Courage Within Me

Your courage is within me

Dear Hidden Wounds supporter,

I have been incredibly pleased with the growth of Hidden Wounds in the short time since its creation.  While I recognize that it become a business that seeks to help and serve those who have paid the ultimate form of servitude to our country, I also think it is important to never forget its beginning.

Growing up I was blessed to have a younger brother.  I say that looking back as an adult.  As a child, more specifically a teenager, I am sure there were times when his upbeat nature, joking persona, and constant laughter got on my nerves.  I remember his never-ending search for adventure and excitement.  His enthusiasm and zeal for life was unmatching by anyone I’ve ever met.  Because of these qualities, it did not surprise me that my little brother decided to join the Marines.

After two tours of duty in this War on Terror, however, my baby brother was no longer a baby.  In fact, he had killed babies in the name of protecting the United States of America and our way of life.  I hoped and prayed for the day that I might get to see a glimpse of the brother I once knew.  As the days turned to weeks and months, I began to understand that the Mills I knew was gone.

When he returned from war, from protecting and supporting an entire nation, he proved unable to protect and support himself.  He lived with me, during which time I got to see the torture he experienced.  Mills suffered from insomnia, hallucinations, addictions, depression, episodes of uncontrollable anger, and other ailments consistent with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  My family and I fought to get him the treatment and attention he needed through our local Veterans Hospital.  Sadly, due to the overwhelming prominence of this problem, the hospital was out of resources to treat him.

As we continued to fight for his care, Mills ran out of time.  He was so afflicted with the demons of psychological post-war challenges that he was unable to face them any longer.  Even though he survived combat, he did not survive the War.  I lost my brother, Lance Corporal, Mills Palmer Bigham, when he was turned away from treatment centers.  He decided he could not bear the burden of the trauma he had seen any longer and took his life on October 19, 2009.

In my mourning, I decided this kind of travesty cannot happen any more.  Our great country cannot send sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, moms and dads, off to war and ask them and their families to support the USA and then offer no support to them as they return.  The goal of my non-profit organization, Hidden Wounds, is to provide temporary, emergency care of these suffering veterans until such time as a more permanent treatment facility becomes available.  Each day I pour my heart in to this work and each veteran I help reminds me that though Mills’ death was premature, it was not in vain.

Contact us today and GET IN THE FIGHT!

Anna Bigham

Proud Sister of Marine, Lcpl Mills Palmer Bigham

Who succumbed to his hidden wounds on 10/19/2009

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 14th, 2010 at 10:07 pm. It is filed under Testimonials and tagged with bigham, brother, columbia, decided, hidden, mills, post traumatic stress disorder, ptsd, soldier, time, war, wounds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.