BREAKTHROUGH

Margaux tells others that the only negative aspect of this treatment is that a person must lie in a tube for an hour every day and that she thinks that people are just impatient with the need to do that. She also believes many people still don’t know about this form of treatment and its benefits. When people are new to the treatment, there are still those who find it hard to believe in its miracles. Taking a pill provides quick relief, but the effects are temporary. Sometimes it isn't easy to get people to understand that medications won’t work in the long run, but the long-term effects of hyperbaric oxygen treatment will be well worth the time it takes.

Margaux discovered that the healing began after about fifteen to twenty sessions. At that point, her ability to sleep improved, her migraines lessened, her memory began to return, and her depression and need to isolate and withdraw from others eased up. In addition, her physical wounds improved with HBOT, and the TBI started to heal. However, the post-traumatic stress was an awful situation for her, and as her memory and brain functions began to improve, she had a bad PTSD slip, a brutal one, as Margaux describes it. “You go into a deep dark depression where all of your emotions go down. If you are an avoider, you avoid everything, but you can’t avoid PTSD forever. All of my emotions, every single one of them, came to a boiling point. I don’t know how to describe it, but your mind is not strong enough to shut down all the negative emotions you experienced.”

Even though she was physically healing her brain from the concussion, she needed professional help with the mental and psychological wounds she had also suffered. "When the doctor first told me in Germany that I had post-traumatic stress disorder and would not be going back to Iraq or any combat duty, it was the lowest point. I did not know what it was, this PTSD they were talking about. It was devastating for me… I had

been planning on a career with the Army."

COMPETITIVE FIRE: Margaux with Prince Harry in Trafalgar Square; She was chosen to represent America's Walking with the Wounded team that competed in the South Pole Allied Challenge that began in November 2013.

Now that Margaux has gone through over 140 hours of dives, she is not the robot that she thought she might become. Instead, her inner strength and competitive nature have brought her back to the Margaux she always was. Despite dealing with the signature wounds she suffered, she now excels in mountain climbing. She has scaled 19,000-foot Cototaxi in Equador and a more recent ascent of Mount Denali in Alaska that was thwarted by weather at 9,000 feet. In addition, she participated in the cyclists’ Ride to Recovery that toured Washington State and the coast of California, and rode bike tours through Italy and France.

Sometimes it isn't easy to get people to understand that the long-term effects of HBOT will be well worth the time it takes.

Since 2011, Margaux has competed three times in the Wounded Warrior games held at Colorado Springs. She won five gold medals and three silver

medals, just one more proof that our former athlete still has it.

Margaux was chosen to represent America’s Walking with the Wounded team that competed with a European team headed by Prince Harry of Great Britain and an Aussie-New Zealand team in the South Pole Allied Challenge that began November 14, 2013. Not only did Margaux and another American female warrior race against the men of the other teams, but one of Margaux’s team was a blind warrior who needed assistance every step of that long and challenging Antarctic trek. 

Once again, the true Margaux was revealed when an opportunity arose, and she was able to guide the blind warrior during several parts of the trek. She had asked to do it because she knew she just had to. It was her small contribution to give back what she had been given. She so vividly relives those minutes and hours. "I asked if I could guide Ivan, a blinded warrior. I got the privilege of guiding him, and I didn't want any cameras or anyone around… no pictures. I