OC Marine medic who volunteered in Ukraine back home, recovering from severe injuries

A Marine combat medic from Orange County spent months fighting Russia alongside Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines, suffering life-threatening injuries that have now forced him back home.

Giovanni Roman, 29, remembers the moment a Russian rocket destroyed his humvee while he was in Ukraine.

"We heard a big explosion and at the same time it felt like a baseball bat just hit me in the face," he recalls.

Roman was left with a missing eye, a shattered skull and shrapnel embedded in his body.

Last year, the former Marine Corps sergeant and Navy corpsman decided to volunteer to serve as a combat medic alongside the armed forces of Ukraine when he saw the Russian bombing begin on television.

"It didn't feel right for me to sit and watch it on TV, kind of be like everyone else - thoughts and prayers and just forget about it two minutes later."

In December he took a leave of absence from his job in an Orange County emergency room, leaving behind his mother and girlfriend.

His loved ones feared for his life but understood his choice.

"He's a selfless man," says Scott Caceres, a friend who is organizing a GoFundMe to help Roman. "He's always there trying to help others. Whenever I need something, he's that guy I go to every single time."

Most expenses came out of his own pocket - the gear, medical equipment, plane tickets. He even paid $3,000 in oversized baggage fees.

He was with the Ukrainian forces in the trenches - in the snow - for three months.

"You could hear the artillery in the air and you're just hoping, God please don't let it land."

"We didn't have any running water, I didn't have a warm meal. I lost 30 pounds."

His dream was to become a firefighter. But now with a missing eye, that can't become his reality. He is hoping to find work related to tactical medicine.

After hearing his story, more than 1,000 people have donated to a GoFundMe page to help with medical costs.

And now hanging above his bed there is an American-Ukrainian hybrid flag with words of gratitude from the Ukrainian soldiers he fought with.