Protect Our Defenders News Blog

 

Huffington Post: The Message That Saved A Military Sexual Assault Survivor’s Life

Survivor Jeremiah Arbogast is featured in this article from the Huffington Post:

Though grateful for his military health care and benefits, he has relied less and less on medical facilities. “When you’re in a wheelchair, you get so tired of being poked and prodded,” he said. “One day I just said, ‘enough. I need to live my life.'”

He has become involved in Paralympic and adaptive sports and is a decorated athlete in cycling and swimming. He had never skied in his life before he became a paraplegic; now he loves it, terrorizing the slopes in a monoski, a bucket chair with a ski attached. Recently, he’s been learning how to get around with braces.

Arbogast has just begun to talk about his experience to his daughter, Brianna, who’s now 11. “I’ll tell her, ‘Daddy tried to kill himself because he didn’t want to be here,’ and she’ll say, ‘I want you here.'”

Read more here.