Patriotic act honoring Marine and Navy terror victims led U.S. Air Force Veteran to a golden path
For five days in 2015, Jim Brennan stood on a bridge on Interstate 77 near Athens, West Virginia, clutching an American flag. Brennan, a U.S. Air Force veteran, was honoring four Marines and a sailor who had been killed in Tennessee. His patriotic objective: To provide a day of tribute for each serviceman who was shot.
As he spoke with motorists who were curious about his cause, one conversation unexpectedly changed his life. Brennan told a woman that he suffered from Graves’ disease—an immune system disorder that causes hyperthyroidism—and after listening to his story, she suggested that he get a service dog. The advice resonated.
“The VA and the military treated symptoms of my disease instead of treating the illness.”
“I never really learned how to take care of myself,” he says of Graves’ disease, which struck during the first of his ten years in the Air Force. “Over the years, the VA and the military treated symptoms of my disease instead of treating the illness.” By 2015, the same year as his bridge encounter, he was enduring occasional anxiety attacks and wanting desperately to improve his condition.
“The disease played havoc with my life—with friendships and family,” he says. “I said, ‘Somethings got to give.”
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Brennan soon found Hearts of Gold. Once a week, he would drive nearly four hours each way from his home in Princeton, West Virginia to Morgantown for training classes. The grueling commute paid off in February 2016 when he returned home with Stryker, a Golden Retriever.
“Stryker saved my life”
“Stryker is a very special dog,” he says. “Stryker is… Stryker. I can’t explain it any other way. You look at him and he’ll change your day. There’ve been times where I’ve struggled and he can read me. There’s a bond there—we’re pretty much tattooed to each other. He has a grounding effect on me. He keeps me focused.”
Veterans click this link to apply: Veteran Application Link
Today, Brennan runs a website called TheDailyVeteran.com, which provides vets with good news and information from sources such as the state legislature and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Brennan has even obtained press credentials from the White House. Not to be outdone, Stryker has his own Facebook page with close to 1,000 followers.
“Stryker saved my life,” says Brennan. “I’m still struggling, and I struggle every day, because it’s going to be a lifelong struggle. But Stryker helps me to be a better person.”
Ken Budd’s writing credits include The New York Times, National Geographic, Smithsonian, CityLab, The Washington Post, AARP The Magazine and many more. He writes the “Everyday Heroes” column for The Saturday Evening Post and he’s the author of the award-winning memoir The Voluntourist. Ken’s work has won gold awards from the Society of American Travel Writers and the North American Travel Journalists Association. He has appeared on programs such as NBC’s Today, The CBS Early Show, and CBS This Morning, and he’s the host of 650,000 Hours, a new digital series that will debut in 2019. You can follow Ken on Twitter and Facebook.
Hearts of Gold raises, trains, and places dogs to assist people with disabilities. Based in Morgantown, West Virginia, the nonprofit organization provides the dogs with two years of training and conducts research to determine the most efficient training methods. Hearts of Gold partners with some of the top universities that use therapy dogs, including West Virginia University, Emory University, the University of California-Berkley, and Columbia University.