"She was a leader in victim assistance. She pushed herself as much as she could and she was so filled with passion [to help others. Our family’s combined experience of suffering is the reason I’m doing the work I’m doing today with Veterans Victory - the whole family goes through trauma when the veteran soldier suffers.” - Founder and Manager of Veterans Victory, Kim Kuhle spreading awareness of PTSD.
In 1975, Kim’s mother, Shirley Kuhle, survived an explosion on a boat. She suffered third degree burns to more than a third of her body. It took years of skin grafting and hospital stays to ease her pain and address her many injuries, including damage to the spine.
The suffering, of course, wasn’t just physical. Even thirty years after the accident, she bore the psychological scars of that ill-fated day.
The suffering, or course, wasn’t just physical. Even thirty years after the accident, she bore the psychological scars of that ill-fated day.
Right after the accident, Kim witnessed her father overcome with emotion. When he saw her for the first time wrapped in bandages, hooked up to tubes and receiving lifesaving care, he started having a heart attack. Kim remembers the feeling of being outside of her own body. After seeing both parents were safe in hospital beds, she, herself, then doubled over with nausea and had to sit on the ground to stop the world from spinning.
The symptoms, the stress, the reaction: PTSD.
Kim’s entire family suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after the explosion.
One person suffers; the entire family endures.
Her mother, Shirley, spent years in bed. Incapacitated. Immobilized. In pain.
Still, she pushed herself beyond her limits, determined and ever passionate about educating the world regarding PTSD; the effects of serious accidents, ways to persevere, and how to overcome, both physically and emotionally.
Shirley became a true advocate, one of the most decorated of her kind.
A law enforcement administrator, victimology specialist, crime commissioner, she was a commission member of Nebraska Crime Commission, the Director of the Victim Witness Unit of the Lincoln Police Department, one of only 22 people invited to the White House meeting with Federal Agencies on Domestic Violence, and a member of the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA). Shirley attended training in Quantico, VA with the FBI and traveled all over the world, advocating for victim’s assistance, as well as serving as “first call” following plane crashes and other accidents for on-site recovery assistance. She lived to help others. As she aided in the process of overcoming, recovering, and working through PTSD, she enabled her own recovery.
Of course, Kim didn’t know it back then, but her mom had also planted the seed for Veterans Victory in her daughter’s heart.
“The need is absolutely here. So many people have come back from Afghanistan, and they don’t know what to do with their lives. We’re a community and we’re going to be supportive of people who are feeling just a little lost.” -Kim Kuhle, Veterans Victory Founder and Manager
Approximately 6% of the American population currently suffers from PTSD and studies show that somewhere between 12-30% of veterans suffer from the devastating disorder.
Veteran’s Victory Housing and Small Business Center plans to be a champion for veterans who suffer from PTSD (as well as those who do not) through the development of a brand new 15-acre community dedicated specifically to those who served our country. The facility will include 240 ADA-accessible, green, multi-family apartments for veterans. Entrepreneurial by design, the campus will support 15 business offices, mental health and holistic services, physical therapy, occupational therapy, yoga, hiking trails, and more.
“We’re taking pasture ground and we’re turning it into a place of dreams, quite literally. These people sacrifice their lives for us.”
The complex will be built at Bradley Road and South Powers, near the Colorado Springs Airport and Amazon, and only a few miles from Ft. Carson.
The community fosters the unique kinship with military families that Kim found in her own upbringing:
Fellowship
Shared values, ideals, experiences
A history AND a future - together
Learn more about Kim, Veterans Victory, and so many other things HERE.
Apply to be a part of Veterans Victory community, invest, foster a business, connect, and grow.
And, support and advocate for PTSD.
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