Photo By Julie Lucas | Lt. Cmdr. Lynn Skinner, a nurse with Expeditionary Medical Facility 150 - Mike, poses...... read more read more
March is Brain Injury Month and one Expeditionary Medical Facility- Mike service member has shown resiliency through her experience. Lt. Cmdr. Lynn Skinner woke up four years ago with what she thought was a migraine and couldn’t walk, so she called 911 to then wake up in the ICU at Orange Park Medical Center. She suffered from a spontaneous bleeding hemorrhage in her head.
“Because of my previous experience I was able to go into the operating room with no fear,” she said. “I had worked with the Wounded Warrior program at Naval Regional Medical Center San Diego and I took care of a group of people with no limbs and remember what an amazing group of individuals they were.”
Skinner joined the Navy at age 39 after working in nursing for 19 years. She was stationed at Naval Hospital Jacksonville three different times in her nearly 20-year career. During her recovery process in Physical and Occupational Therapy, Skinner says they had to think outside the box.
“I had to practice putting a belt on so I could wear my military uniform,” she said. “Learning how to do things with both hands and different pressures made me get better and stronger, quickly.”
During a year of relearning how to walk and dress herself, Skinner’s case manager introduced her to the active-duty Navy Wounded Warrior program. It was this organization that connected her with a local equine therapy ranch, Hope Therapy.
“Hope Therapy never looked at what I can’t do,” Skinner said. She credits the motion of the horse, an Arabian named Rocky, helped her learn to walk again. Skinner had previous experience with horses while growing up in northern Virginia. She refers to Hope Therapy as her “happy place” and is often called to help new veterans or reservists. The program also helps those with autism and paraplegics.
One local family recently gave Skinner a memento that she will always cherish – a flag that was flown in Iraq. The father of one participant presented her with a flag he had flown while deployed as a Navy combat pilot. He also read, “Olde Glory,” the day he gave her the flag.
“There wasn’t a dry eye out there that day,” Skinner recalled.
While she cannot pick up a saddle, Skinner can halter a horse after 2 years of practice due to the fact her brain sees things inside out. She says that one thing that can be expected after a brain injury is backslides during the recovery process.
“You may have recovered, but it doesn’t go away,” she said. “You get complacent in recovery, but I still get dizzy, have vertigo, and struggle with computer-based trainings.”
Skinner is developing a plan for after the military by enrolling in an online degree program in trauma resiliency and is thankful for all the support she has received from her leadership. She says her greatest take away from the experience is to be kinder to herself.
“I was a hot head before and now I don’t get mad – everyone is baffled how I’m so calm,” she said. “I give a lot of credit to the Wounded Warrior program. I would not be as whole or back to baseline without the programs.”
| Date Taken: | 03.10.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.10.2025 16:32 |
| Story ID: | 492436 |
| Location: | JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, US |
| Hometown: | ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 267 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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