Greetings, I am writing this letter on behalf of myself and my good friend Shawn Miller.  As those of you who know us are already aware, Shawn and I are both attending the Coastline Community College Acquired Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program in Newport Beach, CA.

Shawn and I are both working hard to recovery from our respective injuries…his, a stroke suffered approximately a year ago, mine traumatic brain injury suffered as the result of my military service.  Our recovery has been aided in great part by someone who means a great deal to both of us, Michelle Wild.  Michelle is one of our senior cognitive rehabilitative instructors at Coastline College and to us, is likely the closest thing to an angel that either Shawn or myself will likely ever see.

After realizing the possibilities of how smart technology (IPADS, Smart Phones, Laptops etc) could be used to help her students recover from brain injury, Michelle took the initiative to develop a computer application called Manage My Fatigue that allows her students to do something that most of us after brain injury are no longer capable of doing…keeping track of time and properly managing our levels of mental fatigue.  Although it might not be immediately clear to others, in most cases, where most people who have suffered a brain injury really struggle are in two areas…we lose track of time and we get easily overwhelmed.  Unfortunately, when this happens…to one degree or another, many of us also struggle with controlling our emotions too which often times makes an already bad situation, worse.  The Manage My Fatigue Application specifically addresses these issues and many more…and for the first time in history…gives people struggling with the effects of a brain injury a tool that can help us prevent many of these struggles, struggles that many of us live with every day, from ever even occurring.

As most of you who already know me are aware, aside from facing the struggles that everyone who has suffered a brain injury faces…regardless of how their injury occurred, my story has had a few additional twists and turns which until the Walter Reed Hospital and the VA scandal’s broke over the past couple of years, would have probably have been thought to be unimaginable.

Unfortunately, as those stories and the stories of many of your own loved ones who served their country can likely attest, as of right now, stories such as mine are not the exception, but the rule.  I mention this not for want of sympathy because sympathy without solutions, serves no purpose. I mention this, because my experiences have given me the unique perspective of realizing just how important Michelle’s work truly is.  I have observed through first hand experience just how the system works or more importantly, where it doesn’t…but until recently, I had identified a long list of problems…but was short on solutions.

Why do I say this?   Because the Acquired Brain Injury Program at Coastline Community College was not where I began my search in seeking help for the many cognitive problems I was having…but only where I ended up here after becoming hopelessly lost and homeless after spending nearly three years trying and failing to get the help I desperately needed through first the VA and then the Army before ultimately becoming homeless.

As a U.S. Army Master Sergeant and Chief of Training who spent many years designing training programs for thousands of Marines and Soldiers getting ready to deploy into harms way, and often training the instructors who were responsible for training our nations service members to make sure many of our nations sons and daughters were ready for what was to come who again, has experienced some of the worst scenario’s imaginable firsthand…one and off the battlefield, and who was recently medically retired from the military due to traumatic brain injury, let there be no doubt in anyone’s mind that as of today, neither the VA nor the Department of Defense has a program that currently comes close to treating those of us who have been affected by brain injury in the way that Michelle’s Manage My Fatigue Application has done for Shawn and I and has the potential to do for thousands more yet to come.

For the first time in years, Shawn and I have the hope and faith that one day, with the help of this application and the many other gifts that our instructors have given us through their efforts…that not only will we one day make a full recovery, but so too will the many friends that we have both made who sit to our left and right in class.  By writing this letter, it is our sincere desire that we can share that hope with the thousands more who, if given the Manage My Fatigue Application as part of their treatment, could likewise benefit and share in the modern day miracle that we have both received.

It is with that in mind that I am writing this email and asking that you send it out to everyone that you know and ask them to do something that would mean so much to both Shawn and I and vote for Michelle Wild’s Manage My Fatigue Application using either your Gmail or Facebook Accounts and include as many supportive comments as possible to help bring this idea to the attention of our nations senior military leaders and God willing, put it into the hands of our nations injured military veterans being treated throughout the VA and Department of Defense health care systems for Traumatic Brain Injury through a unique competition being offered through the Defense Centers For Excellence.

Through this open competition, the Defense Centers for Excellence (A division of the Department of Defense tasked with finding new and inventive ways to treat veterans suffering from TBI and PTSD) all who receive this email and vote, will have the opportunity of a lifetime…the opportunity to do what’s right and do something amazing that will truly make a difference to those out there who need our help the most…that we can both tell you from personal experience and testimony…really works!

With your help, Michelle Wild’s Manage My Fatigue Application has the potential to help thousands of veterans (nd many others in need) who have given so much so that we could all enjoy the freedom we just recently celebrated over this past memorial day weekend and who simply want one thing…the hope to live a normal life again.

Through speaking to so many people over the past few years doing my best to advocate for veterans, I know very well that nearly without exception, that as a nation, nearly all of you are grateful for the sacrifices that our nations veterans have made and again, almost universally, most of you would love to do something to help…but just didn’t know how.  Well folks, here’s your chance.  Here’s your chance to thank a veteran in a meaningful way by doing something special…spmething that won’t cost you a single dime…just a moment of your time…the time it will take each of you to read this email, follow the directions below, and vote for the Manage My Fatigue Application using the instructions below.  If there were ever a cause worthy of your time and support…this is it!

For those of you who already know us, you likely already know the following as well, but for the sake of those who don’t… it must be said.  Neither Shawn nor I were ever approached or asked to write this letter or ever offered any incentive for doing so…we just knew in our hearts that it was the right thing to do and ask that you share it with your loved ones as well because we know that with your vote, it could serve as the miracle to so many others that it has been to both of us!

If any of you have a difficult time in getting your vote submitted, please email me at aaronsteckman@gmail.com to describe the problem you are facing and I will do my best to provide you with a written response that will walk you through the problem to make sure that your voices are all heard!

Again, thank you all for your love, friendship and support and may God bless you and our great country!

Very Respectfully & Sincerely,

Aaron A. Steckman

U.S. Army Master Sergeant (Retired) 

Acquired Brain Injury Student, 

Coastline Community College,

Newport Beach, CA 

To Vote For The Manage My Fatigue Idea through your Google, account, please follow the below directions…

Step #1:  Go the following website:  dcoe.ideascale.com.

Step #2:  Scroll to the bottom and click on the Tired? Overwhelmed? Unproductive?  Manage my fatigue idea. My name (Michelle) is just underneath the title of the idea

Step #3: Click on the name of the idea (Tired? Overwhelmed?…). Click the up arrow to give a positive vote. This will take you to a registration page. You can create a new log-in or use an existing social media account.

Step #4:  Fill in your name and answer the three required questions.

Step #5:  Click save changes.  This will take you back to the DCOE website.

Step #6:  Scroll to the bottom and click on the Tired? Overwhelmed? Unproductive?  Manage my fatigue idea. My name (Michelle) is just underneath the title of the idea

Step #7: Click on up arrow again. At this point, you should see the vote number increase!

Thanks for any help you can provide. There is 2 weeks left and ideas are getting posted all the time.

To vote on Facebook for Michelle’s Manage My Fatigue application, please use the following directions…

1. Click on http://dcoe.ideascale.com.

2. Scroll down on the website and click on ManageMyFatigue.

3. Where it says votes click on the up arrow.

4. Click on the Facebook logo on the right side of the website.

5. Enter your email and password for Facebook.

6. Click the Okay button when the pop up comes up.

7. Enter your name in the Name box.

8. Then click each tab that best describes your situation.

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