TEDDY​

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“I’ve heard a lot of talk about PTSD. I never believed it was real until science proved it…when the Doc shared my brain scan with me. 

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I grew up in Florida and served in Intelligence for 7 years in the Army. I deployed to Iraq and didn’t realize what that did to me, but others noticed. I was Honorably Discharged in October 2009 and started 3 weeks later with Carmel PD. No downtime. 
 

You don’t talk about PTSD when you are on the job. You just get the job done. You see things you cannot unsee and just like a junk drawer, when you don’t talk about those things and keep shoving them in the drawer, eventually it bursts open. That junk comes out in the form of anxiety attacks, blackouts, depression, anger, pushing people away, and lack of sleep to name just a few. I helped others with their mental health but didn’t get help for myself. With all of these symptoms, and more, affecting myself, my family, and my job, I agreed to get help and medically retired from the PD and in the process had to relinquish my K9 partner. 

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I still have nightmares and triggers but with help from my counselor, I can recognize them more often and occasionally just have to walk away or hide for a bit until I can regain control. I believe a PTSD Service Dog would benefit me and help keep me on the right track of managing my life and enjoying time with my wife and 4 boys. 

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I am thankful to Hero Family Outreach (HFO) and Jacob Pickett Response Organization (JPRO) for partnering together to raise funds to provide me with a PTSD Service Dog through HFO’s Paws 4PTSD program. I can’t wait to meet my new 4-legged partner when her training is complete.”