April 5 is Gold Star Spouse Day. Here is how one widow in Brooklyn is making an impact.
A Gold Star widow in Brooklyn has made it her life's mission to turn her husband's legacy into a lifeline for others walking the same road of grief.
It's been a painful 19 years for Dr. Mecca Nelson. Her tears flow as freely as they did the first year she lost her beloved husband, Sgt. Mario Nelson, in combat in Iraq.
"When 9/11 hit, he went active duty. He sat me down on a couch and he said, 'Babes, I just want to let you know and I hope that you're OK with it and I hope that you support me. I gotta fight for my country,'" she told CBS News New York's Hannah Kliger.
He was her high school sweetheart, her first love, and the father of her now-grown daughter. It was a loss she couldn't comprehend for years.
"I would wake up in the morning and sit on the edge of my bed and just gaze out into space, not wanting to be around nobody, not wanting to speak to no one," she said.
One day, something changed: She began sharing her practice of yoga, martial arts and meditation as tools for healing. Inspired by Mario's generous spirit, she found her mission of uplifting others through fireside chats connection, and community.
"He was a great man. He gave blood. He gave the clothes off his back. He would help family financially. He would sacrifice his funds for others. He helped homeless people," Nelson said.
Gold Star widow becomes a "guardian angel" for others coping with grief
Five years ago, she founded an organization called Humble Haitian Warrior. The mission is to provide a community for Gold Star families to help them deal with the trauma.
Inside a small studio in the Brooklyn District Attorney's office is a space dedicated to healing from sorrow. Scripture hangs on the walls and there are small messages of hope, printed on gold stars.
But her work doesn't end there.
She's extended her voice to White Star families, whose loved ones died by suicide, and Silver Star families, who were injured in the line of duty.
Anthony Passaro wears a heart-shaped necklace with angel wings. Inside, an inscription bears the name of his son Adam. He was a Brooklyn-born Army Sergeant and father of two, who took his own life last year.
"One of his Army buddies died in front of him. That's the survivor guilt. And then he suffered from PTSD," Passaro said.
The grief that followed was one Passaro couldn't bear alone. He recalls that meeting Nelson changed his life. As a trauma recovery coach and grief counselor, she became his shoulder to cry on, his support system.
"Talking with her and her bringing me to her church and, you know, schooling me and made me meet her daughter. And we became really, really good friends," he said. "My guardian angel."
Nelson says she has been pushing him to heal like someone once did for her.
"My daughter once tapped me on my shoulders like, 'Mommy, it's going to be OK.' That voice is what kept me going. And that's why I never give up. That little voice," she said.
These days, a street in Canarsie bears Mario's name, known as Haitian Warrior Way. But his memory extends far beyond that to countless other families who have found solace from his soulmate.
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