By DaisyMae VanValkenburgh-Haftel, VETS Email Marketing Manager + HubSpot Administrator
In Part 1, I wrote about the kind of healing most people never see – the quiet, invisible shifts that happen when a veteran begins to turn back toward life.
Now I want to share a story that shows what that path can really look like.
A Story That Shows What That Path Really Looks Like: Isaac’s
Army veteran Isaac Mastel carried the weight of war long after coming home–grief, survivor’s guilt, and memories that refused to stay in the past. On the outside, he looked steady.
Inside, he was unraveling. Everyday life became an uphill climb, and even with therapy, medications, and treatments like the stellate ganglion block, nothing reached the depth of his pain. Nights stayed long. Days stayed heavy. And slowly, he drifted into substance use just to mute what he couldn’t escape.
What hurt most wasn’t the trauma itself–it was watching the distance grow between him and the people he loved. He felt himself disappearing piece by piece, losing a battle he didn’t yet have words for.
Still, he kept searching. And eventually, he found VETS.
Psychedelic-assisted therapy wasn’t something he ever imagined for himself, but he listened to other veterans–men and women whose stories echoed his own. They didn’t offer miracles, only honesty: the medicine can open the door, but you still have to walk through it. For the first time in years, Isaac felt something that resembled hope.
With support from VETS, he traveled abroad for ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT therapy. The treatment didn’t erase his past, but it loosened the grip it had on his life. And the real transformation began afterward, through integration–new habits, new awareness, new ways of showing up for himself and his family.
Months later, he turned to his wife and said words he once believed he’d never feel again:
“I can feel love again.”
Today, Isaac is present in a way he couldn’t be before. The weight he carried is still part of him, but it no longer defines him. And he shares his story to reach the veterans standing where he once stood, and to remind supporters that their generosity isn’t abstract.
It transforms lives.
Your Gift Is Not Just a Donation. It’s a Lifeline.
Your generosity becomes the connective tissue between despair and possibility. It becomes the bridge that leads a veteran from crisis to care. When you give, you make treatment accessible–treatment that includes trauma-informed preparation, legal and safe psychedelic-assisted therapy, post-treatment integration, peer support, community calls, and continued follow-through long after the treatment ends.
Your support becomes everything that surrounds the treatment–the scaffolding, the structure, the safety. You help create the conditions where true healing has room to unfold. Your gift becomes a doorway that someone on the edge desperately needs to walk through.
But Here’s the Truth That Keeps Us Up at Night
For every veteran we say yes to, there is another waiting.
A name.
A story.
A human life in a fragile moment.
They’re waiting with hope and fear braided together.
Waiting with a bag half packed.
Waiting for someone to say, “We’ve got you. Hold on. You’re not alone.”
We want to be able to say yes to more veterans.
But we can’t do it without you.
We’ve funded over 1,200 veterans, and the outcome data is clear: this work is transforming lives. But the need is rising faster than we can keep up with.
Your support determines how many veterans we can help.
This Is What Healing Looks Like Because of You
Healing looks like a man who almost didn’t make it, standing in line with his family to buy their Christmas tree.
It looks like a woman writing poetry after years of emotional numbness.
It looks like a couple renewing vows they nearly broke under the pressure of trauma.
It looks like someone rediscovering the will to live, and the desire to thrive.
Every one of these victories belongs to our community of supporters.
You are not just funding a program.
You are helping someone come home to themselves.
The End of the Year Is Coming. Let’s End It With Impact.
This season asks us to reflect–to look honestly at where we channel our care, our resources, our humanity.
So here’s the invitation:
Don’t just give. Become part of the moment someone chooses to stay.
Become the steady hand that reaches into the dark.
Become the reason a story that almost ended finds its way to a better chapter.
Help a veteran heal–fully, deeply, and for good.
Show them someone still believes.
Because if you walked past him on the street, you wouldn’t know.
But because of you,
He’s still here to walk it.