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Tpr. Alex Douglass, wounded in ambush last year, shows us his long road to recovery

LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — Trooper Alex Douglass has had a long and difficult recovery process since being shot last September. Douglass was one of two Stat...

LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — Trooper Alex Douglass has had a long and difficult recovery process since being shot last September.

Douglass was one of two State Police troopers ambushed outside of the barracks in Blooming Grove Township, Pike County, September 12. The suspect in that incident, Eric Frein, was captured after a 7-week manhunt.

Douglass’ heart stopped twice after he was shot, but doctors were able to revive him.

“The doctors actually said that running long distance — and doing CrossFit — it actually saved my life. Just because my heart was so strong,” he says.

Trooper Douglass has underwent 16 surgeries since that September night. He has another one to go, this time on his stomach. He overcame a severe infection and had his entire hip replaced on the right side. He’s now learning how to walk again, thanks to the staff at Allied Services in Scranton.

“We had to do a lot of gait training, because he wasn’t able to put a lot of weight on his leg for a long time,” says Beth Haiges-Peduto, a physical therapist at Allied Services.

Trooper Douglass goes to physical therapy two hours a day, three days a week. He focuses much of that time on stretching and weight-lifting.

When he's not at Allied Services, Trooper Douglass spends time at CrossFit Blarney Stone gym in Luzerne County.

"It's family," he says of the workers and other members of the gym. "They put up the PSP strong sign for me when I was in the hospital. It kept me motivated.  My goal was to come back here ultimately."
Looking ahead, Trooper Douglass has a big goal in mind for later this year: run in the New York City marathon -- and finish it."[I want] to motivate others... that this happened to me. That I was down for months and so sick -- and I almost passed away... and now I`m up."

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