A bullet lodged in his spine is just one harrowing reminder Dr. Douglas Burbella has about a recent missionary trip to Haiti.
Burbella was shot three times during an ambush on April 4 and was flown to Delray Medical Center where he is being treated.
The Fort Lauderdale-based medical consultant frequently travels with non-governmental organizations and has been to Haiti about 20 times. But this latest trip was different because he nearly lost his life.
“They chased us on foot, and they opened fire on us, so we had a barrage of, a hailstorm of bullets coming at us,” he said.
Burbella, 58, was in Haiti on a trip organized by the group Living Waters. He was there with seven others as part of a missionary team, taking medical supplies to a small town about an eight-hour drive from Port Au Prince, when they came across a roadblock with burning tires in the road.
“I could see a scooter coming up and the driver of the scooter and the passenger each had a machine gun,” Burbella said from his hospital wheelchair.
He was shot in the shoulder, in the spine, and in the cheek. Doctors already removed one bullet from his cheek and were scheduled to remove the one lodged in his spine on Thursday.
Burbella says he died at that moment on that two-lane road in Haiti.
“My spirit was above my body looking down at myself,” he said. “I said, ‘God.’ I said, ‘I got a wife and son that I love and they need me,’”
Moments later, Burbella says his spirit returned to his body and he came back to life.
“Three guys came up to the window to finish me off and they all pointed their guns at the window and they were aiming down the barrel, squinting and I said I gotta play possum and fast,” he said.
Burbella faked being dead — and remained motionless — while a mystery person came up to the pickup he was in and got the gunmen to back off.
“A man appeared from nowhere and put his hand up and said, ‘No,’ pushed the man back,” he said.
Burbella says he owes his life to that individual, whom he calls an angel, who saved his life and the lives of the seven others with him.
Although the three gunmen did rob him, his life was spared.
“They got $11 dollars out of my wallet, took my cellphone and just treated me like a piece of garbage and then they just left me,” Burbella said.
Doctors expect Burbella to make a full recovery and in a few months — if his wife approves — he’ll return to Haiti.
According to Burbella, the Toyota pickup he was traveling in was peppered with at least 15 shots but the others with him were spared from serious injuries.
His son, Michael Burbella, has launched a GoFundMe page titled “Man on a Mission” to help with medical expenses.
WPEC-CBS12 is the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s news partner.