WOUNDED NOT WORTHLESS

My name is Christina Helferich-Polosky.  I was 100% disabled and medically retired by the US Army in 2009 after 11+ years of successful active duty service for illnesses and injuries-most later attributable to unknown airborne chemical, environmental and burn pit exposures-that occurred during my combat deployments to Kuwait/Iraq (OIF-2003) and Afghanistan (OEF-2008). For years after, I let my "invisible wounds" define who I was and how I saw myself: worthless. Out of those dark moments, I turned to art as a way to express what I could barely say out loud: 
'I may be wounded, but I'm NOT worthless!'
So I created this site to specifically showcase current female military, veteran and wounded warrior artists, like myself, from all branches of the US Military to give us all the voice I thought I had lost for all those years."
Quoted in the Wounded Not Worthless website, 2021