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Amazing Medical Breakthroughs
The Oprah Winfrey Show  |  September 23, 2008
Jessica, a model and soldier in Iraq
 

When she was a senior in high school in Akron, Ohio, Jessica Clements joined the Army reserves. She was deployed to Iraq, and though she was scared, she was ready to defend her country.

On May 5, 2004, Jessica's worst fear came true. A roadside bomb was detonated near the unarmored truck she rode in, along with eight other soldiers and a civilian. The shrapnel from the bomb shot into Jessica's lower back and penetrated her skull into three different lobes of her brain. As blood poured from her shattered skull, Jessica lay unconscious and near death. Helicopters immediately airlifted her to Baghdad, where doctors rushed Jessica to surgery.

She was given only a 2 percent chance of survival.
Printed from Oprah.com on Tuesday, May 21, 2013
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