BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT: The NFL, DoD and the VA should immediately treat brain-wounded Service Members and concussed athletes with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT). We can return players to action and stop the suicide and opioid overdose epidemics and bolster readiness imperiled by untreated brain wounds. The evidence of safety and efficacy is backed by over 28 clinical trials. Oversight of Veteran suicides seems to be left to family members, friends, some not-for-profits, and the media since Congress, the VA and DoD allow the carnage to continue.

We are appealing to you to change the culture at the VA from one of “brain wounds are a mental health issue” to one of: “brain wounds like TBI/PTSD/PCS/BLAST/Concussion must be treated like a wound and healed using modern, proven, scientifically validated alternative therapies.” Brain wounds — TBI/PTSD/PCS/BLAST/Concussion — are wounds. They can be treated. The world outside the VA is treating them with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), doing the job your VA cannot and will not do.

What do the pictures have in common? The faces of brain injured Warriors and athletes who sacrificed, not just served. And too many dead with undiagnosed brain wounds.

We’re twenty-four years out since 9/11. On the order of fifteen thousand Americans — roughly seven thousand U.S. service members and about eight thousand U.S. military contractors — have been killed in the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and related theaters, according to the best available research. Ten times that number are dead from suicide over the same period, and 877,000+ Veterans and millions of citizens suffer with untreated brain wounds.

This weekend at the 1st Annual Koterra Golf Classic, I had the incredible honor of receiving the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs Commander’s Award, presented by General James S. Hartsell, Executive Director of the FDVA. To have General Hartsell stand with us, acknowledge our impact, and affirm publicly that “HBOT heals ” was a moment of validation for every family, every volunteer, every donor, and every Veteran who has walked through our doors searching for hope.

Over 66,000 Veteran Service Organizations have sprung up since 9/11. No one can doubt the overwhelming resilience of most Veterans and the goodwill shown by foundations and volunteers, and billions of dollars of donated monies spent to restore normalcy to Veterans injured in war. No doubt the intentions of investigators on the DOD Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee meant well with their Report that encouraged “caring contacts” but said not a word about healing brain wounds. The entire tenor of the Report ignores any discussion about the physiological underpinnings of suicidal ideation. Suicide continues to be viewed as a problem fixable by more human contact, mental health programs, and psychiatric and drug interventions, not as a physiological condition brought about in any way by an untreated brain wound.