Sergeant Sullivan Fund Helps Veterans Struggling to Breathe

Marine Sgt. Thomas Joseph Sullivan left for Iraq in 2004 in perfect health. After several months of serving in the Anbar Province during a period of heavy conflict, he returned home sick. He had been exposed to dust, burn pits and chemical plant fumes. Sgt. Sullivan died on February 16, 2009.

Sgt. Sullivan’s family founded the Sergeant Sullivan Center, an organization dedicated to diagnosis, treatment and prevention of complex post-deployment illness. The Sergeant Sullivan Center created a strong network of premier health institutions to confront deployment-related disease through medical research, including a grant to the National Jewish Health Center of Excellence on Deployment-Related Lung Disease to develop a non-surgical method for diagnosing small-airway lung disease.

In 2015, the Sergeant Sullivan Center and National Jewish Health established the Sergeant Sullivan Fund at National Jewish Health to more effectively fund medical research to prevent and treat deployment-related illnesses. The Sergeant Sullivan Fund is leading lifesaving research and providing care for men and women returning from military service overseas who are struggling to breathe.