Hometown Heroes - James Jeane

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - After growing up in Evans, James Jeane joined the U.S. Army at the age of 17. After airborne school he found himself as a Army Ranger medic in Iraq.

“In 2006, I was on a mission in Mosul and just north of there, in a town called Neniva,” said Jeane. “I suffered a blast injury there. I had a windshield fracture to the left side of my skull.”

Jeane says only through the grace of God did he survived.

“Everything came together perfectly that day. I made it down to southern Iraq in less than 2 hours. They did a complete craniatomy and had me stable that night. Inter cranial pressure never had a chance to go up because everything happened perfectly. It was all God and prayers, you know.”

After spending almost a year at Walter Reed Hospital learning to walk, talk and read again, James eventually became a Nurse practitioner, serving now in the emergency department at West Calcasieu Cameron Hospital in Sulphur.

“It was a hard thing to transition because I was taking care of soldiers every day. When you stop doing that, you know you get hurt and you can’t do that, you kinda feel lost. Now I’m back and I feel like I’m found and my purpose is back.”

Jeane has advice for veterans returning from war.

“You’ve got something special to offer that nobody else has seen. So share that, don’t keep it to yourself. There’s a ripple effect and it’s going to impact a lot of lives.”

Jeane has two sons who followed their father’s military path and are now serving in the U.S. Army.

Copyright 2021 KPLC. All rights reserved.