Service dog for Combat Veteran
Donation protected
Hello my name is Greg Vaillancourt I am 39 years old (this week) and I have been married to my wife Amy for 16 years. We have two boys,
Trent who is 14 going to be a sophomore in High school and Luke who is 10 going into 5th grade. I work at AAA Fire part time 4 days a week. I live in a good home, I coach my boys hockey teams and have since they were three and really enjoy it every year. My life sounds perfect to most people, however what people do not see is that I have PTSD and have for over 10 years. I served in Iraq in
2004 – 2005 and was away 14 months from my family doing what I was called to do. I served my country with pride, but with that comes night sweats, night mares, nervousness, lack of confidence, anger and my minds never stops. I have hard time falling asleep and when I do I can't stay a sleep my mind always goes. I lack patience and get angry or upset sometimes very easy.
Like everyone else I have good days and bad days but unfortunately I have more bad days than good. I have come a long way with counseling however; I will still scan a crowd when I am at a restaurant or in any public place. I can no longer go on our family vacation to Disney because there are way too many people and I can't stand it and go into a flash back that last all day (said my counselor). We go into a restaurant and I have to sit where I can see the whole place in case I need to protect my family.
My wife and kids understand this because I have lived with it for a long time, but I want my life back. I want to be able to feel comfortable in my own skin, not have to explain myself to everyone and eat like a normal person at a restaurant. Family vacation would be nice, but I will take sleeping at night and feeling "normal" I feel a service dog will help me to obtain all these goals. I have a few friends who have service dogs and it has changed their lives for the better. They have done things they have not done in years, this is what I want. I use to say "no" to a service dog because I wanted someone who really needed it to have one…..well…..now I am that person.
Thank you for taking the time to read about ME….Greg Vaillancourt
Trent who is 14 going to be a sophomore in High school and Luke who is 10 going into 5th grade. I work at AAA Fire part time 4 days a week. I live in a good home, I coach my boys hockey teams and have since they were three and really enjoy it every year. My life sounds perfect to most people, however what people do not see is that I have PTSD and have for over 10 years. I served in Iraq in 2004 – 2005 and was away 14 months from my family doing what I was called to do. I served my country with pride, but with that comes night sweats, night mares, nervousness, lack of confidence, anger and my minds never stops. I have hard time falling asleep and when I do I can't stay a sleep my mind always goes. I lack patience and get angry or upset sometimes very easy.
Like everyone else I have good days and bad days but unfortunately I have more bad days than good. I have come a long way with counseling however; I will still scan a crowd when I am at a restaurant or in any public place. I can no longer go on our family vacation to Disney because there are way too many people and I can't stand it and go into a flash back that last all day (said my counselor). We go into a restaurant and I have to sit where I can see the whole place in case I need to protect my family.
My wife and kids understand this because I have lived with it for a long time, but I want my life back. I want to be able to feel comfortable in my own skin, not have to explain myself to everyone and eat like a normal person at a restaurant. Family vacation would be nice, but I will take sleeping at night and feeling "normal" I feel a service dog will help me to obtain all these goals. I have a few friends who have service dogs and it has changed their lives for the better. They have done things they have not done in years, this is what I want. I use to say "no" to a service dog because I wanted someone who really needed it to have one…..well…..now I am that person.
Thank you for taking the time to read about ME….Greg Vaillancourt
Organizer
Curtis Frye
Organizer
East Falmouth, MA