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Veteran About To Commit Suicide Goes To Smoke His Last Cigarette, But Then He Hears Something In Bushes
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is sadly a common affliction for many soldiers who have witnessed conflict, an invisible wound that continues to cause incredible suffering long after the guns have fallen silent.
“A lot of us come home without realizing we are bringing the war home with us”, says Josh Marino, a veteran of the Iraq war who suffered the effects of PTSD to such an extent that it drove him right to the brink of suicide.
“I didn’t want to deal with it anymore”, Marino said. He wrote up a goodbye note, grabbed a knife and went outside for a final cigarette in the rain. But then, from the deepest depths of despair came hope. Meowing out of the bushes next to him came a stray black and white kitten which, according to Marino, “just walked up and started rubbing up against my leg and let me pet him. I broke down crying, I burst into tears.”
From this serendipitous encounter everything changed. Marino found a new purpose in life through the friendly feline, who he named Scout, and who he credits with saving his life. “I stopped thinking about all my problems, and started thinking about all his problems, and what I could do to help him,” Marino said. The bond between them was instant, but that wasn’t the end of the story.
Marino has made a video testimony of his and Scout’s remarkable story of healing and heartbreak which you can watch below. The video was made for the Mutual Rescue organization, which is dedicated to showing how animals can help humans through tough times, as well as humans can help them. It is a beautiful story that is sure to tug at your heart strings, showing just how powerful the bond between humans and animals can be. We loved it, and we hope you do too!
More info: Mutual Rescue
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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is sadly a common affliction for many veterans
“A lot of us come home without realizing we are bringing the war home with us”
From the depths of despair came hope. Meowing out of the bushes next to him came a stray kitten
“He just walked up and started rubbing up against my leg and let me pet him. I burst into tears”
Marino found a new purpose in life through the friendly feline, who he credits with saving his life
“I stopped thinking about all my problems, and started thinking about all his problems”
It is a beautiful story that is sure to tug at your heart strings
It shows just how powerful the bond between humans and animals can be
The bond between them was instant, but that wasn’t the end of the story
Marino has made a video testimony of his and Scout’s remarkable story, which you can watch below
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What do you think ?
Lillian Chesak 7 years ago
This is amazing. This actually happened to my dad when he returned home from Iraq. He was traumatized and went on a run one morning. As he was running a stray mastiff came up to him and started to follow. My dad kept him, which helped him a lot. So things like this are amazing to prove that animals are friends and that we need them in our lives.
Zori the degu 7 years ago
That's the best thing I've seen today! The best part? Marino was saved by Scout and Scout was saved by Marino. They both needed each other and they were destined to become best friends. Forgive my incompetence for not knowing the author of this line, but someone once wrote(it was something like that): "When we have reached to the worst part of our existence, when we feel desperate, hopeless and alone, fate knits us the nicest, warmest clothes." And this state is quite true, for sometimes, when we've given up all hope, we suddenly find a way out of our awful situation. And if you don't believe it, just read that story over again.
Lillian Chesak 7 years ago
This is amazing. This actually happened to my dad when he returned home from Iraq. He was traumatized and went on a run one morning. As he was running a stray mastiff came up to him and started to follow. My dad kept him, which helped him a lot. So things like this are amazing to prove that animals are friends and that we need them in our lives.
Zori the degu 7 years ago
That's the best thing I've seen today! The best part? Marino was saved by Scout and Scout was saved by Marino. They both needed each other and they were destined to become best friends. Forgive my incompetence for not knowing the author of this line, but someone once wrote(it was something like that): "When we have reached to the worst part of our existence, when we feel desperate, hopeless and alone, fate knits us the nicest, warmest clothes." And this state is quite true, for sometimes, when we've given up all hope, we suddenly find a way out of our awful situation. And if you don't believe it, just read that story over again.
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