Iraq war veteran's invisible wounds

Family hunts for answers to Iraq war veteran's invisible wounds
WWMT News
Updated: Friday, March 7 2014

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - A Battle Creek veteran is recovering Thursday night, and is finally getting the care he needs after a decade of misdiagnosis.

Gunnery Sergeant Nick Avery served in Iraq, and when he came back he--like many other veterans--was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

In the ten years since, however, his condition deteriorated so much that he lost the ability to care for himself.

Newschannel 3 looked into the story behind Sgt. Avery's invisible wounds, and the revelation that finally has him on the road to recovery.

Sgt. Avery's family is paying $1,000 a day out of pocket for his care, because they say he wasn't receiving the attention and treatment he needed at the VA Hospital, and they say it's all worth it, after just learning the trauma that sent him on the downward spiral.

The 48-year-old Avery is now dependent on the care of others, with his condition unexpectedly declining since 2009.

"I want to see Nick at peace in his life; I want him to know that he's happy. I don't want him to live in torment and terror to have flashbacks," Avery's sister Jill Kellogg said.

The family tells us he wasn't the same after serving 6 months in Iraq, and was being treated for PTSD.

"It was like there was a guard up," his mother Elaine Avery said. "He did do some talking about the war, but it was very surface level."

His family says they never thought that a decade later it would come to this, though.

"It just makes you so sad to see where he is at; he is declining and you are desperate, and saying 'What can I do for my son?'" Elaine said.

Sgt. Avery started losing motor skills about three years ago, and found himself unable to spell and add at work.
read more here