Soldier says "The doctors didn't know something: I'm a hard-head."

Wounded Afghanistan war veteran's new fight: reclaiming his life
Pfc. Geoffrey Quevedo wasn't expected to survive his injuries from an improvised explosive device. But with help from Naval Medical Center San Diego, he's not going to let them stop him.

Geoffrey Quevedo, left an amputee in Afghanistan, received treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington and is now a patient at the Naval Medical Center San Diego. (Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times / October 19, 2012)

By Tony Perry
Los Angeles Times November 13, 2012

SAN DIEGO — When Army Pfc. Geoffrey Quevedo was airlifted late last year to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after being severely wounded in Afghanistan, his family in California was told to hurry to Washington to say a final goodbye.

The 20-year-old from the farming community of Reedley in Fresno County was not expected to live beyond a few days.

A blast from an improvised explosive device had ripped off his left foot and his left arm above the elbow. It knocked out four front teeth, broke his nose and jaw, and collapsed a lung. He was blinded in his left eye, and his blood loss was enormous.

But the doctors' gloomy prediction failed to take into account the cavalry scout's refusal to die, and possibly underestimated the military medical system's ability to pull a young soldier back from the brink of death.

"My family was told to pack their bags and come see their son for the last time," Quevedo said. "The doctors didn't know something: I'm a hard-head."

Now, after a stay at Walter Reed and then at the poly-trauma unit at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto, Quevedo is receiving care at Naval Medical Center San Diego, including for traumatic brain injury.
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