Thank you AllSouth Federal Credit Union for choosing Hidden Wounds as a beneficiary for the Soldiers & Vets 2012 Charity Golf Tournament!

]]> http://hiddenwounds.org/2012/02/24/soliders-vets-2012-charity-golf-tournament/feed/ 0 http://hiddenwounds.org/2011/12/16/for-us-the-war-the-actual-fighting-might-be-over-however-the-scars-visible-and-invisible-we-carry-on-said-diaz-especially-those-that-are-invisible/ http://hiddenwounds.org/2011/12/16/for-us-the-war-the-actual-fighting-might-be-over-however-the-scars-visible-and-invisible-we-carry-on-said-diaz-especially-those-that-are-invisible/#comments Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:03:09 +0000 Anna Bigham http://hiddenwounds.org/?p=1522 DIAZ12.11WISTVWatch Video Here

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) – After nearly 9 years, 4,500 Americans dead and billions of dollars spent, the US Military is leaving Iraq.

There was a small ceremony on the outskirts of Baghdad Thursday. About 4,000 troops remain, but the Iraqi military is officially on its own.

The thousands of men and women headed home now face new challenges.

On a day marking the end of the war that forever changed Steven Diaz, his thoughts are with the thousands who’ve yet to experience a post-war life that he’s learned isn’t easy to face.

“All of the injuries are healed, but the damage done and the pain I deal with will be with me the rest of my life,” said Diaz

Diaz, a Marine, was hit by a roadside bomb in 2005.

It took the sight in his left eye and left shrapnel, post-traumatic stress disorder and brain damage for which he’s still receiving treatment.

While the end of the war does bring joy, he knows the country still faces a big challenge.

“For us, the war — the actual fighting might be over — however, the scars visible and invisible we carry on,” said Diaz. “Especially those that are invisible.”

With a system already strained under the weight of past wars, Diaz says non-profit groups like his Hidden Wounds will be in greater need to help treat the many cases of PTSD and war-related injuries.

All those war wounds were sustained during a 9-year conflict that Diaz is proud to say was fought by an all-volunteer force that didn’t get caught up in politics.

“Whatever President is in office we don’t stop and ask why, we put our gear on and we say let’s go, and that’s what we train to do. What we volunteered to do,” said Diaz.

Copyright 2011 WIS. All rights reserved.

Anna Bigham recognized the signs of her brother’s pending suicide. He withdrew from his friends, cut his arms, abused alcohol.

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The former Marine lance corporal wouldn’t go outside during the day because he thought everyone could see what he did in the war.

Shortly before he killed himself, Bigham got a call from a neighbor saying her brother was in the street in his boxers, “playing war” with a machete.

Mills Palmer Bigham occasionally would check into the local Veterans Affairs hospital for help, but there was no 24-hour psychiatric counseling, and his sister couldn’t find the resources he needed.

“I felt helpless,” she said.

On Friday, Bigham was at Fort Gordon to give a presentation about her experience as a survivor of a suicide victim and about the peer counseling network she founded called Hidden Wounds. The Columbia-based nonprofit raises awareness about suicide among returning veterans and provides an outlet for them to express their feelings. Her second presentation, part of September’s National Suicide Prevention Month, is Monday.

One of the counselors is Steven Diaz, a former Marine who was critically injured by a roadside bomb in 2005 in Iraq.

Diaz recounted in an interview Friday how he heard the explosion, then woke up two weeks later in a hospital bed in Maryland.

Confusion gave way to panic when he couldn’t feel his rifle or his gear beside him, but he calmed down when he realized he was in a hospital.

Relief became guilt as Diaz thought about all the Marines still in danger and fighting without him. It was an emotion he would encounter frequently among other servicemen.

“(The guilt) is really hard on them,” Diaz said.

At night, he would listen to other patients cry or struggle to sleep. Diaz said he eventually had to have another Marine hold his hand so he could sleep.

That’s the opposite image of what a tough Marine is supposed to do, but it is critical for returning veterans to understand those feelings are normal, Diaz said.

The advantage held by Diaz and others with Hidden Wounds is that they’ve been to war and seen things that veterans don’t think they can share with friends and family. Bigham said her brother’s first kill in Iraq was a 12-year-old boy who threw a dud grenade; his second was a blind man who crossed the line he was guarding.

The mental anguish caused by those actions are part of the “invisible war at home” that Hidden Wounds aims to address.

Diaz said the “no man left behind” ethos should be just as relevant helping veterans at home as on the battlefield.

“There’s still a mental battlefield,” he said, “but there doesn’t have to be.”

Hidden Wounds was featured in the Greenville News on March 13, 2011 for a funderaiser at Riverside High School. Click the photo to read the full article.

