PUEBLO, CO (KOAA) — A Pueblo woman says a national nonprofit helped her family find healing after her husband, an Army staff sergeant, died following wounds he suffered when his Humvee was hit by an IED in Iraq.
Rayanne Hunter said her husband, Army Staff Sergeant Wesley Hunter, was on deployment in Iraq in 2008 when the attack happened.
"He was in Baghdad at the time and his Humvee had been hit with an IEP and also was ambushed at the same time," Rayanne said.
She said she received a call in the middle of the night after the attack.
"When I picked up the phone, there was a female that answered and asked me to, 'Hold please' and as soon as I heard that, my heart sunk because that's not what you're supposed to hear," Rayanne said. "Then he got on the phone and through a lot of tears, through a lot of time, explained what happened. We just sat and cried."
Wesley had been shot and had dozens of pieces of shrapnel in his body. Rayanne said a three-inch piece of shrapnel remained in his back because of where it was located. He was in constant pain and in and out of the hospital.
"He lived for two-and-a-half years and then he died," Rayanne said. "He got really sick.They determined he had idiopathic thrombocytopenia, which basically his spleen was killing off his platelets, and they couldn't figure out why."
Wesley Hunter died in September 2008. Rayanne said his death would now fall under toxic exposure syndrome.
As she searched for ways for herself and her two young children to cope with grief, she received a postcard in the mail from TAPS, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. The nonprofit helps families grieving a death in the military or veteran community.
Rayanne and her sister-in-law signed up for a regional seminar at Fort Carson, which opened the door to more resources, including what is known as the Good Grief Camp for her children.
"We learned a lot about how to word and how to speak about our grief," said Rayanne's daughter Tavie Hunter.
The camp became an annual tradition for Tavie and her brother, Westlin.
Westlin said the program gave grieving children a support system.
"That's why TAPS exists so that they can have that support system to keep each other from going off the rails," Westlin said.
Tavie said the friendships she formed through TAPS became some of the most important of her life.
"There are two girls specifically who we all started at TAPS around the same time, our dads died around the same time, and we just grew up in TAPS together," Tavie said. "We all knew every year that they would be there and there would be somebody, a familiar face that we'd know. I feel like that is so important for the grieving journey."
Tavie said she grew so close to her TAPS friends that she chose to record her valedictorian speech for Rye High School so she could attend a TAPS event in Washington, D.C., instead.
"For me, the TAPS family was where I wanted to be for my graduation," Tavie said.
The Hunter family now helps foster that same sense of community for other grieving families.
"I think one of the special things about TAPS is it's survivors helping survivors," Rayanne said. "We look after each other, we love on each other. The military always looks after its own and this is TAPS's way of kind of carrying on that tradition when you lose that connection."
All TAPS programs are free and supported through donations.
TAPS Colorado Springs is hosting a Songwriter Dinner Show on Saturday, July 11, at the Norris Penrose Event Center.
Some of Nashville's top songwriters will be performing, including country artist Ned LeDoux. Every ticket purchased supports a surviving family. Ticket information is available here.
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