JBSA-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas -- Brooke Army Medical Center has cared for more than 5,200 wounded service members over the past decade. Yet, the first quad amputee to receive treatment at the Center for the Intrepid is a female retired police officer from Corpus Christi, Texas.
Donna Lowery lost her limbs over a year ago due to a bacterial infection which almost took her life. But today, she's not only surviving, she's thriving.
"I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for this remarkable place and these incredible people," said Lowery with her ever-present smile. "It's truly been a blessing for me to be here."
Seeing this spunky lady today, it's hard to believe that just a few years ago she nearly died due to a mysterious illness.
A few days after Mother's Day in 2013, Lowery's husband, a Coast Guard retiree, noticed she wasn't acting like herself; she was incoherent, so he brought her to the emergency room.
"I don't even remember leaving the house or being in the ER," Lowery said, thinking back to that fateful day. "The doctors didn't know what to do."
She was jaundiced, her kidneys failed, her liver shut down and her blood pressure dropped. She was in a coma for more than three weeks. Her family flew to Texas to say goodbye, because they didn't think she would live.
She survived, but when she woke from the coma all four of her limbs were gone.
The medications she was given kept her alive, but at a terrible cost. Her limbs had to be amputated due to a loss of blood flow to her extremities.
"I saw that the one was gone, I immediately looked at the other one and it was gone," she said sadly. "Then my husband pulled back the covers and said, 'Babe, I need to show you something,' and I saw my legs were gone."
At that point, she was confused because she didn't know where she was. She couldn't talk due to a tracheotomy and she was experiencing phantom pain in her extremities even though her limbs were not there.
"I just remember waking up with my husband there, and this doctor is standing over me and no limbs all of a sudden," Lowery said.
"I'm wiggling limbs around and I'm not seeing anything moving. I'm freaking out," she said.
"It was a very confusing time. But it was just like flicking a switch, man my faith kicked on. I said, 'God this is your problem because this is way bigger than I can handle.'"
Lowery received treatment at three different community hospitals before coming to the CFI in June 2014. Since then, the 58-year-old has made remarkable strides to regain her mobility.
Lowery and her husband stay in the Fisher House across from the CFI. During the week her mornings are spent in occupational therapy and afternoons in physical therapy.
Today in occupational therapy Lowery is working on putting a shoelace through the eyelet of a tennis shoe. Watching her, one can see her concentration as she tosses her auburn hair away from her freckled face.
"I first need to figure out how I'm going to do it," she explains, because one muscle movement rotates the prosthetic wrist, while a different muscle movement controls its ability to open and close.
As she tries for a few minutes, there is a glimmer of frustration and a tremendous amount of determination written in her facial expression.
At last, triumph.
"I did it!" Lowery exclaims, smiling broadly.
Next, her occupational therapist challenges her to tie the shoe. This task Lowery completes quickly.
"A lot of people pity someone like me who has lost all four limbs. People ask me how I get through this, but I have a very strong faith," Lowery said.
"I truly believe that God has brought me to this time in my life, to reach out to some of these young men and women who have suffered overseas while defending their country."
Lowery has become a role model to many of the young service members rehabilitating at the CFI.
"She is never a negative person, ever. She inspires us to smile," said Staff Sgt. Angel Figueroa, who is also a patient at the CFI. "She is a person with so many disabilities and she doesn't show anger, or hurt or anything like that; she is actually happy to be alive. She tries to make the best of her situation and that's a good inspiration for all of us."
"I'm very humbled to be here," Lowery said. "I just cannot compare my situation to what these young kids have gone through; the loss and the trauma they have suffered. It's been such a blessing for me to be here and to be able to talk to them."
Lowery said she has been through in-patient, out-patient and home health care since losing her limbs, but nothing compares to the treatment she has received at the CFI.
"This place is amazing, having everybody in one facility, working together as a team sets this place apart from any other facility."
As for what Lowery's future holds, she says she doesn't know what she will do in this new chapter of her life. But, she said she will continue to advocate for other amputees and is considering becoming an occupational therapist.
"The hardest thing is feeling like you have lost your independence, but it doesn't have to be that way," the quad amputee said. "No matter what happens, you can never lose your faith. We are all put here for a purpose."
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