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PTSD & TBI A Way Of Life added 3 new photos.

This week’s survivor story is from Mike Suchman a Marine Veteran.

Mike is an active supporter of this page, and it is always a pleasure to read his comments and banter!

Thank you for being brave, blunt and typically honest and sharing your story with us. Over to you Mike...............

I post this in the hopes that other folks do not make the same mistakes that I, we, my wife & I have made.

First of all I am a multiple head injury survivor, my first ones that I can recall were in high school, I played football & broke 2 helmets in the same place both times, broke a steel pulley in weight lifting class, then after school I had enlisted in the United States MARINE CORPS and was knocked out 2 times in Boot Camp, in combat training.

I rode motorcycles, not the big street bikes but the smaller enduros street & dirt bike and had a few minor accidents I ALWAYS wore my helmet when riding too, I had also worked as both armed & unarmed security officer in St. Louis Mo. & surrounding areas and I have been hit in the head a few times by suspects as they were trying to escape.

12 years later I re-enlisted back into the MARINE CORPS, due to not being able to support my family, I have been married for 21 years & with the mother of my kids for 22 years Terry, and yes it has not been easy at all.

My last head injury was November 5,1997, 2 weeks after my son was born and yes I was in another motorcycle accident, I was hit & run over by a person with NO lisc & NO insurance (3rd time caught) in Yuma,Az.

Had I not been wearing my helmet I would not be here for this, and it was at this time, that I was found to have several closed head injuries, but the therapies had not yet really been looked at or explored. My wife Terry, had only known that I had changed, but just could not just put her finger on how or why.

It was at this time, that I started getting violent with her; the littlest thing would set me off. I was even having problems at my duty station Crash Fire Rescue, military fireman and came very close to getting into several fights at the “Crash Barn” Fire Station.

So you can see I was headed into troubled waters very fast, it did not help that I could not find a decent job after being discharged for medical reasons and losing our home & being forced to move to Michigan and in with my Dad & his second family (and did that cause a lot of problems too just in its self).

Well after a lot of fights & troubles my wife Terry, gave me a choice, either go to a hospital, or go to jail, to my shame, I have abused my family physically, mentally & emotionally, & for this I am very truly sorry I chose to go the hospital.

The Dept. of Veterans Affairs did NOT want to get involved at this point yet.

When I was discharged from the hosp. I was introduced to a very good men’s issues counselor, he was the best in the county where we were living at, during this time.

He was able to start to figure out what my problems were and how can we best treat them.

Nothing comes easy either; I had a few setbacks along the way to recovery. I was even hospitalized a couple of more times, but these were at the VA hospital in MI, and this is when I was prescribed my large amount of meds. I take so many that when it is my bed time I rattle .....lol...... I take some for seizure control, anger management, mood stabilization, and other medical issues the joys of getting older.

I used to go for days without sleeping, live on gallons of coffee a day, eat very little good food, and generally not take care of myself, and this has led me to understand some of my triggers.

So now we have figured out that thunderstorms, flashing/strobe lights, i.e. cheap florescent lighting i.e. the CFL light bulbs, excessive amounts of stress, too much caffeine, very violent games, movies, etc...can set me back in my living.

A very big thank you to my wife who is my “keeper” Love you Terry.....LOL... voice of reason, and a million other un-named things of life.

I could go into even further about our lives, but this is a good start. So now I try to attend a head injury support group near me, and talk to middle school & high school students on the dangers of head injuries.