When she was just five years old, Carole Twitmyer experienced a trauma that took her years to recover. Now, because of her intimate understanding of post-traumatic stress, Carole is raising money to help returning service members who are struggling with very similar problems.

On July 10^th, Carole will be leaving her home in Texas to take part in the Treasure Island Triathlon. It’s a 1.2k swim, 40k bike and 10k run. Her efforts will benefit the programs of the Coming Home Project.

“My traumatic experience was in the 1960’s, and everyone always expected me to bounce back,” said Carole recently. “It’s difficult to recover from something when you don’t know you’re injured. I eventually realized the extent of my injuries and then had to work backwards to fix a lot of things. Trauma is a real injury. It’s vital to diagnose it immediately.”

When Carole heard about the emotional and mental challenges of the returning military, she understood their plight and wanted to help. “I want everyone to reach their potential and be strong members of the community, especially after making the sacrifice of being in war.”

                
                
                                  Carole Twitmyer Preparing to Compete

Carole spends her 9-5 life as an architect for the Dallas firm of Merriman Associates/Architects. She became involved in a not-for-profit called All-Tri (www.alltri.org), which trains people to complete a triathlon or marathon while helping to raise money. A total of six people from the All-Tri spring class of 18 will be traveling to San Francisco. Each will be competing for a cause close to their heart.

Carole has already raised over $4,200 towards a goal of $5,500. If you want to help cheer Carole on and help the programs at Coming Home Project, please donate through her website: http://www.active.com/donate/alltrispring2010/carole.

If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area and are interested in coming to see her race, drop us a note at: contact@cominghomeproject.net. We’d love for you to join us.