He's Not A Case

This morning a reporter referred to Mike as a "case". It ignited a fire inside of me. My ears burned and I bet hard on my lip. To be honest I was surprised at my reaction to the comment that was most likely just a poor choice of words. He was not a case. His life and death can not be wrapped up neatly into a four letter word.

He was a man, a father, a husband, a son, a brother, a friend and a Marine. Ultimately he lived and died for this country. He was loved. He was liked. He felt pain and pride. He cried the day he married me and the first time he held our children in his arms. He may fit the criteria for the alarming statistic but he was and always will be more than just one of twenty two veterans who die every day to suicide.

I share our story so that others can be helped. I share to possibly prevent the same fate he...we all...my family endured. He might fall into a statistic but he was no case. Have we become so desensitized that we put these labels on such a tragic event? Or is it because his death was ugly and a tidy four letter word feels less shameful?

His name was Michael John Blum. He grew up in a small town in the Missouri. He loved animals, he loved his kids. We loved him even at his worst. Even at his worst he was our hero. He was a Marine for 20 years. His headstone reads Persian Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan. He died exactly one week before his 39Th birthday. I am proud to say he was in my life for 20 of those years. I met him when I was just 14 years old. I was two years younger than my oldest son when our story began.

Together we had a family, children, a dog and plans for the future. We shared a lifetime.

You can not refer to everything we knew and loved as a case.

I know that I must share his manor of death in order to help spread awareness but he is not defined by his passing. Make no mistake there. He was more than his death. He lived more in his 39 years than most in 80. We celebrate his life, his smile and laughter his hard work and contribution to our country. He mattered.

Veterans lives matter. They aren't just cases.

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