Wade Baker's Family Hopes To Save Others

We hear this a lot. “We gave him all the support and help we could, but we weren’t told a lot of things,” said Candace Baker, Wade’s mother. “A lot of things were hidden from us. We didn’t know things were that bad.” But we also keep hearing about how much the Department of Defense, the VA and all the charities are doing to make sure veterans and families know.

The first time I heard PTSD, I didn't have a clue what it was. Average folks like me had no way of knowing that experts had been studying it for over a decade. They knew it all! They knew about the cause of PTSD, what it did to the veterans as much as they knew what it did to their families. They also knew what to do to help all of us heal and live better lives to this wound that could not be cured.

They said medication would level off the chemicals in their minds but that was just one part of healing. They also needed to do physical therapy to teach their bodies to react more calmly instead of reacting with adrenaline pumped anger. Their research didn't end there. They knew healing required emotional healing as well by addressing the spirituality component. If you look up the word "component" you find "part or element of a larger whole" and that is exactly what it is. The largest part of the veteran hit by PTSD.

Putting therapy into all three parts of the whole heals. Leave out the most important part and you have needless suffering sucking out hope for the veteran and his family.

Now that you know what was known, you need to know when all that happened. It was back in 1982 when this average person discovered what the experts already knew. That's how long we've had to get it all right. Now maybe you know more about why I get so sick to my stomach when I still hear families say, they didn't know.

Family of killed veteran hopes to help others cope with PTSD
KCCI News 8
Rose Heaphy
Aug 21, 2015

DES MOINES, Iowa —The family of Wade Baker, the veteran shot in a North Carolina church after exchanging fire with police, hopes to share his tragic story to help other families living with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The family said for almost two decades, Baker struggled with PTSD and a brain injury he sustained during his service.

They said his struggle is much like thousands of other veterans living with the disorder.

“We gave him all the support and help we could, but we weren’t told a lot of things,” said Candace Baker, Wade’s mother. “A lot of things were hidden from us. We didn’t know things were that bad.”

Wade joined the Army in 1989 and served for nine years during Operation Desert Storm, according to his family.

“He was very proud of that, I think, but he wasn’t the same when he came home,” said his mother.

When he returned, his family said he was no longer the fun-loving teen he used to be. Instead, he was a quieter man who attempted suicide and faced demons at night.

He would wake up screaming, crying, sweating and shaking,” said Laura Thomas, Wade’s sister.

In recent years, Baker’s parents said their son seemed better.

Three years ago, Baker received a service dog to help calm him and cope with PTSD.
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