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JOURNEY [CONTINUED FROM PAGE 70]


list [TDRL] status … and told us he would be reevaluated every six months to find out what they were going to do with him. Over a year later, in June of 2011,


Tom and I had to travel to San An- tonio from our home in Georgia. We paid for the entire trip, minus airfare, out of our own pockets and had to wait for the Air Force to re- imburse us. The total for that trip was more than $750, more than our mortgage payment. We have yet to hear the determi- nation of what they’re ultimately going to do with Tom. As of now, we travel over two hours one way to get to a VA medical center that has the right set of medical personnel to treat Tom’s injuries. … The challenges over the last


three years have been many. Not only have we had to get used to a new normal in our home because of Tom’s cognitive and emotional defi- cits, but our family has shouldered the burden in other ways. While waiting for a VA rating


because Tom was placed into TDRL status with no joint rating when he left the Air Force, we were in a financial crisis. Not only did I have to quit my job to care for Tom, but he had a significant pay cut as well, and we were forced to dip into our life savings. By May of 2011, it was totally


gone. Our youngest son was diag- nosed with secondary PTSD. He began to act out at school and at home and had terrible nightmares. I myself felt depressed. It seemed like the weight of the world was on my shoulders, and I had no one there to help. McFarland: I think everybody in this room, everybody in this coun- try, feels that none of our veterans should ever have to go through any- thing like that again.


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