Last night I had the honour of attending the Heroes Hockey Challenge gala in Calgary, Alberta I met some amazing people every rank from Private to Colonel and got to shake a lot of hands and say Thank You. I have a lot of memories last night that will stay with me forever however there is one that I have to share.
After all the speeches were done and the meal was over I had a soldier walk up to me and say "You're Dave Murphy right?" I nodded shook his hand and said "Thanks for what you do" he looked at me and said no "If it wasn't for your website I might not even be here today"
He told me that he had just gotten back from his second tour from Afghanistan and was having severe PTSD symptoms and couldn't deal with it any more. He said when he was in a public place and heard a child crying he wouldn't know what to do with himself. "I was on sleeping meds and I was ready to take the whole bottle one night and just end it, I logged in to Facebook and saw that a friend had shared one of your videos and I decided to watch"
He was referring to the "Operation You Are Not Alone" video I launched on YouTube on May 2011 and after seeing this, he messaged another soldier who had left a comment saying "Anyone want to talk, I've been through this and here to help" He's now getting the help he needs and this blew me away as hearing stories like this coming from a YouTube video.
He brought me over to his table and got to meet his girlfriend and mother which was also amazing and overwhelming as his mother said "Dave if it wasn't for your project my son might not even be here" I was stuck for words.
That being said it takes one second to share the posts on "Thank A Soldier" and you never know what kind of difference you could be making.
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