A Waterloo resident who spent a year in Iraq with the United States Army is now back in Oregon battling leukemia.

Andy Rounds, 22, has been back from the Middle East for two years. He spent the last year at an Army base in Hawaii, and had been back in Oregon for a short period of time when he started to feel unwell.

“He was feeling really sick,” said his mother, Lisa Rounds. “We thought it was a sinus infection.”

But on Jan. 24, Lisa found her son lying on the floor, semi-conscious. He was taken to the hospital, where bloodwork revealed that his white blood cell count was 426,000. Normal levels are 8,000-10,000.

Rounds was taken by Life Flight from Lebanon to Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, where he is now. He has undergone several doses of chemotherapy. He also had surgery to remove some of his skull due to bleeds in his brain caused by the leukemia.

That surgery has caused a small brain injury, though Lisa said they won't know how permanent the injury is until he's fully healed, which could take a year to a year and a half.

Last week, Rounds had temperatures of 104-105, Lisa said. He also had some undetermined lung problems. On May 25, he started feeling better and his temperature stabilized.

Rounds was matched to a bone marrow donor through the national registry. When he is strong enough, he'll undergo the transplant.

The cause of Rounds' leukemia hasn't been identified.

“They can't figure out why this happened,” Lisa said. Researchers found no genetic markers in his cells, Lisa said, which is very unusual.

In 2004, while Rounds was in Iraq (near Kirkuk), an ammunitions depot exploded. Rounds was about a half mile from the depot, and Lisa said they have wondered if he was exposed to anything as a result of that blast that could have caused the leukemia.

Lisa said that two doctors have said that his recovery so far has been “a miracle.”

“According to the CAT scans of his head, he shouldn't be able to talk or see or move the right side of his body and he's doing all of that,” Lisa said.

Fundraising efforts for the Rounds family are underway. At the Waterloo store, there is a donations jar and Mayfest posters are available for a $10 donation.

Hamilton Creek teacher Don Robinson, who taught Rounds at Seven Oak Middle School, has donated tree seedlings to the Waterloo store. Elm, cherry, oak, silver maple, honey locust and Oregon maple seedlings are available for a donation.

There is also a donations jar at E&L Tobacco on Highway 20.

Lisa affirmed that community support for her son has been very positive.

“Everybody loves Andy. He's so nice. He's always himself. He's always approachable.”

Rounds attended Lebanon High School and left just shy of graduating, choosing instead to get his General Equivalency Diploma and enroll in the military.

“He's kind of an inspiration to the local kids here in Waterloo,” Lisa said. “He's trying to do more with his life than just hang around.”

“He's an adventurous guy too,” Lisa said, noting that her son enjoys bungee jumping. Before his illness, Rounds wanted to learn to fly helicopters.

“That's kind of what his vision for himself was,” Lisa said. “He's just not sure in what capacity now.”