CBS 7 News
By Stephanie Bennett
Dec 23, 2016
Although Bray admits she still struggles with depression, it’s her faith, counseling, and spending time with her family and dog, Snappy, that keeps her going.ANDREWS -- The military and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are often associated, but after an Army career that ended many years ago, an Andrews woman was just recently diagnosed with PTSD, but not for the reason you may think.
Lora Bray remembers her days in the Army as some of the most fun times of her life.
But then, a culmination of losses and tragedies took over her life, and she became very depressed.
Back in August she even attempted suicide but survived.
Now, she has a message for anyone going through depression.
But first, let’s rewind the clock to the day she tried taking her life:
“I didn't want anybody to know where I was at, so I went to a little farm road, took some pills, I just wanted to die,” Bray said.
While several Andrews residents assisted in looking for her, it was ranchers who eventually found Bray unconscious in her car.
She was then hospitalized and later diagnosed with PTSD.
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In my case, I didn't have PTSD and I did not try to commit suicide. I prayed God would do it for me. I gave up on miracles happening. Gave up on hope. It was no longer about I survived so many times for a reason. It as about not wanting to survive in the hospital after an infection spread throughout my body. A nurse told my family I was fighting for my life, but I was actually praying to die. And when I thought about my daughter, only 8 months at the time, I did not want to leave her. That's when I fought to live.
ReplyDeleteIt took years of hard work and struggling to change the way I thought about my life. I think that living with PTSD in my husband gave me a greater understanding of what humans go through and life gave me better view of what we do to ourselves. PTSD strikes with traumatic events and as survivors, all of us, need to remember we are not victims but defeated the event.
After over 3 decades, I can assure you that while trauma changes everyone, we have the power to change again as long as we do not give up.