[jessefan]

Her picture is here: http://www.newsnet5.com/news/3299683/detail.html

Injured soldier back in U.S.

Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Jessica Clements, 27, of Coventry Twp. comatose in Washington, D.C., hospital after being wounded by Iraq land mine May 5
By Elbert Starks III

Beacon Journal staff writer

Jessica Clements, an Army reservist from Coventry Township who was seriously wounded in Iraq, has returned to the United States but remains in a coma.

Christopher Wyatt, Clements' stepfather, said she was flown into the country after a brief stay in Germany and touched down at 10 p.m. Saturday. She is in very serious condition at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Relatives were able to see Clements briefly at 2 a.m. Sunday and throughout the day Monday, but she is in a surgical intensive care unit and is only allowed two visitors at a time for 10-minute intervals, Wyatt said.

However, around 30 relatives and friends have come to the facility to visit Clements, Wyatt said. The family also has received about 200 letters of support.

``They (hospital staff) were very impressed -- they said it's the most support they've seen for one person,'' Wyatt said. ``Really, we've just tried to be here for her.''

Clements has had two surgeries since she has been at Walter Reed, Wyatt said, and she has another scheduled for today. He said specific details about Clements' condition have been hard for the family to come by because the doctors have indicated they prefer not to speculate about patients' prospects.

``The way they do it, they're not going to give you false information. They don't want to get your hopes up, which is understandable,'' Wyatt said.

``The wait, yeah, it really bothers us, but it's just that they don't want to guess. Now that she's here, it makes it a little better,'' Wyatt said.

Clements, 27, is a staff sergeant with the 706th Transportation Command based in Mansfield. She was wounded May 5 in Iraq when a fuel tanker she was driving rolled over a land mine. She suffered extensive injuries to her head, hip, back and buttocks from the explosion.

She has been unconscious since the attack, with her movement being characterized as reflex-driven, Wyatt said. The family is still positive about her long-term prospects because the facility and doctors, as Wyatt termed them, are ``unbelievable.''

``She looks very good,'' Wyatt said. ``All we can do now is hope for the best.''

[GoBlue_ChrisPerry23]

I will be sure to keep her in my prayers

[ticker]

The article at the link with the pic says:

[jessica fan 21]

Any news on Jessica Clements since May 14, 2004? Is she still in Washington?

[jessefan]

She has emerged from her coma and is responding to verbal and visual stimulation. Lets keep praying folks.

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news.../8771574.htm?1c

Coventry reservist emerges from coma


Jessica Clements, the Army reservist from Coventry Township who suffered serious injuries in Iraq, has emerged from a coma.

Sister Utahna Neese said that Clements, 27, began emerging from the coma at the end of last week and responds to verbal and visual stimulation.

Clements, a staff sergeant with the 706th Transportation Company based in Mansfield, is in stable condition at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

[ticker]

Excellent news! Thanks for the update.

[jessefan]

http://www.ohio.com/

Flag-signing planned for injured soldier

COVENTRY TWP. - The R & B Military store will hold a flag-signing for Jessica Clements, the Coventry Township soldier injured in Iraq, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Sunday.

Well-wishers will sign a blue-star serviceman's flag that will be shipped to Clements at the Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C., so that she will have it for Memorial Day on Monday.

The store is at 3235 Manchester Road in the Acme Plaza.

For details, call Robert Atwood at 330-760-3703.

[mainzman]

hang in there Jessica!

[jessefan]

Our prayers have been substantively answered, but we can still pray for her continued recovery.


http://www.newsnet5.com/news/3376665/detail.html

Sgt. Wakes From Coma After Land Mine ExplosionDoctors Said Recovery 'Unlikely'

POSTED: 7:33 am EDT June 3, 2004

AKRON, Ohio -- An Army sergean from Ohio who was in a coma after being injured in a land mine explosion in Iraq now can talk and sit up with help.



Relatives who were told originally that 27-year-old Jessica Clements had little chance of recovery are calling her comeback miraculous.


The suburban Akron woman suffered head and other injuries when the fuel tanker she was driving rolled over a land mine on May 5. She had been in Iraq about five months.


Doctors at an Army hospital in Germany told the family that Clements likely would remain in a vegetative state and on life support the rest of her life.


Clements now is at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington and according to sister Brooke Clements, is sitting up, talking on the phone and says she remembers everything.

http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/news/s...ews/563235.html

Family calls soldier's recovery a miracle

AKRON (AP) -- An Ohio soldier who was in a coma after being injured in a land mine explosion in Iraq now can talk and sit up with help, her family said.

Relatives who were told originally that Jessica Clements had little chance of recovery are calling her comeback miraculous.

Clements, 27, of suburban Coventry Township, suffered injuries to her head, hip, back and buttocks when the fuel tanker she was driving rolled over a land mine on May 5. She had been in Iraq about five months.

Clements, an Army staff sergeant in the 706th Transportation Command based in Mansfield, has been treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., since May 15. She was first hospitalized in Baghdad before being flown to Germany.

