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Injured Canadian soldiers 'expected to survive'
CTV.ca News Staff
The three Canadian soldiers wounded in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan are all expected to survive, doctors confirmed today.
Speaking from the U.S. military hospital in Germany, where the three men were airlifted, Canadian medical officer Major Nick Withers said they "showed incredible stamina and strength" and "seem to be doing very well."
Although two of the men -- Corporal Jeffrey Bailey and Private William Salikin -- remain in critical condition, Withers said Salikin could be off a respirator in about a day, and that doctors are also pleased with the progress of Bailey.
Bailey has a brain injury and has had fluid drained from his skull. He condition is now stable and Withers said he hoped that surgery would not be necessary.
"The swelling around his brain is the most significant issue at this point ... but we're getting towards day five, which is when we usually see the peak of the swelling," Withers told reporters.
"We are certainly hoping that he will not require surgery."
Withers said Master Corporal Paul Franklin was in the best shape of the three, though he lost his lower left leg in Sunday's attack which killed Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry, 59.
Franklin's lower right leg is badly shattered, but so far there has not been a need to amputate it, Withers said.
Franklin is now out of intensive care and in a surgical ward.
"I think it is safe to say that at this point we don't think we're going to have anybody die from these (injuries)," added Withers.
The families of the three soldiers arrived at the hospital, in Landstuhl, early Wednesday.
Franklin, the only soldier not to be heavily sedated after the attack, recounted his story of survival to Canadian officers, CTV's Tom Kennedy reported from Germany.
"It's quite an extraordinary story," Kennedy said. "He woke up after this explosion happened, came to, noticed he was missing part of one of his legs, and he was able to apply medical treatment to himself, stop the bleeding. In effect, as doctors here are saying, he saved his own life."
Withers told the Canadian Press Wednesday that Franklin described the pain of losing his leg as "absolutely excruciating."
"He'd thought about what it would feel like before, but he never imagined that it could be so severe," said Withers.
Emotional farewell
Meanwhile in Kandahar on Tuesday, hundreds of soldiers lined a dusty tarmac to bid an emotional farewell to Glyn Berry, the ranking Foreign Affairs official who headed Canada's provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar.
The flag-draped coffin bearing his body rode atop an armoured vehicle past a long line of soldiers at Kandahar airport before being placed aboard the C-130 Hercules transport plane for its final voyage, to his family living in London.
"There were a lot of soldiers there, from all the coalition nations, paying their respects to him," Maj. Dany Laferriere, a spokesman for the Canadian provincial reconstruction team, told CP. "It was a very emotional ceremony."
A piper played as six Canadian soldiers carried Berry's coffin up the rear ramp of the plane, led by David Sproule, the Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan.
Berry, a 28-year veteran of the diplomatic corps, was killed Sunday when the vehicle in which he and the three soldiers were travelling was struck by a car bomb, just a kilometre outside the Canadian base in Kandahar.
An autopsy is required before Berry's remains are released to his family and he is buried in his native Britain.
Injured Canadian soldiers 'expected to survive'
CTV.ca News Staff
The three Canadian soldiers wounded in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan are all expected to survive, doctors confirmed today.
Speaking from the U.S. military hospital in Germany, where the three men were airlifted, Canadian medical officer Major Nick Withers said they "showed incredible stamina and strength" and "seem to be doing very well."
Although two of the men -- Corporal Jeffrey Bailey and Private William Salikin -- remain in critical condition, Withers said Salikin could be off a respirator in about a day, and that doctors are also pleased with the progress of Bailey.
Bailey has a brain injury and has had fluid drained from his skull. He condition is now stable and Withers said he hoped that surgery would not be necessary.
"The swelling around his brain is the most significant issue at this point ... but we're getting towards day five, which is when we usually see the peak of the swelling," Withers told reporters.
"We are certainly hoping that he will not require surgery."
Withers said Master Corporal Paul Franklin was in the best shape of the three, though he lost his lower left leg in Sunday's attack which killed Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry, 59.
Franklin's lower right leg is badly shattered, but so far there has not been a need to amputate it, Withers said.
Franklin is now out of intensive care and in a surgical ward.
"I think it is safe to say that at this point we don't think we're going to have anybody die from these (injuries)," added Withers.
The families of the three soldiers arrived at the hospital, in Landstuhl, early Wednesday.
Franklin, the only soldier not to be heavily sedated after the attack, recounted his story of survival to Canadian officers, CTV's Tom Kennedy reported from Germany.
"It's quite an extraordinary story," Kennedy said. "He woke up after this explosion happened, came to, noticed he was missing part of one of his legs, and he was able to apply medical treatment to himself, stop the bleeding. In effect, as doctors here are saying, he saved his own life."
Withers told the Canadian Press Wednesday that Franklin described the pain of losing his leg as "absolutely excruciating."
"He'd thought about what it would feel like before, but he never imagined that it could be so severe," said Withers.
Emotional farewell
Meanwhile in Kandahar on Tuesday, hundreds of soldiers lined a dusty tarmac to bid an emotional farewell to Glyn Berry, the ranking Foreign Affairs official who headed Canada's provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar.
The flag-draped coffin bearing his body rode atop an armoured vehicle past a long line of soldiers at Kandahar airport before being placed aboard the C-130 Hercules transport plane for its final voyage, to his family living in London.
"There were a lot of soldiers there, from all the coalition nations, paying their respects to him," Maj. Dany Laferriere, a spokesman for the Canadian provincial reconstruction team, told CP. "It was a very emotional ceremony."
A piper played as six Canadian soldiers carried Berry's coffin up the rear ramp of the plane, led by David Sproule, the Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan.
Berry, a 28-year veteran of the diplomatic corps, was killed Sunday when the vehicle in which he and the three soldiers were travelling was struck by a car bomb, just a kilometre outside the Canadian base in Kandahar.
An autopsy is required before Berry's remains are released to his family and he is buried in his native Britain.
