http://www.danefreedman.com/
– Born September 13, 1988
– Marine, Son, Brother, Friend, Hero
– Served in the USMC as a Machine Gunner from 2007-2011
– Avid outdoorsman – loved hiking, camping, anything pertaining to guns, playing the guitar, being surrounded by the great outdoors, spending time with his family and his girlfriend Kristina, and playing with his beloved dogs
– Sadly left us on December 13, 2013
“Thank you for visiting our website in honor of our hero, Cpl Dane Freedman who was taken from us far too soon. Dane struggled a long, hard battle with PTSD for two years. After two tours of duty serving in the United States Marine Corps, Dane came home to absolutely no reintegration help from the Department of Veterans Affairs or his branch of service. The lack of resources our veterans are receiving along with the overmedication they experience from the VA is not only unacceptable, it is inhumane! At the height of Dane’s illness the VA had him on 21 pills per day. This overmedication caused him to lose his appetite, and the only thing that calmed his mind and gave him the will to eat was consuming marijuana. After not leaving his home for over a year, we got Dane a service dog, Lager. That dog totally changed his life. Sadly, Lager died of a sudden heart attack at the young age of 14 months in Dane’s arms. That loss had to be a battlefield moment. Dane told his mom, “that dog saved my life mom, he brought me from the depths of hell and taught me how to love again, I have such a hole in my heart, what am I going to do?” Twenty days after Lager’s death, Dane put a gun to his chest and shot a bullet through his heart. The overwealming pain for him was ended.
We promise to make something positive out of our tragedy and help other veterans cope with the invisible wounds of war. We feel many warriors leave the war but bring the battle home with them. We fully support the legalization of medical marijuana because we believe veterans and other patients should have safe and legal access to an alternative medicine that is much safer than the pharmaceutical concoction prescribed by the VA that turned Dane into a zombie. Marijuana greatly improved Danes quality of life and eased many of the symptoms he was experiencing from the prescription medications he was taking daily. Another mission we have following Danes death is to emphasize the lifechanging effects a service dog can have on a veterans quality of life. Not all wounds are visible and mental illness is just as real as physical illness!! We need to break the stigma associated with mental illness so more individuals feel comfortable reaching out for help.
We have started two funds in honor of Dane: 1) CPL Dane M. D. Freedman Suicide Awareness Scholarship Fund which aims to grant financial aid to individuals struggling in school with either learning issues or mental health issues and looking to further their education; and 2) CPL Dane Freedman PTSD Service Dog Fund, which will donate service dogs according to the amount raised and deliver them to struggling veterans free of charge. We are pleased to report we have already matched three German Shepherd puppies with struggling veterans in need. A fourth puppy has also been donated to a family from Harrisburg and they welcomed him into their home in June 2014. These are the rewarding and lifechanging things we can do as we continue to keep Danes memory alive. Huge thank you to all our donors!!! “
