Meet Leslie M., Gold Star Mother and Founder of PTSDF

Transcript:

Kyle was my firstborn child. 9/11 happened, and that was really the definitive moment for Kyle. He wanted to be one of the thousands of young men and women that signed up to protect their country, so Kyle joined the army. It was not a good time in 2004 in Iraq. When he got out of the army he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress, and also traumatic brain injury. His life was spiraling out of control, and then the next thing I knew I got this horrible phone call that he had tried to take his life.

We sat in a room with, I believe, well-intentioned people from the VA: psychologists, and counselors, and doctors, and they told us that they were going to put him through a program for suicidal intonations. And I remember him telling me “Get me out of this Cuckoo’s Nest”. This was not a place that he was going to receive the kind of help that he needed. I work in the mental health system every day as a practicing psychologist, and I know it’s broken. I remember very distinctly he asked me “what do you think?”, and I had no answers at the time. And they discharged him. That was March 6th, and March 7th we got to visit from the police that said they had found his body in a Baltimore hotel room.

I was going to raise awareness, and raise money to find alternative ways to treat post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury to honor Kyle’s service, honor his life, and help other soldiers. And I thought “You know what? Let’s do a race”. I put a team together of family and friends and we did the first Race For A Soldier in 2011. I didn’t know five people would show up, but 1500 people showed up on that first day. I know that my son Kyle with the PTSD label felt a lot of shame. With healthy ways to process pain, and shame, and suffering, there is a way forward.