My Nonprofit Reviews

In May of 2013 my loving husband Bill became a man I didn't know. He was angry and hateful and I struggled to figure out what had caused this sudden change. You see, we had a perfect marriage. Oh I know a lot of people say that, but we truly did. We had waited 21 years to be together again and we loved each other immensely.
In August of 2013 Bill was diagnosed with PTSD. It was a horrible blow. Two tours in Vietnam as a Pararescue and 35 years in law enforcement and it all came crashing in. He was placed on medication and sent to therapy but it did little to help. He was a broken man, experiencing terrible depression, horrific night terrors, and a lost interest in life.
I spent many nights awake watching over him so he could try to get some sleep. The nightmares were relentless. The demons came out to play in his mind at night. He withdrew from everything and everyone he loved. I feared I was losing the man I loved. I feared he would never again enjoy life.
In the fall of 2014 Bill began researching Service Dogs for people suffering with PTSD. The results were not promising. Few agencies even dealt with dogs for PTSD, and those who did wanted more money than we could come up with. He finally found an agency in North Dakota where he could get a dog and he began the process of filling out endless papers and sending them in. We went through highs and lows as we waited for an answer. Then the call came that he had not been accepted into their program. Again the bottom fell out.
Determined, he returned to the internet and found an agency called Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs. The best part, they had a Michigan division. So he called the number and left a message and waited for someone to call him back. That night he received a call from Jolanthe Bassett, his new guardian angel. She listened to his story and told him that she could help him. And help him she did. She put him in touch with the Florida office and we began our journey to get him a dog. In July 2015 we met with Jolanthe and the founder of GAMSD, Carol Borden. They spent time over lunch listening to Bill's story, getting to know him and his needs. We parted company with the hope that Bill would soon have his dog.
On October 9, 2015, while we were celebrating at the rehearsal for our daughters wedding, he got a call from Jolanthe. Bill had been picked to receive his dog.
So on November 1 we set out for Florida. On November 5 he was paired with his Super Service Dog, Fancy. It was hardly love at first sight but it was a partnership worth working on. But Bill still had doubts about having a dog. He spent the first night trying to get to know Fancy and get to know his new life. The next morning Bill told me that he was taking Fancy back and we were going home. He just couldn't wrap his head around life with the dog. But I told him this life change was no longer about him. It was about us. It was about our life together. It was about our future.
I'm proud to say that he finished his training with Fancy. And on November 5, 2016 he celebrates his one year anniversary with Fancy. And what a tremendous year it had been. A year of firsts: trips to the mall, trips to the grocery store, even hockey games for the first time in years. Bill had finally found a life outside of our home. We celebrated our 13 year anniversary with Fancy by our side. We held hands, we planned our future. We had our life back.
To say that Guardian Angels saved my husband is not an exaggeration. Carol Borden, Jolanthe Bassett, and all the angels in Florida gave Bill his life back. Thank you is just not enough to express how I feel. I love them all from the bottom of my heart. They are my heroes. They gave me my husband back. They gave him a new life. They gave him a four legged angel named Fancy. They are Angels on earth.