so deep that the pelvic bone was showing and they called in an
orthopaedic surgeon to place some tissue over it to begin the healing
process.  When he exited surgery early, he said "that wound did a total
360 and is healing now on its own without a tissue transplant".  So many
miracles.

11. That doesn't even start to cover the miracles at Camp Dogwood.
Norris is a Sergeant First Class, in charge of other soldiers, and he is
well respected and well liked among them.  When he was so critically
injured, there were lots of soldiers who came to an understanding with
God and lots of them were baptized in an Easter Sunday service.  SGT
Winston Walker went on so many missions that he has lots of stories, but
my favorite is how God gave him Gout in his big toe for 24 hours...just
to ground him from a mission.  The soldier who took his place was
sitting in his seat in the vehicle when they ran over an IED and that
soldier was injured.  The next morning the toe was fine and had no pain.
Winston tells of when they were walking into a village and an un-known
ambush, but when they walked out, THEN the explosions went off.  SFC
Kevin Kelly tells of four soldiers looking into an IED hole and hearing
a cell phone ringing...but the IED never triggered like it was supposed
to.  SFC Dan Talley was sitting on a downed tree one afternoon resting
and later on when the EOD (explosives ordinance division)arrived, they
informed him that he was sitting on top of an IED...yup when they
checked, it was still under the log.  SGT Jamie Davis was "peppered"
with shrapnel when his vehicle ran over an IED.  Spc. Robert Mustain
(one of Norris's men) ran over the same kind of IED with the newest PLS
(fully up-armored vehicle) but walked away with bruises.  SFC Kelly was
on patrol one afternoon when the HUMVEE he was driving just quit
running.  They had to get out to wait to be towed in, so they checked
out some of the surrounding sand dunes and gullies.  They found an IED
buried a few yards in front of where they would have been driving...it
was SFC Cooley's assigned HUMVEE...that he was not driving when he drove
another vehicle over and IED and was killed.  The soldiers believe
Cooley was watching over them that day.  These are just some of the
"coincidences" that our troops faced.  God blessed them and watched over
them, and the ones who were ready, He called home.  Sixteen of our brave
soldiers are "Walking with the King" now and we will see them again. 

12. Then there is SGT Winston Walker's story with Hurricane Katrina
and how his and his parent's homes in Pearlington were totally destroyed
in the storm.  They rented a home with minimal damage in Kiln and moved
there.  Then a nice lady from Illinois e-mailed PJ Degross
(www.webofsupport.com) and wanted to adopt a Katrina victim but wanted a
soldier.  PJ asked me and I of course recommended Winston Walker and his
family.  This wonderful lady and her friend from Homer Glenn Illinois
loaded up a truck and trailer with food, water, goodies, back packs,
school supplies, and clothing and headed to Kiln with building supplies
and home repair items.  Winston and Rhonda said it was like Christmas in
September and they patched the home, got the girls back in school and
even received checks in the mail from folks who heard about them on the
web of support web site.  Rhonda said they, like the Galatases, got
checks in the mail that said "here..hope this helps" and the two little
girls had a wonderful Christmas when, without the kindness and support
of strangers, they had no hope of buying Christmas gifts for the girls.
The nice lady is Vicki Grochowski and her friend Pete Commanda and they
have all become great friends of ours and the Walkers.  God knew all
this was coming.  He sent PJ to call Norris and ask "What can I do for
you?" and Norris said, "Nothing for me, but you can take care of my
guys"...and PJ's Soldier Adoption Program was born.  She has grown into
a large organization with over 160 families all across the USA adopting
over 500 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.  She is still growing!  When
our 155th BCT got home, she just adopted out their replacements as they
arrived.  Awesome. God helps her get anything the troops ask for, no
matter how huge.  She is an Angel.

13. And then there is our fence.  When I go to Walter Reed to be
with Norris there is no one to take care of our horses, and no where to
put them where they could be safe.  God sent Mr. Aubrey Ray and his wife
Claudette (whose son SSG Todd Ray was at Camp Dogwood with Norris)to
build us a fence around our Martin property.  Aubrey and Claudette found
out about me needing to leave the horses on their pasture to go to WRAMC
by reading an up-date on PJ's web site.  "He said we need to help them
get that done."  So he and Claudette and Todd came a couple of times to
work on it, and then he got Major Bowman's OK from the Starkville
Headquarters of the 2/114th Field Artillery Unit ...16 soldiers have put
in over 400 man-hours during six work days on the fence.  They finished
it Tuesday.  We could NEVER have done it with Norris being injured and
me being OLD!  God saw that we needed it, and He sent Angels to help.
We are just so blessed and we don't deserve it.  I have never been
turned down with anything I have asked God for.

Norris almost died on the battlefield, and life was devastating without what seemed to be an end; however  God  had a plan, he knew we would need financial help so he placed people in our path to help us get our life back.

Insurance money paid off the house and got us out of debt.
Now we can start our lives with a house and barn on our ten acres and
watch the horses play on their pasture from the back porch.  I will have
some roses, too!  We still need everyone  to keep us on their prayer
list as Norris has a ways to go.  But please keep our troops in mind and
ask God's continued protection on them.  They are all very much in
harm's way.  Janis  and Norris Galatas         

Comments

[Kat in GA]

Here's another freaky coincidence. Janis mentioned that one of the guys there to help save Norris that day was a world-renowed trauma surgeon from Cooper Hospital in Camden, New Jersey.

Guess where my ten-year-old son was born?!

cooper hospital, Camden, New Jersey.

Is that freaky or what?!