Anna Durham wins the Chisholm Chisholm and Kilpatrick Child of a Disabled Veteran Scholarship

    PROVIDENCE, RI, March 21, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Congratulations to Anna Durham, a first-year student at the University of Virginia Law School, who was awarded the 2017 Chisholm, Chisholm and Kilpatrick Ltd. Child of a Disabled Veteran Scholarship.

Durham is the proud daughter of William T. Durham who served his country first in the Army as a paramedic in the Desert Storm conflict and previously as a paramedic in the Air Force. William T. Durham suffered a traumatic brain injury and still suffers from seizures. In her award-winning essay, Anna Durham wrote movingly of being a child watching her father struggle with his injuries. But the Durhams have a hard-fought happy ending.

Today, Anna Durham's father is one of her biggest heroes.

She wrote: "Today, he is one of the strongest, kindest men I know. While his brain injury left him permanently disabled, he never seeks pity. He is every bit the hero, as strong as every veteran must be."

Her father struggled greatly until he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She credits his recovery to his immediate willingness to seek treatment, the expert help of doctors and a very special service dog.

"His health has absolutely transformed with the help of his doctors, and especially his service dog, Roo,'' Anna Durham said.

Her father reaches out to other veterans. "Now he works very closely with Operation Seas the Day and has made a huge impact on several years' worth of wounded veterans."

Anna Durham is a native of Hurricane, WV, and a graduate of Rice University in Houston, TX. She is currently working as an intern for a private corporate law firm and hopes to practice corporate law upon graduation. "I'm interested in working on complex cases that will really challenge me intellectually," she said.

Durham advocates for a more public conversation about the challenges facing servicemen and women. "It is so important that veterans have the support of the public not just when they are at their strongest, representing our nation at home and overseas, but also when they are at their weakest," she wrote.

Civilians, she wrote, should indeed recognize the heroism, "but also the humanity behind it."

In 2016, the U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs and U.S. Census Bureau estimated that out of the almost 20 million U.S. veterans, 3.8 million live with a service-connected disability.

This is one of the reasons why we at Chisholm Chisholm and Kilpatrick have dedicated our practice to fighting for our veterans. We have a national reputation and practice protecting the benefits of veterans and ERISA (Employee Retirement Security Act). Our goal is to restore pride and independence to our clients.

Veterans' lawyer Robert Chisholm is a former two-term president of the National Organization of Veterans Advocates (NOVA) and was the first President of the Veterans Attorneys Bar Association.

The annual Child of a Disabled Veteran is a symbol of our firm's gratitude for the service of veterans. The scholarship will be awarded again in spring 2018--deadline is Dec. 15. For forms and instructions to apply, go to this page.

For more information on this scholarship and our firm, contact us at 401-331-6300.

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