Tom Jervis is a 76-year-old Purple Heart recipient who served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War.
Recently he’s had a series of tragedies and unfortunate events which led him to lose everything. Still, now several organizations are working to get him back to living a happy and normal life.
He was actually shot nine times in the Tet Offensive and lost a lot of friends but he survived, said Stagg. He’s really good, caring, and giving; everyone knows what kind of a good-hearted person he is.
Jeffery Stagg is a retired Airforce Master Sergeant and the founder of the FQXHOLE Foundation out of Duffield, Virginia who helps struggling veterans.
He’s been the main person helping Tom get back on his feet.
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His brother unexpectedly passed away right in front of him just at the end of last year and lost his brother and then two months later his son died, said Staggs.
In February his home was severely impacted by the floods in West Virginia. Tom ended up in the hospital and while he was trying to recover what was left of his home was destroyed by a fire.
He lost key people in his family, he lost his home to flood and fire, and didn’t have anywhere to go, said Stagg.
While going through this difficult time Tom shares that he believed his life was over.
I didn’t know what I was going to do next. I was ready. I was ready to commit suicide. I was ready to leave this world because I burned up, said Tom.
This is when friends of his reached out to charities like FQXHOLE and River of Life Miracles in Bristol for help.
We’ve been the ones who have done a lot of the coordinating for materials. We had donors supply the funding to get the materials from Lowe’s, said Deirdre Hefflin, Co-Founder of River of Life Miracles. He’s been so humble throughout this entire process of giving to him. He has never been one to ask.
With the charities’ help, Tom now has a camper with a custom deck for his wheelchair and a special dog house for his companion sarge.
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He’s now laughing all the time he is upbeat. He’s looking forward to things, said Staggs. It’s just so heartwarming to know that we have literally saved this veteran’s life.
source: wcyb.com/community-steps-in-to-support-purple-heart-recipient-facing-unimaginable-tragedies
