![\"LCPL-Janos-V-Lutz\"](\"http:\/\/lcpllutzlivetotell.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/LCPL-Janos-V-Lutz.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nMany Americans have witnessed the obvious wounds of war, as our military heroes return home missing limbs, handicapped and by IED\u2019s, roadside bombs, and combat injuries from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, however, there are just as many \u2018hidden wounds\u2019 that go unnoticed and are under reported in the news.\u00a0 PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder, and TBI, traumatic brain injury, has contributed to increasing suicides from returning Vets.\u00a0 Military suicides nearly doubled from 2001-2011, with the spike being attributed to primarily the Army, the largest service branch. In addition, traumatic brain injury diagnoses have tripled since the beginning of the wars. Surviving family members, who try to piece their lives back together, have raised many questions about the medications administered by the Veterans Administration, treatment by the physicians handling the overload of veteran\u2019s cases and prevention of future suicides of our servicemen and women.<\/p>\n
One such case is that of LCPL Janos V. Lutz, who conducted tours of duty in both Iraq and Afghanistan and was just 24 years old when he took his life. He was diagnosed with PTSD, TBI and had an injured back when he fell into an irrigation ditch during a combat mission, in addition to losing 14 of his combat brothers in one summer during one of his tours of duty. His Mother, Janine, related to me in our interview, that \u2018the signs were there;\u2019 but I didn\u2019t know it then; we still lost our son.\u00a0 A proud Mother, she pointed to pictures on her wall of happier days, childhood pictures of her son boating and enjoying his life; a life that had so much to offer that was cut short prematurely.<\/p>\n
Johnny went to the Ft. Lauderdale VA on January 4th, 2015 to seek help for his depression that was triggered by the breakup of his girlfriend.\u00a0 Mr. Lutz sat there teary eyed as he told his doctors that he had his Mother to lock up his guns and pain medications and had her dole them out to him.\u00a0 Their treatment for his cry for help was 14 Klonopin and 90 Morphine.\u00a0 Noted twice in his medical records from previous doctors was, \u201cDo not give Mr. Lutz Klonopin.\u201d Years prior he had been prescribed klonopin on two previous occasions, which caused suicidal ideations and one previous attempt.\u00a0 We will never know if they read his medical records.\u00a0 His family was not informed about the new prescriptions.<\/p>\n
Eight days later, the former machine gunner returned to his childhood bedroom and ingested large amounts of morphine, buproprion and klonopin along with a few beers.\u00a0 He wrote the words \u2018DNR\u2019 on his head; indicating \u2018Do Not Resuscitate\u2019 in a black marker on his forehead along with a note to his family explaining his actions and asking for forgiveness.<\/p>\n
In retrospect, LCPL Lutz\u2019s case had been terribly mishandled, his doctors never conducted a complete work up for his brain injury nor did he receive proper treatment for his PTS and his family was not fully involved in his treatment plan.\u00a0 Could it be that the V.A. has been overloaded with too many cases and veterans needing their services? Shocking statistics reveal that 22 Veterans commit suicide every day, according to the 21 states reporting these numbers.<\/p>\n
Young veteran\u2019s suicides are not limited to gender, either.\u00a0 Sgt. Kimberly Agar, a former Texas beauty queen who was awarded several medals, including a purple heart during her tour of duty in Iraq, was an equipment driver in the army when her vehicle was struck by an I.E.D.\u00a0 She was diagnosed with T.B.I and damaged hearing as the result of the attack and suffered from ringing in the ears, constant headaches and nausea in addition to anxiety and depression.\u00a0 In 2011 Kim took her life while stationed overseas in Germany.\u00a0 Kim\u2019s Mom, Margy, has been consumed with her daughter\u2019s death keeps her pageant crowns on a corner in the living room and her Army blue dress hangs on the door. She is one of many Vet mothers that are haunted by the premature death of their child by suicide.<\/p>\n
After her son\u2019s untimely suicide, LCPL Lutz\u2019s Mother, Janine, realized that she was not alone and needed to bring awareness to PTSD, and she started a 501c3 nonprofit, \u201cLive TO Tell.\u201d She has created a Memorial Wall with collected pictures of Vets who are victims of suicide and has their pictures and biographies on Face book so they will always be remembered. \u00a0Through her organization, she is raising awareness of PTSD and has designed a \u2018Buddy Up Program,\u2019 where Vets can get together, have dinner and provide a support system for each other. During times of stress they can contact each other and be the link that will help a Vet in need.\u00a0 In addition, a \u2018Family System\u2019 has been developed for Vets with PTSD who have been affected by triggers of past events in battle that bring on anxiety and agitation. The system is in codes: Code Green- everything is o.k., Code Yellow- I\u2019m feeling anxious; my family and friends cannot take this personally; I need space; and code Red- I\u2019m full blown; I need to talk to a buddy; I need help! Currently there are over 125 local \u2018buddies\u2019 in South Florida and another chapter has been established in Dallas, Texas. Her goal is to establish chapters in every state to provide support to our returning Vets.\u00a0 Ms. Lutz has raised funds through Motorcycle Rides and fundraising events, such as the \u201cCowboys Fundraiser\u201d planned for October 17th. \u00a0She has spoken to the Tea Party Ft. Lauderdale, Republican clubs, other civic groups and has appeared on a number of radio stations to raise an awareness of PTSD, TBI and suicide among our Vets.<\/p>\n
EDITORS NOTE: Please follow Mrs. Lutz\u2019s \u00a0organization, \u201cLive to Tell\u201d on Face book and Twitter: MoAB@LCplLutzLiveToTell.org<\/a>\u00a0or her website\u00a0www.LCplLutzLiveToTell.org<\/a><\/p>\nretrieved from: http:\/\/drrichswier.com\/2015\/09\/23\/hidden-wounds-of-war-how-one-florida-veterans-mother-has-made-a-difference\/<\/p>\n
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Back Hidden Wounds of War: How one Florida Veteran\u2019s Mother has made a difference September 23, 2015 by Ruth Roman Many Americans have witnessed the obvious wounds of war, as our military heroes return home missing limbs, handicapped and by IED\u2019s, roadside bombs, and combat injuries from the wars …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}