Like many people in Kentucky, Nick Milburn graduated from high school and went on to attend UK shortly thereafter. Within a couple of years the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 happened. Nick felt compelled to serve and protect his country, joining the Air Force in 2003.
Before long he was stationed at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey. He served his first combat tour in Iraq. During his second combat tour, this time in Afghanistan, Nick suffered a traumatic brain injury that left him with seizures. He considers himself lucky to have made it home, pointing out when I spoke to him on the phone that not all his friends did. Nick suffers from seizures and PTSD to this day. He was medically retired from the Air Force in 2007.
I recently came across Nick’s story on social media when I saw several friends post about his fundraising efforts to get a service dog. Nick and I are from the same high school graduating class, and I was happy to see so many South Oldham Dragons banding together to help Nick out.
The first fundraising goal was reached thanks in part to a generous anonymous donor. Both Nick and his wife were thankful and shocked they had reached their goal so quickly. When they contacted the nearest training center, however, they learned the process was going to be much more costly and time consuming than they had originally thought.
The Veterans Administration doesn’t cover expenses for therapy dogs, which Nick needs both for his seizures and his PTSD. There are a lot of options out there, he has recently discovered, though each presents its own unique challenges. He still has about $2000 to go before he can find the right service dog for him.
Click here to donate to help Nick reach his goal and find a canine companion. Every donation, no matter how small, will help. Even when he reaches his goal you can continue to donate until donations are closed, which can help him with vet expenses and dog food. This Veterans Day, let’s help a local hero out.
UPDATE: Due to a reporter error, it was misstated that Nick was hit by an IED. His traumatic brain injury was suffered from an incident involving a plane.
Photos Courtesy of Nick Milburn
