Veteran says 'You feel isolated and alone'

'You feel isolated and alone'
Veteran connects service dogs to injured soldiers
Newburyport News
BY JENNIFER SOLIS
CORRESPONDENT
October 1, 2013

Nearly every hour a U.S. military veteran takes his or her own life. More often than not, the debilitating effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) are factors in pushing them over the edge.

With an estimated 400,000 veterans in Massachusetts alone, this statistic suggests a staggering epidemic of suicide among men and women who have bravely worn the country’s uniform.

It is also a woeful fact that nearly half the 50,000 dogs residing in animal shelters across the state will wind up being euthanized because no one has volunteered to adopt them.

But, it’s here, at the nexus of these two sad statistics, that Newbury resident Donald Jarvis has discovered that a flicker of hope survives. And with help from his new pal, Mocha — a black Lab mix trained to be his service dog — Jarvis is beginning to see a light at the end of a very dark tunnel for him, and, he hopes, for others like him.
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