SAN ANTONIO — SAN ANTONIO — One in three first responders and seven percent of veterans suffer from Post-traumatic stress disorder. San Antonio couple, Angela and Roger Rodkey, are using their personal experience to share the lifechanging support a service dog can give to those struggling to find a path forward.
"Life is precious. Tomorrow is not guaranteed," Roger Rodkey explained. The first responder joined the medical wing at Lackland Air Force Base when he was 18-years-old.
"Going through those things, as a young man, you start having issues and you're like, 'Wow, something's wrong with me.' And it's not really wrong with you, it's just what you know, what happens. You have to understand that and adjust to that."
Learning firsthand how trauma can change every part of your life, Roger founded Veteran Frenchies with his wife to train another type of first responder.
"I've always liked helping people and knowing what dogs would do for me as a veteran who suffers from PTSD."
What started as a simple conversation expanded into a mission to provide service dogs to veterans and first responders, like Joel Hicks.
"We had a Colonel that had gone into cardiac arrest after he had open heart surgery, and we had to do open heart massage, meaning we're trying to pump the heart with our own hand to get it to start back up. I saw a lot there and it was quite traumatizing because, uh, I won't do anything on the bone anymore after that," Hicks, a former Air Force medic, said.
His service dog Harley navigated him beyond the trauma barriers he could see.
"He also knew when my blood pressure was getting high, or he knew when my sugar would get low. You know, he was very special. My parents were married 50 plus years and they just, they were inseparable, and that's kind of how Harley and I was, wherever I went, Harley went," Hicks said.
A special bond that made it that much harder when Harley got sick and Hicks had to put him down.
"My mom loved Harley. She wanted to go with me and be over there with him when we had to put him down because he was part of the family. She knew how much he had changed my life," Hicks explained.
Now, Hicks is getting a second chance at that special connection with Deuce, a service dog gifted to him by Veteran Frenchies.
"It's like that one movie where the dog jumps from one dog to another. The dog's purpose, that's how I feel about this. Absolutely, he's like he picked up, you know, it was gone for a little while, but now he's picked up and he's there to help me navigate through life in a positive way," Hicks added becoming overwhelmed with emotion. He explained how his service dog is more than family; it's a part of him.
Hicks is one of many veterans and first responders now able to find peace and possibility thanks to their canine companions.
"Seeing what this donation has done for him in a very short period of time allows him to reconnect to that peacefulness that he that he had with that dog that he lost. So if we can do that one veteran, one first responder at a time, I think we're making a difference," Roger said.
Veteran Frenchies is working to expand their reach. Anyone who would like to help with training or provide other support can connect with the Rodkeys on the Veteran Frenchies Facebook page or on their website. First responders and veterans in need of a service dog can apply on their page or through their site.