Wounded Oklahoma Soldier Fighting For His Life

Monday, June 4th 2007, 10:04 am

By: News On 6

A Sapulpa soldier is still fighting for his life more than a week after a massive roadside bomb left him critically injured in Iraq. The 22-year-old Army Specialist barely survived surgery in Baghdad. Family members say his strength got him back stateside where doctors are operating on him again Monday. Specialist Shane Vincent is being called a hero. The News On 6â€™s Heather Lewin reports military officials told the family that Shane Vincent, at the wheel of his Humvee, spotted the IED's trigger and swerved at the last minute, avoiding the brunt of the 1-ton blast and likely saving lives.

After 9/11, Shane Vincent wanted to defend his country, so he left behind a new wife, a promising career and a pro sports title to go to Iraq. Just a few months from the end of his extended tour, it happened.

"You don't want to get that phone call, when they say, you know, are you the parents of Shane Vincent," said Shane Vincentâ€™s father Paul Vincent.

They told him his son was critically injured by an IED and rapidly losing blood. Another soldier at his side was killed.

"The commander said it was a miracle anybody had survived that type of a blast," Paul Vincent said.

Shane Vincent lost consciousness on that road outside Baghdad and hasn't awakened since, but doctors are seeing some improvement. Grateful his son is alive, Paul Vincent knows another fear is looming.

A body builder and world-class athlete, Shane Vincent won the BMX Grand Nationals in Tulsa. He's also an Olympic hopeful, planning to qualify when he returned home. As doctors now try to mend his shattered vertebrae, his father fears that's not all that's been broken.

â€œI think some of his dreams have been shattered. We're just praying now that he can walk," said Paul Vincent. â€œAnd I ask my question why, why him? But then it would've been someone else."

He says his son was strong enough to survive; maybe he took the place of another who wouldn't have.

â€œI told him to give me a call when he wakes up, so I'm sort of anxious for that," Paul Vincent said.

Another soldier in Shane Vincent's Humvee also survived. His wife and mother are at his side at Walter Reed Medical Center.

Weâ€™re told he is out of surgery at this hour and while not yet fully awake, he is responding to their voices and squeezing their hands.

Paul Vincent says not just his son, but every soldier is a hero.

Watch the video: Local Soldier Fighting For His Life After Being Injured In Iraq