"When she was in Germany they basically did not give us any hope and told us she would have to be on life support for the rest of her life and would be in a vegetative state," sister Brooke Clements said Wednesday. "But I talked to her on the phone the other day and she remembers everything. She is doing awesome."

She said her sister can sit up with help but is still fed through a tube. A portion of her skull has been removed, Brooke Clements said.

The recovery is going so well the family expects Jessica to be moved to a hospital in Minnesota for rehabilitation sooner than expected, her sister said.

The family originally was told she would remain at Walter Reed for about nine months.

[Soprano84]

Great news!!

Anhyone out there who has a daughter on the way...name her Jessica....they appear to be made of stern stuff!

[mainzman]

Jessica's awakening is excellent news!!!! With all the bad news we are hearing on a nightly basis from Iraq, it's good to hear of another silver lining to some dark clouds these days in Iraq, and Jessica's recovery is proof of that!!

[jessefan]

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news...nty/8797669.htm

Fund set up to aid wounded reservist


AKRON - A benevolent fund has been set up at FirstMerit Bank for Jessica Clements, an Army reservist from Coventry Township who was seriously wounded this month in Iraq.

Clements, 27, is a staff sergeant with the 706th Transportation Company based in Mansfield.

The fund was started by Jacqueline Carris, owner of Creative Designers & Co., a Portage Lakes beauty salon where Clements' sister is employed.

Carris said the money will be used to help with any expenses that Clements has after leaving the hospital, as well as travel costs of Clements' family members, many of whom have taken leaves from their jobs to travel to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where she is being treated.

Donations to the Jessica Clements fund can be made at any FirstMerit branch.

[jessefan]

Another update on Jessica Clements. She's now engaged to her boyfriend of four years. The link has another picture of her.

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/8896990.htm?1c

Posted on Fri, Jun. 11, 2004

Good news takes place of `goodbye'

Coventry reservist Jessica Clements comes out of coma, gets engaged

By Elbert Starks III

Beacon Journal staff writer


By any stretch of the imagination, Jessica Clements has had quite a month.

She was in a coma for three weeks in May and still has shrapnel embedded in her brain, remnants from a land-mine explosion while in Iraq with the Army Reserve.

Now, about two weeks after emerging from the coma, the 27-year-old Coventry Township native is engaged. Greg Ramos, her boyfriend of four years, proposed at her bedside at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

For someone who was given only a 2 percent chance of survival, said her mother, Kim Wyatt, the turnaround provides a convincing argument for the existence of miracles.

``We thought, in the beginning, we thought we were coming to say goodbye,'' Wyatt said, describing their arrival at Walter Reed in mid-May. ``It's just an absolute miracle. We expected absolutely nothing for her, but now my daughter is back.''

Clements, a staff sergeant with the 706th Transportation Company based in Mansfield, suffered massive head trauma and blast damage to her back, legs and buttocks in the May 5 explosion. She still has a feeding tube in her stomach and is undergoing extensive rehabilitation to learn to walk again. Her short-term memory is hazy enough that she has difficulty remembering recent conversations and events, like what she might have had for breakfast.

She was unaware until recently of how serious her condition was.

``I didn't know until about a week ago that they didn't think I was going to live,'' Clements said. ``One of the nurses from Germany called and said she couldn't believe I was alive. It kind of scared me, because I didn't know that I was that bad.''

Clements still experiences headaches and said it is frustrating to be unable to concentrate for long periods. She praised her doctors and therapists and Walter Reed, however, saying they pushed her hard to make her well.

Ramos, who has been in Washington along with Wyatt since Clements returned, said her recovery has been amazing to witness.

``You can see small improvements constantly,'' he said. ``Her personality is coming back, she's starting to use phrases that she used to. She's frustrated, but that's OK. That's part of it.''

Carol LaFerre, the coordinator of community relations at the Edwin Shaw Hospital for Rehabilitation in Lakemore, said a head-trauma patient's progress depends on many factors. She listed family support, individual tolerance, and the tailoring and administration of the rehab program itself as important issues in recovery.

``It really does depend upon the individual,'' LaFerre said. ``Recovery is a long-term process. If the individual has family support -- because not every incident can be treated aggressively -- then they can make it back all the way.''

Clements will be heading to Minneapolis in a few weeks for rehabilitation that's expected to last a few months. She probably will visit the Akron area before returning to Walter Reed in about six months to have surgery on her skull.

For now, Wyatt, Ramos and the rest of Clements' family are content to have her awake and getting healthier by the day.

``We think to how she was when she first got here, and it's just phenomenal,'' Ramos said. ``I feel great. There's still a lot of work ahead of us.... but we're excited.''

``I feel fantastic. I have my daughter back,'' Wyatt said. ``It's been an emotional ride, but I really don't have any worries now.''

[mainzman]

Both the Clements and Lynch Families have a lot in common and to be very thankful these days!! Most importantly, Jessica and Jessica have amazed the medical world by making astonishing recoveries from seriously life threatening injuries. My compliments to both women and their families!!!