15 years as a combat flight medic, lost life to PTSD

A Redmond veteran's biggest battle is over
Family grieves loss of husband, father to suicide
KTVZ News
Kandra Kent
December 8, 2014

REDMOND, Ore.
It's a tough time of the year for military families who can't be with their loved ones. But for some families, it's what happens after they do come home that can have devastating consequences.

"This was our last family portrait," Redmond resident Erryn Fulton said recently, holding up a photo of smiling faces dressed in old-time outfits. "(My husband) was really looking forward to those Christmas dinners, where everyone hugged around the tree and ate stuffing and ham."

It's a holiday wish that won't come true, at least not with the whole family.

This Christmas will be tough.

"I loved him and I miss him so much," Fulton said tearfully. "I'm just trying to figure out what normal is, and how my kids are going to go on, because we'd planned this whole life together."

Shawn Fulton, 39, was a husband, a father of six, a Redmond resident, and an Army veteran. He survived multiple tours overseas; his last deployment was to Iraq.

He spent a total of 15 years as a combat flight medic, but what he couldn't survive was coming home.

"The war on his body and the war in his mind never left Iraq," Fulton said.

Shawn Fulton committed suicide three months ago, the end of his longest battle yet.

Erryn Fulton said after her husband was medically discharged in 2009, each day for him was a struggle with physical pain, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
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