Prayers that Avail Much

So, this is an email that I sent to friends and family earlier today. There are some soldiers in Iraq who were injured and need your prayers...My Dan is one of them.
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Hi all. Wow, this is a difficult thing to say b/c I just found out about it two hours ago. Dan is in the hospital in Germany. He was on patrol and the Humvee driver was too close to a canal and the edge of the canal was extremely muddy and gave way and the Hummer rolled into the canal and Dan and 2 other soldiers were trapped under the canal water b/c both doors became blocked. Several soldiers helped to get into the armored Hummer to rescue them, but it still took several minutes.

Thank God that Dan was rescued first, but not without damage being done. He is very, very bruised, nothing broken though, and he had breathed canal water into his lungs while he was trapped in the vehicle. He was the only one conscious that was pulled out of the water. From what I can gather, the other two guys were not conscious and they were already turning blue by the time they were pulled out of the water. One of them regained consciousness after a few minutes but the other one is still in extremely critical condition. The other two soldiers are being sent stateside to get further medical treatment b/c of the extent of their injuries.

They are keeping Dan in Germany for another week for observation as the water they were in was extremely filthy and he is still having problems with his lungs and breathing even after 3 days of being on oxygen. (Even the guys that just stepped in the water to get them out of the vehicle were given antibiotics b/c of the water) He said that they had all sorts of wires and monitors on him. If his lungs don't clear up in a week they will send him stateside for a few weeks in one of the hospitals here. Either Walter Reed, or one in Omaha where he's stationed or even possibly Brooks Army Medical in San Antonio, just an hour away from Austin.

He sounded extremely ragged and tired and was on oxygen when he was talking to me. He told me that he wasn't sure how to tell me this happened and didn't know if he should send it in an email or over the phone. I jokingly told him that if he had sent this in an email that I would have reached through the computer and strangled him.

I hoped nothing was wrong but felt that it very much could be b/c Dan is very faithful about contacting me every day whether on IM chat, a phone call or an email and I hadn't heard from him in 3 days. I had stepped up my prayers on Monday b/c I just felt the need to pray more for Dan. I am very glad that I did. I know that God is protecting him and that Dan could have been injured much, much worse. Dan was in fairly good spirits talking to me but he was shaken up over the incident and it came through in his voice. He was tiring quickly in talking to me for the half hour that we were able to talk. The fatigue was evident.

I am asking for your prayers for Dan's health and recovery as well as the other two soldiers who are worse off than Dan. Anything that gets into the lungs has a major potential to become infected quickly and turn fatal pretty fast. Dan said that it was a real blessing that they rolled where they did, which was only 200-300 meters from the hospital on base (which, this base is so large it takes over 45 minutes to get from one side to the other). That is something that was HUGE in helping with Dan's injuries. I am thankful that he is alive and conscious and that no major damage (so far that they know of) has been done.

Thank you all in advance for your prayers for Dan and the other two soldiers.