Our Story

To hear Bruce tell it you would have thought it was the funniest thing that ever happened to him. He had me laughing so hard I almost could not breathe and the seriousness of WHAT he was telling me I am ashamed to admit never registered -- and didn’t seem to register with him either.  I have often looked back on that night at the hilarity in which he told the story as in truth this is not a “funny” story at all.  It is a story of unimaginable horror, That continues to play repeatedly like a video in his mind.

As I reflect on what I now know and did not comprehend was that his ability to show no emotion but humor demonstrated how truly separated from himself he was and just how numb he had become. To this day he has never repeated this story as the pain is unbearable for him.

He told me that night that if I married him, I would never be bored. Boy, was he right! We married 39 years go and my 2 children and his 2 children became one family. The first 9 years were amazing. Then the coal mine he worked at severanced the entire supervisory staff. Suddenly Bruce was 50 and had no job! He became isolated, angry, irrational, condemning, and unable to hold a job. We went from not wanting anything to not even having enough money to pay $5 for my son to get a haircut. I began to take on more and more of the responsibilities for our family so Bruce did not have to deal with the stress. He began to move from 1 job to the next, often just quitting. I had this brilliant idea that I could save him; I could cure him of his PTSD.

I would leave my job as a hospice nurse and become an over the road truck driver with him.  You see, if I was with him, then I could control all the triggers, all the memories, and keep him functioning and together we could provide for our family. 

Well, that only lasted about 4 months!.  Once I came off the road and returned to nursing it was a downward spiral for Bruce and we began the fight for service-connected compensation. It took three years, but we finally won.  If it had not been for the original love we shared, and our faith in GOD I am not sure we would have made it. 

Six years ago, Bruce attended an Opus Peace Fallen Comrade Ceremony, learned about Soul Injury and our lives were profoundly changed at that time.  He was able to find a measure of peace that now allows him to actively participate in living life.  He will tell you “There is no cure” but the emotional gift he received at this Fallen Comrade Ceremony has helped him to enjoy his life. And me? I have a new husband and I am now discovering how to be a new wife...

Fast forward to Feb. 2022 when I chose early retirement and simultaneously was able to become an OP Licensed Educator and Soul Selah was born. Soul Selah will be our family’s redemption of suffering as we share the theories, practical applications, and tools to assist those with Soul Injury to reunite with their authentic self. Bruce and I are a live advertisement of the restored hope and healing that can be experienced through the Soul Injury message. Our adult children and

grandchildren are the same.

My heart overflows with gratitude as I consider how all of this came to be because one very wounded Marine found the courage to say, “You have got to tell our story Sue” and God used 5 VA nurses as instruments to restore hope and healing to a shattered soul.