As the nation attempts to find a way to rebuild and come together after election 2016, American war veterans are recuperating from armed combat invoking post dramatic stress disorder (PTSD) with the help of dogs.
American VETDogs is a program designed to create independence for active military members or veterans that have a disability, the official website stated.
The program also works with blind individuals and provide PTSD service dogs.
For Peter Way, a retired Army major, that was something he needed to heal his emotional pain as well as help him navigate everyday life with his physical limitations.
Way hurt his leg in Afghanistan in 2003 and after which time, he had a series of infections, Today.com reported.
After 12 years in February 2015, a medical team amputated Way’s limb above his knee.
Even though the physical experience was life altering, the 50-year-old man had emotional pain before getting the pup in January 2014 that ripped him apart internally.
Saying, “Prior to that, I sort of had my mental breakdown.”
“The physical just sort of pulled it all together. For years, I had existed on pain pills and trying to hide the feelings that were going on inside me. When all that just came to one giant collapse, I was in pretty rough shape mentally.”
This version of himself disappeared after he got a service dog named Rory.
“Pre-Rory, I was probably on the road to being one of the 22 veterans that kill themselves (every day). Things were pretty bad,” Way said.
The service animal helped the man change his life for the better, including a crowded mall visit with his teen daughter possible, something he hesitated to do for years before.
The American VetDog program requires a mandatory two-week, in-residence training course before an owner and pet are formally matched.
Earlier this year Faithwire reported on a US Marine who opened up about fighting against PTSD, an experience that caused his life to fall apart including the separation between himself and wife due to his infidelity and struggle with it.
(H/T Today.com)