Resurrecting Lives foundation
Advocating for Veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury
Resurrecting Lives foundation
Advocating for Veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury
Remembering Memorial Day? – Walk In Remembrance!
Remembering Memorial Day? – Walk In Remembrance!
Years ago, as a civilian unfamiliar with the military world, I would leave my office on Friday afternoon to celebrate the first long weekend of summer - Memorial Day weekend - and wish all my coworkers and patients a "HAPPY Memorial Day."
Today, over a decade after I began working with our amazing Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, I stop and reflect on my former naive self and shake my head. How could I have been so sheltered? How was I so blind to the sacrifices?
Now, I feel that “Happy Memorial Day” is a phrase often spoken by those untouched by war or military service - unaware of the profound sacrifices made to preserve our American freedoms.
So, to anyone who relates to my former self, I say:
“TAKE A HIKE” - But not just any hike.
Take a life-changing awareness hike into a solemn, sobering warrior resting ground - a National Cemetery.
The Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) National Cemetery Administration maintains 156 national cemeteries in 42 states and Puerto Rico, along with 35 soldiers’ lots and monument sites. Not every state has a VA cemetery, so you might need to travel, but the journey is worth the reward.
This, I believe, is what we civilians were meant to do on Memorial Day: honor those who died for us - for the U.S. freedoms we hold so dear.
Before 2010, I had only seen photos of one national cemetery - Arlington.
But that year, I visited Willamette National Cemetery, where our OIF Hero, Sgt. Zachary W. McBride, is interred. I remember sitting on JJ Hill and seeing the headstones embedded in the ground - invisible from the road. Each one marked a Hero who gave his or her life for my freedom to walk that peaceful landscape. Not one headstone I saw that day belonged to someone over the age of 30. Most hadn’t even turned 25.
I later revisited Arlington National Cemetery, in the post-pandemic era - this time to honor Resurrecting Lives Foundation Hero, SSGT. Brian F. Piercy, KIA in Afghanistan. I stood beside his mother, Carol, and brother, Kevin, and watched as they honored his life, his dreams, and his courage - echoed by the brave young men who served beside him, who had traveled from across the country to lay him to rest among over 400,000 Patriots. Let that number settle: 400,000. Now consider this: sociologists estimate that each fallen service member leaves behind 8 close mourners. That’s over 3.2 million Americans grieving - in just one cemetery.
These warriors are more than names.
They are our Guardians.
But perhaps the most striking moment for me came at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, where AMVETS honored our VSTAA (Veterans Standing Together Across America) flag donation - a tribute to all those who have served in Hawaii. This site, formed in a volcanic caldera known as Punchbowl Crater, was originally called Puu o Waiho Ana, later abbreviated to Puowaina - meaning “Hill of Sacrifice.” The land itself seems to understand the weight of loss. Over 53,000 Guardians rest here, including many unknown sailors from Pearl Harbor - interred as early as 1949. You cannot stand on this sacred ground without feeling nature itself honoring their memory. Here, sacrifice is felt as much as seen.
You can burn with the flames of loss - and still be strengthened by the heat of sacrifice, moved by the fire of honor.
You cannot hike these hallowed grounds and remain unchanged.
You cannot stand in their silence without understanding the true meaning of this holy day:
Memorial Day.
So no -
“Happy” is not the emotion our national cemeteries elicit.
Instead, may we be:
● Thoughtful — of sacrifices made and those still being made.
● Respectful — of lives given for the greater good: to protect family,
neighbor, battle buddy — even, at times, an enemy.
-Chrisanne Gordon, M.D.
(Founder & Executive Director)
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Veterans Crisis Line is a Confidential Crisis Support for Veterans and their loved ones.
Contact the Veterans Crisis Line 24/7, 365 days a year: Dial 988 then Press 1, chat online, or text 838255.
The Veterans Crisis Line serves Veterans, service members, National Guard and Reserve members, and those who support them. Call 911 in life-threatening situations.
24/7 military peer support program staffed by veterans.
Their goal is to prevent challenges from turning into crises by providing upstream support.
Provides immediate, confidential, ongoing support to every active-duty military service member, National Guard and Reserves service member, veterans of every generation, and their family members and caregivers.
What to expect when you contact them:
*You will immediately be connected to a peer who is a veteran or a member of the military community.
*There is no challenge that they won’t help you find a solution for.
*Remain connected and engaged with you after your initial contact, for as long as it takes, until the issue is resolved.
*Every conversation is 100% Confidential.
Call them @ 855-838-8255
**Are you a Veteran/Service Member with a traumatic brain injury, blast exposure, or exposure to firing large weapons? To better support you, researchers are working to understand how military service experiences connect to your current health, the medical care you get, and how that's going for you. We also want your guidance on what research questions we should ask and what healthcare support would make the biggest difference for you. Click here to participate: https://utahtorch.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8cBjxUvR0BxcDu6
**Are you a caregiver for a Veteran/Service Member with a traumatic brain injury, blast exposure, or exposure to firing large weapons? To better support you, researchers are working to understand how military service experiences connect to your current health, the medical care you get, and how that's going for you. We also want your guidance on what research questions we should ask and what healthcare support would make the biggest difference for you. Click here to participate: https://utahtorch.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6rrBYgR2pM0370O
**Are you 1) a Veteran/Service Member with a Traumatic Brain Injury, blast exposure, or exposure to firing large weapons, or 2) a Caregiver to such a Veteran or Service Member? To better support you, researchers are working to understand how military service experiences connect to your current health, the medical care you get, and how that's going for you. We also want your guidance on what research questions we should ask and what healthcare support would make the biggest difference for you. Click here to participate if you are a Veteran/Service Member: https://utahtorch.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8cBjxUvR0BxcDu6. Click here to participate if you are a Caregiver: https://utahtorch.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6rrBYgR2pM0370O.
The Facts About TBI
- Treating TBI/PTSD is a necessity; NOT an option. Prompt diagnosis and treatment diminishes complications and improves employment and education opportunities.
- TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) has been estimated in 20-25% of the nearly 3.2 million returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, and an estimated 30% have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).
- Conventional neuroimaging studies such as the MRI and CAT scan do not reveal the pathology of a mild TBI. Newer technology, such as Diffusion Tensor Imaging and functional MRI must be utilized to further the diagnosis and treatment of the nearly 450,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with TBI.
- The conditions caused by TBI are unforgiving, and include substance abuse, unemployment, homelessness, incarceration and even suicide.
- Recent statistics released by the DOD/VA indicate that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are taking their own lives at an alarming rate. Statistics reveal that nearly five times more veterans have died by suicide than in combat.
Support Veterans in your community
Write to your lawmakers & request better health care, employment opportunities, & education for veterans.