FISHER HOUSE - HELPING MILITARY FAMILIES

Doctors thought Cpl. Jared Gagnon's wounds were probably fatal after the armoured convoy escort vehicle he was in was rammed by a semi truck in Afghanistan.

He lost pieces of his skull and his scalp hung by a sliver of skin from the back of his head.

From the desert near Spin Boldak, a transportation and communications town on Afghanistan's southern border with Pakistan, Gagnon was helicoptered to the multinational hospital in Kandahar and then airlifted to the American military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

His parents, Dennis and Linda Gagnon, and sisters Jenna and Jillian were rushed to his bedside to say what might be their last goodbyes.

Paralyzed, unable to speak

He woke up in the University of Alberta Hospital three days after arriving there and had no idea what had happened.

"I still have no recollection of being thrown from our vehicle or of spending nine or 10 days in Germany," he said.

"I had been placed in a medically induced coma to prevent my brain from swelling."

The right side of his body was paralyzed and he was unable to speak.

He was shocked to learn his friend Master Cpl. Ray Arndt had been killed in the attack and Cpl. Ashley VanLeeuwen had suffered multiple fractures. Fortunately, their driver, Cpl. Adam Keen, had escaped without injury.

Gagnon spent a month in the U of A Hospital and another month as a patient at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital.

"I couldn't move unless I wore a helmet to protect my exposed brain," he said.

Gagnon had lots of time to think about how he had joined the Loyal Edmonton Regiment reserve unit at the age of 16, while a student at Sherwood Park's Archbishop Jordan high school.

He loved the military training courses and exercises and decided after completing two years at university in 2006, he would volunteer to serve in Afghanistan before finishing his degree.

"I was sent over with a platoon of guys to provide escort for convoys and for other minor security details," he said. "We were all over Afghanistan, driving day and night in Land Rover-style vehicles equipped with bulletproof glass and armour."

The Spin Boldak area was considered no more dangerous than many others when Gagnon and his convoy headed out on Aug. 6, 2006.

But in January that year, the Taliban took responsibility for a suicide bomber driving a vehicle into a crowd watching a wrestling match, killing 20 people and injuring another 20.

In 2008, a suicide bomber killed 28 Afghans and injured several Canadian soldiers in another attack.

"There was absolutely no warning an Afghan driver was going to try to kill us with his semi," said Gagnon.

Compassion amazing

The soldier's family feared the worst when they arrived in Landstuhl and were taken to Fisher House, a temporary, comfortable home for military families visiting injured loved ones in the hospital a five-minute walk away.

"My wife and I were given one room and our daughters another," said Dennis Gagnon, Jared's father. "The hospitality and compassion of the staff was amazing and being with families who were experiencing similar tragedies was comforting."