Road to Recovery: Marine talks injuries

WASHINGTON D.C. (WLFI) - A common saying says "War is hell." If that's true, many, including 23-year-old Marine Cpl. Mathew Bowman, have been to hell and back.

"We do it to protect our freedom," explained Bowman. "A war zone, knowing that you are getting shot at every day that you go out on patrol, it's not great. I wish we didn't have to do it, but we have to."

Many have paid a price. Some give their lives and others, who make it out alive, bear the mental and physical scars of warfare.

"I stepped on a nonmetallic pressure plate. 15 pounds of HME, and that's the last thing I remember," Bowman said.

On February 28 Bowman was on foot patrol in Helmand, one of the most heated provinces in Afghanistan. He stepped on an improvised explosive device.

"It landed on my face," Bowman said.

The list of Bowman's injuries is long: the blast fractured his left cheekbone; he bit through his bottom lip before the explosion knocked some of his teeth out; he lost two fingers on his left hand; shrapnel was embedded in his arms; and he lost both of his legs above the knees.

All Bowman can remember is waking up to his wife, Paige, in Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland a week later.

"It was hard at first, seeing him laying there, unconscious, not being able to respond to me," Paige Bowman said.

Mathew Bowman said at first, it was hard to grasp what had happened to him.

"I guess I was kind of down. Then I saw my nephew, my niece and my two little boys. That just brought my spirits up right there," he said.

Now Mathew Bowman is learning to walk again at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital in Washington D.C. He has a long road to recovery ahead of him, but that's just fine with him. He may have lost a lot in Afghanistan, but his spirit is something the enemy won't get.

"I'm still alive. That's what really matters," Mathew Bowman said. "I'm able to hold my kids every day. I'll get back on my feet. I'll be able to walk still. They didn't really take anything away from me."

NewsChannel 18 will air the second part of this series Road to Recovery Tuesday, May 25 at six and eleven.