Our Story
The brave men and women of our U.S. Armed Forces put their lives on hold and leave their families behind to keep us safe so we can enjoy simple freedoms and pleasures. Since 2001, approximately 2.7 million American troops have deployed to war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan and over half of them have deployed more than once. Unfortunately, many of our troops are returning with physical and emotional trauma.
“PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and mTBI (mild traumatic brain injury) are two of the most prevalent injuries suffered by our warfighters in Iraq and Afghanistan and identifying better treatments for those impacted is critical,” former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, Dr. Jonathan Woodson, said. These injuries are the “invisible wounds of war” and the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center reported total cases of TBI between 2000 and Q1 2018 to be 383,947. However, many veterans are not diagnosed until months or even years after separating from service.
Mild traumatic brain injury is caused by a jarring of the head possibly from a fall, explosion, repeated gunfire exposure or a blow to the head. The jarring causes damage to brain tissue, blood vessels and cells that link areas of the brain and the brain to the body. The damage can be mild or severe and the individual may or may not have lost consciousness. Some veterans recover but others will suffer for months, years or possibly the rest of their lives. Symptoms include confusion, trouble holding thoughts, vertigo, sleep disturbance, memory loss, headaches, blurred vision, tinnitus, mood swings, anger, depression and anxiety.
Many veterans will not receive early diagnosis or will not seek treatment and in individuals with chronic, persistent symptoms of TBI, traditional medical interventions may be less than successful. Tragically, some veterans with mTBI have reached such a point of despair that they have taken their own lives. In 2013, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs released a study that covered su***des from 1999 to 2010, which showed that roughly 22 veterans were committing su***de per day or one every 65 minutes.
A Department of Veterans Affairs news release dated September 19, 2012 announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense are investing more than $100 million in research to improve diagnosis and treatment of mild traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. On August 31, 2012, President Obama signed an executive order to improve access to mental health services for veterans, service members and military families. As part of that executive order, Obama directed the DOD and HHS to conduct a comprehensive mental health study with an emphasis on PTSD, TBI and related injuries to develop better prevention, diagnosis and treatment options. This research is ongoing and the issue veterans face is that insurance does not cover the newer medical treatments, such as neurofeedback and hyperbaric oxygen chamber therapy, that are providing symptom improvement now.
Veterans are seeking out cutting-edge treatment alternatives to either augment their traditional medical treatment or when they find no symptom improvement from traditional treatments. CACF wants to help bridge the gap by providing grants that will help offset costs and help veterans gain access to these cutting-edge treatments that may provide symptom relief and help to restore quality of life.
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