EDWARD AND RAVEN

My name is Edward, in 2013 I medically retired out of the United States Army as a sergeant. It had its highs and lows and like anything else in life, but you learn to just embrace the suck and keep moving forward, because no matter what you always knew that you weren’t the only one dealing with it all and you kept going for the one’s that couldn’t. After being hit with an RPG and thrown 10 feet in to a brick and mortar wall I struggled to deal with and accept that I was one of the lucky ones. After being hospitalized for not sleeping for 9 days straight my life began tumbling down or I at least accepted that I wasn’t fine. With the constant joy of having ringing in my ears and dealing with varies injures and surgeries the anxiety, depression, hypervigilant, insomnia, chronic pains, double vison, PTSD, and TBI it all seemed to consume my life. I saw myself completely avoiding the outside joys of the world and all that was in it. Its been recommended to me by many doctors, friends and family that getting a service animal could be really good for me. I made every reason and excuses to tell myself that it wasn’t the right time. This past year I’ve been thinking about it more and more and up came Raven an Alaskan Malamute whom was looking to be a placed to be a service animal for someone. It seemed right because I said if I ever got one, I wanted it to be an Alaskan Malamute, I had no more excuses. I’m fully committed and excited for this challenge ahead, I know that it won’t be easy but I’m looking forward to the adventure with Raven and what we’re going to learn at Give Us Paws.