Bolingbrook veteran honored as 'Hometown Hero' at Wolves game

When retired U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Timothy Kathol stepped onto a red carpet at a Chicago Wolves game this month, more than 11,000 people stood and cheered.

And with good reason. Kathol, who lives in Bolingbrook, was honored by the Wolves as a “Hometown Hero” for his work with the Itasca-based Laurus Foundation, which helps people with disabilities.

He was accepted to a fellowship through the nonprofit The Mission Continues, which helps veterans like Kathol channel their service ethic and leadership skills at home. Fellows are then paired to volunteer with community groups in an effort to help other veterans.

Kathol, who was diagnosed with traumatic brain injury after a tour of duty in Iraq, worked with Laurus's Healthy Bodies-Healthy Minds.

He said the program works to “help get veterans' bodies healthy before we have them start talking about their injuries.”

Kathol understands the idea well. After enlisting in the Army in 1999, he was deployed in 2004 to Iraq as a gunner in a scout platoon with the 1st Cavalry Division.

A month into his deployment, his unit was hit with some of the worst fighting since the invasion, and he was diagnosed with traumatic brain injury following the tour.

After returning home in April 2005, Kathol received orders to redeploy to Germany in November and later back to Iraq. He served though another year of combat.

But when Kathol returned to serve as a drill sergeant at Fort Jackson, S.C., his superiors recognized his struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder. By 2008, he was preparing for a third tour of duty in Iraq and problems emerged again.

“My commander pulled me aside and said I wasn't acting correctly,” Kathol said. “I was having a hard time dealing with stress and trouble with memory.”

Kathol retired from the Army by 2009. But that wasn't the end of his health troubles.

“I felt worthless,” he said. “I felt if I couldn't lead in combat anymore there was nothing I could do. But I was wrong.”

Soon Kathol was connected to The Mission Continues and the Laurus Foundation by Laurus Executive Director Jim Dolan.

Dolan said Laurus aims to help veterans just like Kathol.

“The one thing we are seeing with vets coming back is not anger issues, rage or being troublemakers, which is sometimes what's put in the news,” said Dolan. “The thing they suffer from most is a lack of confidence. They come from a military environment with a lot of structure, they're told what to eat, where to be, and at what time.

“When they come back, their bodies have been physiologically changed from the stress. That's the horror of war. Their bodies are not able to distinguish between the stress and reaction you'd have in battle, versus financial problems, marital problems or even finding a parking space at the store.”

Dolan said post-traumatic stress disorder also can lead to self-medication with alcohol or drugs, or even prescription medications from doctors that mask symptoms “rather than finding the root cause.”

So under Dolan, Kathol has been an outreach worker for other suffering veterans, connecting them with Healthy Bodies-Healthy Minds and other community resources.

It was ultimately Dolan who nominated Kathol for the “Hometown Hero” honor from the Chicago Wolves, too.

“I look for the worst of the worst, the ones who can't get out of bed and try to get them healthy and find resources for them and their families so we can get their bodies healthy and, ultimately, get them back into their communities in a leadership position,” said Kathol. “The support is out there, but veterans are not being educated on it.”

With his nearly four-month fellowship recently completed, Kathol aims to pursue a history degree and ultimately become a teacher. He also plans to advocate for alternative medicine treatments as option for veterans, who he said are not always keen on taking medication to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

“There has to be a different way of doing things,” he said.