Back from Iraq, ailing Marine fights for his life

[True_Blue]

LOMA LINDA, Calif. - In a hospital lobby, Melany LeBleu finds comfort in her wedding photos - the ceremony was last fall, shortly after her young Marine groom returned from Iraq.

Upstairs, Lance Cpl. Chris LeBleu, 22, is struggling for his life. He is in a coma, on life support, inflicted with a mysterious liver ailment that doctors say will kill him within days if he doesn't get a transplant.

"He's fighting," Melany LeBleu, 21, said Saturday as she took a break from sitting by his bedside. "But we need a liver. We need a donor."

The acute infection launched a gradual, but overwhelming attack. In mid-December, LeBleu told his wife he felt tired, a little under the weather.
more....
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/10774173.htm?1c

[MADem]

1. How sad

...I find it curious that they can't determine the source of the infection. I hope the kid pulls through.

[rainbow4321]

2. Liver damaged by either virus or exposure to toxin/chemicals

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AILING_MARINE?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


LOMA LINDA, Calif. (AP) -- With little time left before his organs would likely fail, Marine Lance Cpl. Chris LeBleu was in surgery Sunday to receive a new liver for a mysterious ailment doctors said would kill him if he didn't get a transplant.

The unidentified donor from New Mexico was found late Saturday night. Doctors began surgery on LeBleu, who had been in a coma and on life support, early Sunday morning.

The cause of the infection is unknown. Dr. Donald Hillebrand, a liver specialist, said LeBleu most likely caught a virus or was exposed to a toxin or chemical in Iraq or after his return.

In mid-December, just months after he returned from Iraq, LeBleu told his new wife he felt tired, a little under the weather. "We kept telling him to go to a doctor, but he said it was just a sinus infection," Melany LeBleu said. "Of course, we didn't think it was anything major."