When Josh Marino was serving in Iraq, he found himself in the midst of a mortar attack, which caused him a brain injury and left him with severe PTSD. As a result, he received a Purple Heart Medal and he spent his life back home in depression.

Unfortunately, Marino’s case is not uncommon. In fact, nearly 20% of veterans who served in OEF and OIF have PTSD, while about 30% of Vietnam veterans have had PTSD in their lifetime.

Today, the stress disorder caused by terrifying events and experiences endured during military service is known to be a serious mental health condition, but a few years ago, it was still ignored and people used to suffer in silence, afraid of the stigma that would follow them.

Marino didn’t receive the help he needed and ended up with such an unbearable burden that he decided to take his own life. So, one day, he took out one of his knives, wrote a letter to his family on the computer, and went outside to smoke one last cigarette.

“I did not want to deal with it anymore,” Marino said. “I took out one of my knives … I wrote a letter on my computer and went outside to smoke one last cigarette.”

But just when Marino was thinking about all the negativity and problems in his life, he heard something strange that caught his attention. It was a kitten meowing from behind the bushes. A little later, the black and white sweetheart emerged from the bushes and introduced himself to Marino.

“He just walked up and started rubbing up against my leg and let me pet him, I broke down crying, burst into tears,” he says in his short film Josh & Scout, a Mutual Rescue. “Maybe he knew there was something I couldn’t quite handle.”

The man then somehow forgot about his problems for a while and started thinking about the kitten’s and ways of helping the little guy.

The kitten, which Marino named Scout, came back every day after their first encounter, and the man would feed and play with him. Until one day, Scout stopped coming back.

The man was disappointed by the cat’s disappearance, but he now had someone else to share his feelings with, too. It was his girlfriend, Becky. As things were going very well between the two of them, the couple decided to visit an adoption center in hopes of finding a nice kitty to adopt.

And then, something incredible happened!

“All of a sudden a little black and white paw shoots out from a crate and starts smacking me in my left arm,” he says of spotting Scout at the shelter. “I opened up that cage, and I pulled him out, and I held him tight.”

Marino was excited to see his friend again, so he didn’t think twice before signing the adoption papers.

Some time later, he and Becky got married and now they even have a beautiful 3-year old daughter together. In the meantime, Marino has started exercising regularly and quit smoking. He also obtained his MA in clinical rehabilitation and mental health counseling, and got a job with the Department of Veteran Affairs counseling disabled vets.

Today, he is trying to help other veterans who are suffering from PTSD and sharing his story definitely helps.

We are glad Josh and Scout found each other, it is certainly a mutual rescue case. You can watch their story in detail below.

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Source: Post-Gazette, Mutual Rescue, Mutual Rescue, ptsd.va.gov