Breathing Through the Fire: One Veteran's Fight for Truth and Healing - A Conversation with Kevin Hensley

On this episode of Applaudable Perspectives, Pamela Lewis sits down with Kevin Hensley, whose two decades of military service left him with constrictive bronchiolitis, a severe and irreversible lung disease caused by burn pit exposure. Kevin opens up about the maddening fight to get properly diagnosed within the VA system, and how he stumbled onto an unexpected lifeline: hyperbaric oxygen therapy—a treatment that didn't just help his lungs, but became a turning point for his toxic brain injury and PTSD.This is a conversation about what it takes to survive the invisible wounds of war, the legislative battles reshaping veteran care (including the PACT Act and emerging state-level HBOT laws), and why Kevin believes every veteran needs to become their own fiercest advocate.If you've ever felt like the system wasn't built to hear you—this episode is proof that persistence can still win.