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Buffalo Grove native: 'I want to go back to Nepal'

She saw bodies being carried off Mount Everest, children with bone fractures waiting in long lines for medical help, and dozens of other heart-wrenching scenes while in Nepal during last month's earthquake that killed more than 8,000 people.

Even after a second big quake Tuesday that caused more death and destruction, Buffalo Grove native Kendra Barry is eager to return.

“I want to go back to Nepal,” said Barry, who returned home a week and a half ago. “(Tuesday's earthquake) makes me want to go even more. Anything I can do for those people — they are such kind, genuine people. They have nothing, and now they really have nothing.”

Barry, a 39-year-old veterinarian at Chicago Veterinary Emergency Service and Specialty Center, said it was life-changing to witness the April 25 earthquake and then help victims in a Kathmandu hospital. She's even rethinking her career with the idea of a job that combines veterinary medicine with rescue or relief aid work.

Barry had been in Nepal on a three-week yoga and mountaineering retreat when the first earthquake hit. She was supposed to have been at Mount Everest's base camp that day — an area hard-hit with many fatalities. But she ended up in Lukla, a short distance away, which fared much better.

When the ground started to shake, Barry was in a common area of her guest lodge. She remembers things falling off the shelves, dogs barking, and people screaming and running. She went outside and saw large rocks tumbling down the mountains. The electricity, Internet and phone lines all went down. She didn't panic, though.

“Being an emergency vet in downtown Chicago, you see a lot of chaos,” she said. “But it was awful. I was not thinking 'get me home' at all. I wanted to stay and help.”

Barry later watched as porters carried “body after body” down from the mountains.

She and other foreigners were taken by helicopter to Kathmandu, and she went straight to the hospital and volunteered.

Given that Barry's an animal doctor and not a human doctor, she was put in an area called “the yellow zone” where she checked people's vital signs and provided other basic medical care. She said the hospital was operating with hardly any supplies or medicine, and the doctors were exhausted and overwhelmed by the volume of patients. The Nepalese people were so appreciative.

“Just to see their eyes fill up with gratitude ... their eyes said a lot,” she said. “It definitely changed me.”

One disturbing scene that stuck with Barry was a 2-year-old boy, curled up against the face of his dying mother. They'd all been buried in the rubble of their home, and the mother and son were the only two in the family to survive. Whenever the medical staff tried to pull the boy away from his mother, he'd scream and cry, Barry said.

“There have been a lot (of scenes) that have been keeping me up at night,” she said.

With food and water becoming scarce, and promises that medical and military help were on the way, Barry reluctantly returned to Chicago.

The gravity of the situation didn't sink in until she was on the plane heading home.

“That's when I started crying,” she said. “You just felt guilty. Why was I so fortunate, for one. And why am I getting away, when they need people? Why am I flying away from them? I want to help.”

Barry doesn't have immediate plans to return but insists she will. In the meantime, the Buffalo Grove High School alumna is supporting various Nepal relief efforts, including MercyCorps, Save the Children and Sherpa Foundation.

She's also staying in touch with the Nepalese friends she made, who are alive but struggling.

“My family was worried about me. ... They basically wanted to burn my passport when I got back home. But I told them that's not going to happen,” she joked.

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The aftermath of the Nepal earthquake, as seen by Buffalo Grove native Kendra Barry. courtesy of Kendra Barry
The aftermath of the Nepal earthquake, as seen by Buffalo Grove native Kendra Barry. courtesy of Kendra Barry
Buffalo Grove native Kendra Barry saw porters carry the injured down from the mountain. Survivors were taken by helicopter to the city of Kathmandu. courtesy of Kendra Barry
Buffalo Grove native Kendra Barry saw people living in large tent villages after the earthquake in Nepal. courtesy of Kendra Barry
Buffalo Grove native Kendra Barry saw death and destruction while in Nepal during the earthquake. courtesy of Kendra Barry
Buffalo Grove native Kendra Barry, an emergency veterinarian in Chicago, volunteered at the Kathmandu hospital after the earthquake, as people waited outside in tents for medical care. courtesy of Kendra Barry
Buffalo Grove native Kendra Barry poses at Mount Everest base camp just days before the April 25 earthquake hit. Another major earthquake hit the area Tuesday. courtesy of Kendra Barry
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