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Once upon a time, Vanessa Chism had her life planned out.��

When she was 12 years old, she met Cody Chism in school in Perry, Florida. They married when they were 19, and he joined the Army. She wanted to pursue college, perhaps even medical school. Her husband, meanwhile, envisioned a military career that would culminate with the rank of sergeant major.����

Chism’s plans were put on hold while her husband was deployed to Iraq and she raised their first two children. As soon as he came home in 2009, she realized he was not well. His health worsened, but he didn’t want medical help. His commanding officer assigned him to duty at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, hoping he would seek help.

“I literally had to drag him to the emergency room,” Chism said, noting that Walter Reed was overwhelmed with injured servicemembers from Iraq and Afghanistan.��

Her husband was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but his decline continued and he started suffering seizures as part of a downward spiral. Not until Chism got�� him to a private doctor did he receive a diagnosis of traumatic brain injury with other complications, both mental and physical.��

Chism was 26 years old and her husband’s full-time caregiver, unable to leave him alone. Throughout their marriage she has tried to push forward on her education. She has an associate degree and 147 credits toward a bachelor’s degree. That’s more than the usual 120-credit-hour requirement for graduation, but years of moving around when her husband was active-duty or seeking medical treatment has meant transferring from one college to another. That made many of her credits redundant.

That’s where the Pillars of Strength Scholarship at University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) comes in. Chism said the news that she had been awarded the coveted scholarship, which is earmarked for caregivers of military members and veterans, came at a pivotal moment. She described herself as being “at my wits end,” unable to advance in the organization where she worked because she didn’t have a degree.

“Most caregivers like me are in survival mode so we don’t see our strengths,” she said. “Here was UMGC validating my worth by saying what you've done is amazing.”

Thanks to Pillars of Strength, she is now working with a counselor to narrow down what she needs to finish a bachelor’s degree and start on a master’s program. What she will focus on is still up in the air. It might be advocacy work or nonprofit work. Or she might even return to her original dream of medical school to become a physician’s assistant.

The scholarship will covers full tuition for as long as it takes Chism to earn her degree—and that is welcome since she also continues to be her husband’s caregiver.

She said her husband’s health challenges have not abated.�� ��

“He's literally taken every medication you can do. Every single one has failed to help,” she explained. “I have spent 14 years of my life as his caregiver, dedicated to him and advocating for and ensuring that no matter what, my husband received the best medical care possible.”

Chism has raised their three children—two of whom never knew their father when he was healthy—as best she could.

“He has been my friend since I was 12 years old, and I certainly miss him so very much—that ability to always make me laugh,” she said. “While he is still here physically, I lost him so very long ago. You mourn someone who's still alive. Most days, we are just trying to get through the day.”

Dealing with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been tough, she said, especially in the early years when spouse caregivers were given little consideration. Recently, the Maryland Department of Veterans and Military Families appointed a deputy secretary of military family policy and programs, a move that Chism characterized as “huge.”��

“They are beginning to recognize the importance we have in the room,” she said, referring to caregivers. Still, Chism said, it remains difficult to navigate the VA. “Fortunately, I have become very good at it,” she added.

She has worked online for nonprofit veterans’ groups for the last decade and was recently hired by Dog Tag Bakery in Washington, D.C. The bakery-cafe “equips veterans, military spouses and caregivers to rediscover their purpose after serving our nation and reenter communities with confidence and support.” Chism’s five-month work program combines equal parts classroom, bakery, community and wellbeing. By completing the program, she will earn a business certificate from Georgetown University.

This year, Chism also was selected as an Elizabeth Dole Foundation fellow because of her ability to advocate on a national level for veterans. The foundation website notes that it “brings all those caregivers together so we have a community of support” and the tools to advocate for themselves.

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