{"id":7950,"date":"2025-01-20T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-20T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7950"},"modified":"2025-01-20T15:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T15:30:00","slug":"service-dog-brings-hope-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7950","title":{"rendered":"Service dog brings hope, purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published:<\/strong> 2025-01-20T15:30:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n

Marine Corps Veteran Sean Smith didn\u2019t leave his house for four years. He had lost purpose and motivation. His journey to that point had been a long one. It all started on his last tour in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

After four years in the military, Smith deployed to Helmand Province for his third overseas tour of duty. His team was racing toward reports of a firefight in one of Afghanistan\u2019s most dangerous areas. No one noticed the nearby improvised explosive device.<\/p>\n

Then Smith felt searing heat from an explosion while standing in the open door of his truck on the radio. A wall came down, slicing the vehicle in half. Smith lost consciousness. When he came to, he grabbed the radio and began calling for a medical evacuation.<\/p>\n

Diagnosed with TBI and PTSD<\/h2>\n

Smith left the military after that tour and began working, but was continuously let go due to being a \u201cliability for safety reasons.\u201d He said he would lose his balance, miss work due to severe cluster headaches and multiple medical visits. He would even occasionally lose consciousness.<\/p>\n

Smith was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder. They found a service-connected tumor in his brain.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy symptoms from the TBI vary from day-to-day. I get a lot of blurriness with my vision. I get a lot of dizziness, vertigo. I have a hard time remembering where I put things. I get headaches a lot,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n

After being diagnosed with the tumor, Smith began to look into getting a service dog.<\/p>\n

He spent four years living in self-isolation before returning to Chicago in 2022. He mentioned service dogs to his counselor at Edward Hines Jr. VA<\/a>. She connected him to Very Important Pooches (VIP) Service Dog Foundation<\/a>, a non-profit charity organization that trains and places service, skilled companion and emotional support dogs. The organization has a Veteran scholarship program to place dogs free of charge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps my mental health.\u201d<\/h2>\n

Smith met Hawk and was paired with him in April. Before Hawk, Smith said his only motivation was his daughter, who will turn three in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter is my number one purpose, but I felt like I wasn\u2019t giving her enough. Now that I have a service dog, it motivates me to want to get up. It helps my mental health. I didn\u2019t think owning a service dog would help with that because it\u2019s so clich\u00e9,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s goal is to advocate for mental health for Veterans and those with medical ailments. He had the opportunity to speak about his experiences on the Drew Barrymore show.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up watching this woman in movies and now I get to sit down and have a conversation with her. She fell in love with Hawk and I got pictures of her petting him. I feel like my future is bright. It\u2019s been 15 years since I felt whole and complete. I was on the Drew Barrymore show and I\u2019ve had other people approach me and want to do interviews. That\u2019s when I started thinking maybe there\u2019s something here that I can help others with, and I would be glad to do that for anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marine Corps Veteran Sean Smith was paired with his service dog Hawk, which has inspired him to spread messages of hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-veterans-news"],"yoast_head":"\nService dog brings hope, purpose - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Marine Corps Veteran Sean Smith was paired with his service dog Hawk, which has inspired him to spread messages of hope.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7950\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Service dog brings hope, purpose - 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