'Stop the Bleed' workshops teach life-saving skills

CHANTILLY, Va. - Retired Air Force Colonel John Leech was at the Pentagon on 9/11. He remembers smoke, fuel, and debris. But even after that unthinkable trauma, he said the most harrowing experience of his life is actually what happened this past January when he cleaned a WWII-era gun that misfired.

First, the bullet hit Leech’s hand, then his leg. "The femoral artery was completely dissected," Leech said Wednesday.

Leech’s wife of more than 50 years, Elaine, sprang into action with a 911 operator telling her how to stop the bleeding until first responders – who Leech credits with saving his life – arrived.

"I was told when we got to the hospital with my husband that my husband had 120 seconds for me to get that blood stopped. 120 seconds," Elaine said. "That is no amount of time."

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Now, the Leech’s – along with John’s trauma surgeon Dr. Chris Michetti, the Trauma Medical Director at Inova Fairfax Hospital – are doing what they can to save another life. All three attended a "Stop the Bleed" workshop held Wednesday at Chantilly High School. Participants learned how to apply pressure to a wound, pack it to stop the bleeding, and how to correctly apply a tourniquet as well.

"We know that the number one cause of preventable death in people who get injured is bleeding. People die of bleeding that shouldn’t die," Michetti explained. "Just like people know how to do the Heimlich maneuver, you might never need it, but it’s a basic thing that you can know and teach and save someone’s life." And in Leech’s case – it did.

For more information on Stop the Bleed workshops, including how to attend click here.