A Softball Tradition with a Mission to Support Veterans

Earlier this year, Kamila Milejczyk and Aaditya Kumar, third-year medical students at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), found themselves eye-to-eye and heart-to-heart with veterans and first responders.

That connection took shape during their psychiatry rotation at MCW’s Building Resilience through Action in VEterans and first responders (BRAVE), a three-week outpatient program run by the Wisconsin Institute of NeuroScience (WINS) that provides therapies for veterans and first responders affected by traumatic brain injuries.

Milejczyk and Kumar followed patients along their care journeys – from counseling and psychiatry to occupational and physical therapy.

“You’re with the patients eight hours a day, whereas on traditional psychiatry rotations and other rotations you might be with the patients for less than an hour,” says Kumar. “You build this deeper relationship and degree of comfort with them.”

That relationship meant witnessing patients’ strides was especially meaningful. Kumar recalls a man caught in an endless cycle of insomnia and excessive caffeine consumption. By the end of BRAVE, the man finally achieved a restful and quiet night’s sleep.

“It was really moving seeing how much the patients changed,” says Milejczyk. “The people that left BRAVE were completely different than the people who came in.”

To celebrate these wins, BRAVE concludes with a graduation ceremony where the veterans and first responders reflect on the experience with each other and the clinicians.

“They had all gotten so close, and most people in the room were crying and giving each other hugs,” says Milejczyk. “You really felt that sense of community.”

Milejczyk and Kumar’s experience at BRAVE meant that when talks of reviving Thriller at Miller – an MCW softball game fundraiser – were circulating, they knew just whom to support.

“Raising money for BRAVE directly allows more veterans and first responders to be treated,” says Kumar. “It’s money to fly a patient out or add another therapy for them.”

Head-to-Head on the Softball Diamond

In 2006, the very first pitch of a Thriller at Miller game was thrown at Helfaer Field in Milwaukee, adjacent to the then-named Miller Park (now American Family Field). The game pitted MCW students against Marquette University dental students. The winning school took home a trophy, while the money raised supported an assisted living facility and student scholarships.

In 2019, Thriller at Miller took two strikes – the COVID-19 pandemic and the passing of Denis Lynch, DDS, PhD, a Marquette dentist who was a major champion of the game – and the game was put on hiatus.

When Milejczyk and Kumar learned about Thriller at Miller through an MCW alumnus, they knew they wanted to breathe life back into the tradition.

“We wanted to bring back Thriller at Miller to support a sense of school spirit and community,” says Kumar.

They also felt Thriller at Miller would complement MCW’s spring fundraiser, a basketball game called Hoops for Hunger, which Milejczyk helps organize.

To bring the game back, Milejczyk and Kumar split roles. Kumar did the behind-the-scenes work, partnering with nearby Watertown and Waterfair apartments, which funded the game. Milejczyk did the public-facing work, marketing the game to the MCW community.

Held in September, the event was open to all MCW learners, staff, faculty, and alumni, as well as the Milwaukee public. Originally set to take place at Helfaer Field, a rainstorm moved the game inside at the Brookfield Sports Complex.

There, four medical student teams faced off, while Jose Franco, MD ‘90, senior associate dean of education in the School of Medicine, announced the plays. For those off the field, yard games, food, and socializing kept the pep up.

Ultimately, the second-year medical students emerged victorious and the historic trophy received a new plaque commemorating their win.

“When the M2s won, it was so high energy,” says Milejczyk. “It was really fun and we were able to raise more than $5,000 for BRAVE.”

A Commitment to Caring for Veterans and First Responders

Both Milejczyk and Kumar say that the model of care they experienced at BRAVE will stick with them.

“The thing I like about BRAVE is that they treat the whole person,” says Kumar. “A lot of people say they do that, but BRAVE actually does. That’s how I would like to practice medicine.”

As they continue their medical journeys, they hope that Thriller at Miller will continue, too. Ideally, the event would expand to include MCW pharmacy and graduate students in addition to Marquette dental and law students.

There is one thing, however, they hope won’t change: the support for BRAVE.

“Veterans and first responders have a lot of invisible wounds,” says Milejczyk. “They are expected to move on and live like everybody else, but they’re not like everybody else. I am glad that healthcare programs like BRAVE exist and can support them.”

“Veterans and first responders have very hard and underappreciated jobs,” says Kumar. “Their sacrifices and what they stand for can be overlooked. I am very appreciative of programs like BRAVE that have their back.”