For Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Jim Lorraine, every day is National Caregivers Day.
Although the nation pauses to honor caregivers annually on Feb. 17, thousands of military caregivers like Jim provide care and support for their partners daily.
Jim served as a flight nurse and has nine different combat deployments under his wings. He retired as deputy command surgeon for the United States Special Operations Command and became the founding director of the U.S. Special Operations Command Care Coalition and also spent time as the special assistant for Warrior and Family Support to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Jim’s wife Becky joined the Army after completing her first year of college in 1977.
“She was in one of the first classes of women to go through jump school at Fort Benning,” he said.
After her initial five-year enlistment, Becky returned to college, became a nurse practitioner, opted to join the Air Force, met and married Jim and had children.
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Life was good for the dual military couple until suddenly it wasn’t, Jim said. Becky was heading up the medical clinic for the United States Special Operations Command at McDill Air Force Base and had been recently promoted to colonel. She had also spent nearly a year in Afghanistan leading the aeromedical evacuations of all the injured or ill troops out of both Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I was working at United States Special Operations Command with double duty as a special assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” said Jim.
Then, while at work one day at the Pentagon, Jim received a life-changing call from Becky’s office.
“We found Becky in her clinic,” the caller told Jim. “We got her back. She was unresponsive and I was on the next plane back to Tampa.”
The couple soon learned that Becky has suffered a grand mal seizure.
“It came out of nowhere,” said Jim. “This was terrible.”
The seizures continued over the next several months, with the couple eventually learning that Becky had adult-onset epilepsy. While medication helped control the seizures, the side effects were debilitating for Becky.
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Determined to remain on active duty even though she couldn’t drive, Becky would ride her bicycle six miles one way in order to catch a bus to get to work at McDill before being medically retired.
“It just devastated her emotionally, it crushed her,” said Jim, who ultimately left the military in order to care for Becky.
The couple relocated to Aiken, South Carolina to be closer to her family. Jim took a job heading up a local nonprofit so he could be home more while providing for the family.
“We weren’t sure where we were going to land financially,” he said.
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There was also uncertainty early on about Becky’s Department of Veterans Affairs disability rating, he added.
Then, six months after moving to Aiken, Becky developed an aggressive form of breast cancer that would require chemotherapy, surgery and balancing the medication to treat her seizures.
“It was a wild ride,” Jim said. “When we went through this, there wasn’t anything like the Elizabeth Dole Foundation or Military Caregiver Network. The Wounded Warrior Project and its programs also really helped Becky. I can’t thank them enough.”
As time has passed, Becky has adapted to her epilepsy and breast cancer while remaining active, Jim said. While her seizures continue, they are not as severe as when they first began.
Today, Jim is CEO and president of the nonprofit America's Warrior Partnership, an organization that partners with communities to prevent veteran suicide.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.