UCA Occupational Therapy Level II Fieldwork student, Kirby Kirkland, is part of the team who has been helping a hero.
Being placed at Ladstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany was a dream that came true. While she might argue that she is helping heroes daily, she recently worked with a hero with international acclaim, Airman 1st Class Spencer Stone.
On the left, Captain Ashley Welsh assists Stone with his occupational therapy during an August 31, 2015 appointment at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany. Also assisting are OT Assistant Sgt. Aaron Keller (top) and OT Intern Kirby Kirkland (right). Stone is receiving care for injuries sustained while helping prevent an attack by an armed gunman on board a train in France. (U.S. Army Photo/Chuck Roberts)
Airman 1st Class Spencer Stone didn’t think twice before he and his friends stepped in to thwart a terrorist attack on a Paris train, and his selflessness resulted in a potentially disabling cut to his hand.
However, thanks to the skillful work of surgeons in Paris and the expert therapy he’s receiving from Army medical professionals at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, he is expected to regain full use of his hand.
Stone received a deep laceration at the base of his thumb that severed the tendon and nerves that run along the inside of the thumb, according to Lt. Col. Arthur Yeager, LRMC’s Chief of Occupational Therapy.
According to Yeager, the cut appears to be a defensive wound from when the would-be attacker sliced at him with a knife, while Stone and the other heroes on the train attempted to subdue him.
“Stone said everything happened so quickly he doesn’t recall exactly how he was cut,” Yeager said. “The tendon that was severed allows you to flex the thumb and use it to grasp things, and without it, you can’t really use your thumb.”
Yeager says the excellent care Stone received at a French hospital has set him on a path to a complete recovery.
“Thanks to our counterparts in France, he underwent surgery that same day, which is critical,” Yeager said. “What tends to happen is that the longer you wait to repair the cut, the harder it is to get more range of motion and the harder the rehab will be.”