New therapy aims to help treat veterans with brain injuries

The U.S. military is taking a hard look at how to treat veterans with severe brain injuries, and some of the most groundbreaking research is happening in Dallas.

The number of Americans with traumatic brain injuries went up dramatically during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It peaked in 2011 and has been declining slowly since. But last year alone, there were still more than 27,000 new cases.

Many of the worst brain injuries are combat-related, like the case of one former Navy SEAL who shared his story with FOX 4.

It's hard to say what's more incredible the survival of retired SEAL Sr. Chief Mike Day, or the unorthodox therapy that might just become the future solution to the treatment for people suffering from PTSD and traumatic brain injury.

Day suffers from what's called the invisible wounds of war, but his body is riddled with very visible scars from a 2007 battle with al-Qaida operatives.

"I got into a gunfight with these four guys, said Day. I was shot 27 times. I got shot in both legs, both arms, my abdomen, my buttocks, my scrotum, my left thumb, and my right scapula was shattered in about 30 pieces.

A grenade blast knocked him unconscious in the house where the fight was raging.

"I look back on that and it just completely amazes me that I walked out of that house, which I did, said Day. I walked out of the house. I walked to the helicopter.

But the damage to his brain was already done, with the symptoms persisting for seven years.

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New therapy aims to help treat veterans with brain injuries