Home From the War in Iraq, Marine Faces the Fight of His Life
Four and a half months after returning from the battlefields of Iraq, Lance Cpl. Christopher R. LeBleu lies in a hospital bed in Loma Linda, hooked up to machines and monitors working to keep him alive.
LeBleu, 22, stepped off a transport plane in September, lucky to have survived seven months in Fallouja and other treacherous corners of Iraq. Twenty soldiers from his battalion based in Twentynine Palms have died in that country.
A month after returning to California, LeBleu decided it was time to get on with life, and he married his hometown sweetheart.
But now LeBleu, a native of Lake Charles, La., is in critical condition at Loma Linda University Medical Center after a mysterious ailment shut down his liver. Doctors say he needs a liver transplant.
A partial liver from a living donor won’t help; LeBleu needs an entire organ from a deceased donor, doctors say. Without one, he may only live a few more days, they say.
LeBleu returned Sept. 9 from Iraq where he was a rifleman, conducting operations in Fallouja and provinces near the Syrian border. In October, he married Melany.
Complaining of fatigue, he visited his doctor in December and learned of his condition.
“This came real suddenly,” said Marine spokesman Gunnery Sgt. Arnold Patterson.
Dr. Donald J. Hillebrand, director of liver transplants at Loma Linda University Medical Center, said doctors have yet to determine the cause of LeBleu’s liver failure. He said it is likely that the Marine is suffering from a form of hepatitis. “Whether or not this is related to his time in Iraq is not clear,” he said.
Hillebrand and Marines at the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center were scrambling Friday to get the word out about LeBleu’s condition in the hope that more people will register to donate organs, thus increasing the chances that a donor with LeBleu’s blood type -- O-positive -- can be found.
But finding a donor will not be easy. Nearly 4,000 people in California are currently waiting for liver transplants, about 900 of whom have been waiting five years or more, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, a nonprofit organization dedicated to matching donors and patients.
Nationwide, an average of five people awaiting liver transplants die each day, Hillebrand said.
“We need to get him transplanted soon for this to be a happy ending,” he said.
