November 3. Theme songs of each armed service play as nearly 500 runners and walkers await the annual VA 5K at the Sousley Campus. Former Special Forces Captain Ben Carnell, who was badly wounded in Afghanistan in 2019, discusses why he’s there and the people they’re helping.
“I can't tell you how important institutions like this are for folks in the position I was in, and others are just coming back to the VA for care. It's a big deal. So I just am super thankful for the Fisher House, what it meant to me and my family. And yeah, it's a wonderful day for a race.”
Carnell says being able to stay at Fort Bragg’s Fisher House with his wife and new son helped him recover and regain his personal dignity.
And they’re off, for the biggest annual fundraiser for the Fisher House.
A month later, the Fisher House’s Leigh Ann LeMay gives a quick tour.
“This is one of our double rooms. We are a 16-guest suite home, and so we have 10 queen-sized suites …”
Downstairs, Donna Antle sits at a table in a room outside the kitchen where guests can eat free snacks or cook their own meals. She’s come from Russell Springs, two hours away, for her weekly Wednesday to Friday visit with husband Allen Antle. He’s an Army vet who’s been in the community living center there for 11 months.
“He had a stroke eight years ago, and so it's kind of put him bed-bound, and I've got health problems that is where I'm not able to take care of him anymore.”
Donna says before that, Allen lost a leg to diabetes. They’re waiting for a room in a nursing home closer to home to open. She says with Russell Springs so far away, the Fisher House is invaluable.
“It's wonderful. It the place is beautiful. The rooms are awesome. They're private, quiet. The food --anything you want, anytime you want. You can up in the middle of the night if you want and cook something.”
Donna leaves to visit Allen, and we meet Michael Neville, Air Force veteran and Fisher House manager since it opened in April of 2023. He says it’s an interesting job, partly because you never know who’ll walk in the door.
“A lot of our patients are elderly, elderly vets. So it's funny when we bring them in here, and they see what this place is, they think of it like an old Army barracks and they'll even ask us questions, you know, ‘Once we check in, can we leave?’ And it's like, ‘Yeah, of course you can leave. You know, it's, it's come and go as you please.’”
There are 99 Fisher Houses around the country, named for philanthropist and founder Zachary Fisher. Neville says to stay in Lexington’s, family members or companions of veterans must live more than 50 miles away and their vet must be getting treatment requiring anesthesia the following day, or receiving oncology care or, like Allen Antle, long-term care.
“You become friends with these people, and you care about them. And then when they're hurting, you sort of hurt, you know, you struggle with them. And then again … you might have to walk in the room and run into another guest and they want to crack up a joke, and so you got to be – it's like you're on a teeter-totter sometimes. Here it's, it's pretty weird, but it's rewarding too.”
We catch up with Donna in Allen’s room as he explains he’s ready to move on from oatmeal for breakfast.
“What do you want?”
“Different, I guess either Cheerios or corn flakes.”
“Oh, it means the world to me to have somebody here talk to and just to have her near me, because I love her, and she loves me.”
Each praises the VA staff and what the Fisher House allows them – something that can’t be replaced.
“It just gives me more time, you know, with him, where I normally wouldn't have that, because there's no way I could, you know, come and afford, you know, somewhere to stay. So this is a blessing.”
Postscript:
Thursday, Allen Antle was moved to a VA foster home in Russell Springs, about a 15-minute drive from where Donna lives. “It is great,” she said.