Hidden Wounds would like for you to join us for a pancake benefit at Fatz Café on Forest Drive in Columbia, S.C. on Saturday, May 21, 2011 from 7:30-10:30am.  Tickets are $7.00 per person and proceeds will go towards immediate psychological injury treatments for veterans and military personnel in need.    Bring your family and friends and enjoy delicious pancakes by Fatz Cafe while learning about Hidden Wounds!  Get educated about PTSD, TBI, suicide prevention and danger signs!  Learn how you can help make a difference!  Support our American heroes and Hidden Wounds on May 21, 2011!  To-go plates, brochures, flyers, t-shirts, car magnets, and friendly faces will be available!

The Dirty Lowdown will be playing a live acoustic set!

If you’re interested in volunteering at this event please e-mail your name and phone number to info@hiddenwounds.org with the subject line “Pancake Breakfast Volunteer.”

Anna and John Bigham hold a photo of Lance Cpl. Mills Bigham, Anna’s brother and John’s son. The 23-year-old Marine committed suicide in October. His family has founded Hidden Wounds, a nonprofit organization based in Columbia that provides temporary support to veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. - ©2010 The State/C. Aluka Berry/caberry@thestate.com

By CHUCK CRUMBO – © 2010 TheState.com

Published - Tuesday, Feb. 02, 2010

Mills Bigham was a 19-year-old Marine in Iraq when he made his first kill.While on a foot patrol, someone hurled a grenade at Bigham’s squad. Bigham, who was at the point, turned and fired.”I pulled the trigger quickly, twice. Pop … pop,” the Columbia Marine wrote in his journal.  Two bullets hit the attacker’s chest, knocking him to the ground. Within minutes, he was dead. The grenade was a dud. Bigham checked the attacker’s identification. He was 12.

Less than four years later on Oct. 19, Lance Cpl. Mills Palmer Bigham sat in his red Chevy Tahoe, put a .410-gauge shotgun to his forehead and pulled the trigger one last time.He was 23. Family said Bigham, a graduate of A.C. Flora High School, suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. In hopes they can prevent another veteran’s suicide, Bigham’s family recently founded Hidden Wounds, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Columbia. “My brother fell through the cracks,” said Anna Bigham, the Marine’s sister. About one out of every five veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq have some form of PTSD and depression, according to a federal study. Last month, the Department of Veterans Affairs said the suicide rate among veterans between 18 and 29 years old climbed 26 percent from 2005 to 2007. The VA also said 20 percent of the 30,000 suicides reported in the U.S. are committed by veterans. The suicide rate among veterans is nearly twice the rate for civilians, according to reports.

Through Hidden Wounds, the Bighams aim to provide temporary counseling and support to sufferers of PTSD, depression and traumatic brain injury until they can enter the Veterans Affairs health care system. Temporary help is needed because the VA reports it has a six-month backlog in processing claims, the Bighams said.Some veterans need help sooner, Anna Bigham said. That’s why the family founded Hidden Wounds.

A spokeswoman for the Dorn VA Medical Center said the hospital supports the Bighams’ efforts. Like so many service members coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, Mills Bigham found it difficult to cope with the demons of war that haunted his memories. Anna Bigham said her brother seemed to feel like he was out of place after completing his enlistment in October 2008. In the Marines, her brother had a built-in support group of buddies, many of whom were dealing with similar issues. But once PTSD sufferers return to the civilian world, many feel like they’re “a fish out of water,” according to a VA study.This sense of isolation can deepen feelings of depression and suicidal tendencies, the report added.

Anna Bigham said her brother seemed to be overwhelmed with guilt. “In his last three or four months he didn’t go out in the daytime,” Anna Bigham said. “He told me, ‘I feel like everyone can see what I’ve done. I can’t go on this way. “Hidden Wounds also hopes to help the veterans’ families learn tell the signs of PTSD and depression and help their loved ones seek care. John Bigham said he knew his son suffered from nightmares, ringing in the ears and had “sparks of anger,” all signs of PTSD. “But I didn’t put it 100 percent together until he died,” John Bigham said.

Mills Bigham wrote about his first kill in his journal on Oct. 3, just 16 days before he took his own life.Bigham said he wanted to tell the story “so you can understand the way death may or may not affect the living party. “As he approached the fallen attacker, Bigham said he could see “it is abruptly clear he is leaving his world, and soon. “He is suffocating in his own blood. He is blowing blood bubbles through his red teeth. He is crying. There are bubbles coming from the two holes in his chest. One to the left of his heart, and the other to the right. Death took him and there were no new bubbles. He cried no more. I checked his ID. He is 12. I wept that night.”

Mills’ Hidden Wounds from Hidden Wounds on Vimeo.