StoryCorps and Intermountain Healthcare partner to share conversations of hope and healing.
Retired Army Sergeant Josh Hansen and his wife, Melissa, run a nonprofit agency, Continue Mission, to help veterans struggling with depression and thoughts of suicide to heal and live fuller lives. Josh considered suicide himself as he was recovering at home following eight direct hits from IEDs in Iraq. Melissa was by his side through it all. Josh found his turning point and regained his health and active lifestyle. He and Melissa now find joy helping other veterans. Says Josh, "Any time I'm wondering if what we're doing is enough, I think of the day after a river trip when one of our veteran's kids came to pick him up. One said, 'Look, Mom. Dad is smiling.' It warms my heart."
Melissa Hansen: Josh was what we call an IED hunter his second tour, and so his job was to drive the roads of Fallujah and Ramadi looking for explosive devices. Unfortunately, he found them the hard way.
Josh: That job was obviously a dangerous one. I've been hit directly eight different times. From my eighth IED blast, I was medevaced out of Iraq with traumatic brain injury, neck, and back injuries. Then later, I suffered with post traumatic stress and the mental health issues of war, suicidal thoughts that I had to work through.
Melissa: Josh spent years at home in recovery from those injuries. I actually had to quit my job as an engineer and stay home and help him with his doctors' appointments.
Josh: It was an extremely difficult time of our life. I felt if I died by suicide, then the family would be better off, because I felt like I was such a burden on everyone around me. Unfortunately, one of my soldiers that was very close to Melissa and me, almost like a kid to us—I did both my tours with him—he died by suicide.
That was my turning point to say, "I need to get myself healthy again." I was 50 pounds overweight. I was never leaving the house. It was time to change my life and turn it around. I started getting active, getting out of the house, walking around the block, and then moving up to jogging, mountain biking, cycling.
Melissa: When he started getting out and doing things slowly, my whole reason for existing at the time was fading, because he was getting better. I felt like our kids didn't need me. I felt like Josh didn't need me anymore, and I just really fell into this hole of depression. I sought help for my depression and was able to just climb my way back out of that and get myself healthy again. Josh was healthy again, and it came to the point, it was August of 2014, we founded Continue Mission together.
Josh: Yeah, which in the military is Charlie Mike. Anytime I'd disarm an IED, I'd say, it's clear, we can Charlie Mike, continue mission. To me, Continue Mission, being a military term, was a perfect name for our nonprofit. Because you can continue mission in life in healing.
Melissa: We provide recreational activities for our veterans and their support members. This summer we did a lot of paddle boarding, cycling, mountain biking to get the veterans out of isolation. It was actually a year ago, we had been on a river trip. One of our male veterans, when his kids got there to pick him up, they said, "Look, Mom. Dad is smiling." Any time I'm having a rough day or wondering if what we're doing is enough, I think of that, "Dad is smiling," and it warms my heart.