Oklahoma soldier returns from Iraq to be at his daughter's hospital bedside

An Oklahoma soldier serving in Iraq makes an emergency trip home to be by his daughter's hospital bed. <br/><br/>Sergeant First Class Danny Bacher says he was torn between a soldier's duty and

Tuesday, August 3rd 2004, 10:39 am

By: News On 6

An Oklahoma soldier serving in Iraq makes an emergency trip home to be by his daughter's hospital bed.

Sergeant First Class Danny Bacher says he was torn between a soldier's duty and a father's love. His little girl was suffering complications from surgery and he was on the other side of the world.

Sergeant Bacher's 14-year-old daughter Christina was born with spina bifida, a defect of the spinal column. She's had nearly 20 surgeries in her life.

Sergeant Bacher missed the last one because he was serving in Iraq. When his daughter was rushed to the emergency room because of complications, he says he was a nervous wreck.

When she went back to the hospital a second time, he said he knew he needed to get home to his little girl. He got an emergency leave from the Army and traveled nearly 8,000 miles to get to Christina's hospital bed. "I didn't want Christina to know I was coming in. I wanted to surprise her I told her mom to be quiet. I even low-crawled across the hallway just to scare her ya'know. And she was crying I was crying, it was great though."

Sergeant Bacher is only home for about two weeks.