Joe Roberts on THE TRANSITION

7 years ago next week I was part of the first official. Intensive Outpatient. Therapy (IOT) program at MIBH. With the previous history of being wounded by an IED. A thank you gift left to Dr Kelly from our group was my bicycle helmet we had all signed. Dr. Kelly had seen me riding an e-bike on the sidewalk, in the snow, on the way to my first one-on-one meeting with him. Not the best first impression to have at that initial consult having a TBI. The treatment was so life changing that on the final day it was an honor to hand him that helmet with our signatures on it for him to have. I received treatment both while on active duty at Bragg and through the VA. It was only after retiring from 21 years of active duty that I started to learn why DOD and VA don't like to send patients outside their own systems. But that's a whole other story. Just one quick example of improvements made there. 11 years after the IED blast I was still having residual balance, coordination issues. The last thing I was going to do was compete in a field event such as throwing the discus, at the DoD Warrior Games later that year in 2018 Fast forward 4 months later June of 2018. I represented SOCOM at the DoD Warrior Games in Colorado. And I actually ended up competing in The discus event. No falling down. No dizziness, To have some of the MIBH see firsthand the impact their treatment had in real time will always be one of my significant life events. Not too long after, maybe a year or so. I was flown down to Atlanta and had the opportunity to have lunch and speak with Mr Bernie Marcus (RIP). That man loved his country and the military community. He wanted to talk to people face to face to hear firsthand on if the treatment was worth it, and other questions to make sure things were going the way he had hoped. Everyone in that room with him had their own personal testimony of life-changing success