Theresa and Jax were the last of the wonderful Veterans we
have met the past several weeks.
Theresa was in ROTC in high school and enlisted as soon as she
graduated. She had hoped to go into a
health care career by enlisting and also wanted to travel. At 18 years old, she wasn't expecting a war
and when Iraq heated up she found
herself deployed as a combat medic on the front lines. She served 4 years
active duty, one year with the National Guard and one year in the reserves.
She worked at the VA hospital and was transferred to the
emergency room. She found herself working in a
department where she found triggers and flashbacks everywhere from her past making the job impossible. She was
unable to continue. She found herself
more and more isolated at home and trying to deal with multiple symptoms of
PTSD as best she could. One of her
counselors suggested that service dogs had been helpful to some veterans and
she contacted Paws and Stripes. Theresa
had recently rescued Jax, a boxer that had been found on the street. She had Jax evaluated by their trainers and
he passed with flying colors and their training began.
Theresa was eager for us to know that Jax rescued her. Today he has made it possible for her to go
out in public and has given her the confidence she needs to move forward with her life. When I asked her what he does for her she said
Jax has an amazing internal clock and makes sure she wakes up at the same time
every morning and reminds her to take her medicine. Theresa also suffers from nightmares and Jax
is there to wake her up from them and just his company now allows her to go back to sleep. Theresa has mobility issues and Jax helps
her to stand up. He helps to reduce her overall anxiety and
reminds her when she is getting anxious.
He does reconnaissance when they are in stores and she knows in those
situations that he "has her back". That is a term we have heard over and over
from the veterans we talked to- how important it is that service dogs are
another set of eyes.
Theresa was eager for us to understand that Jax rescued
her. Today he has made it possible for
her to go out in public and has given her the confidence she needs to move forward with her life again. It was great meeting Theresa and we enjoyed
the time we were able to spend with this special twosome. We could only imagine the bravery it took for
Theresa to be a combat medic on the front lines. Today she is finding a way to regain her life. We
hope she knows how much we admire her.
