Matthew Thompson Matthew Thompson is survived by his loving
Mar. 19—Matthew Thompson Matthew Thompson is survived by his loving wife Teresa, his children Megan and Christopher, his three step-children, Derek, Ashlee, and Monica, and was known as "Papa" to his multiple grandchildren. He is also survived by his mother, Barbara, sister Kristin and stepmother, Kathleen. He passed away on March 16, 2025. Born on August 2, 1962, Matt lived a life filled with adventure, compassion, and fun. Matt's remarkable journey was shaped by his distinguished military and medical career. He was selected to attend the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, where he received his MD in dermatology, launching his military career. He served 10 years of active duty in the Navy, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Matt took great pride in his time with the Marines as a flight surgeon with the Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 369 MAG-39 in Oceanside, CA. Following his military service, Matt continued his medical career as a dermatologist at Lovelace Hospital in Albuquerque, NM for 5 years. In 2007, he opened his own leading dermatology practice, which grew to become one of the best in the state. His dedication to patient care and expertise in his field earned him a reputation as an exceptional doctor, cherished by his patients. Matt continued to serve as a dermatologist until his passing, dedicating more than 35 years to the field and leaving a lasting impact on his patients and community. Matt embodied the qualities of being funny, intentional, and adventurous. He had a gift for making everyone around him smile, often through his quick wit and playful humor. When the joking subsided, Matt's intentional nature shone through, as he listened with genuine care and made each person feel seen and heard. An avid explorer, Matt's adventurous spirit led him to discover the world's wonders, both above and below water. He was passionate about scuba diving, embarking on multiple trips annually. His love for the outdoors also included hiking, fishing, and skiing. In quieter moments, Matt enjoyed collecting license plates, tinkering in his garage, hunting, reading military history books, and exploring local breweries. Matt will be laid to rest with full military honors at the Santa Fe National Cemetery. He is now in heaven with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as well as his father, Lt Col John F. Thompson, where he will continue to inspire others through the legacy he leaves behind. His family and community will remember him for his ability to brighten any room with laughter and his encouragement to explore life's many wonders. As he would say, "Go on an adventure while you still can." Matthew Thompson will be deeply missed, but his impact on those who knew him will endure. His family invites friends and loved ones to celebrate his life and share in the joy he brought to so many. The funeral service will be held at Sandia Presbyterian Church, located at 10704 Paseo Del Norte NE, Albuquerque, NM 87122, on March 24, 2025. A public viewing will begin at 10:30 AM, followed by the service at 11:00 AM. At 12:30 PM, Matt will be escorted to Santa Fe National Cemetery for interment. All are invited to attend and pay their respects during this solemn occasion. If you wish to send flowers, kindly direct them to FRENCH — Wyoming. Your thoughtful gesture will be greatly appreciated. Please visit our online guestbook for Matthew at www.frenchfunerals.com.
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Officials monitoring toxic algae blooms at Zion National Park
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CBS News
2 days ago
- CBS News
Nine veterans with PTSD went to Mexico for a psychedelic retreat. This is how they felt nearly a year later.
This is an updated version of a story first published on Feb. 2, 2025. The original video can be viewed here. Last year, for the first time, the Veterans Administration announced it would begin funding its own clinical trials to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and addiction, using two psychedelic drugs psilocybin and MDMA. Even if these trials are successful, it would be years before the VA could prescribe either drug for its patients. Thousands of veterans who are suffering aren't waiting, desperate for help, they're attending psychedelic retreats in countries where the drugs are legal to use, mostly in indigenous ceremonies. In March 2024, we were invited to join nine veterans who traveled to the west coast of Mexico for a psychedelic journey they hoped would finally help ease their pain. They came to Mexico from all over the United States, a group of nine veterans — with invisible wounds that are hard to heal. Their destination: a remote village near Puerto Vallarta for a week-long psychedelic retreat. It was a voyage into the unknown, but a risk worth taking for TJ Duff, a former Navy sailor. Anderson Cooper: Are you optimistic? TJ Duff: Being optimistic is hard for me. Because I've been through a lot of therapy, a lot of different treatments. And not a lotta success. Duff was 18 when he joined the Navy. Months into his first deployment aboard the USS Cole, he says he narrowly escaped death, when two suicide bombers attacked the ship in Yemen, killing 17 sailors. TJ Duff 60 Minutes TJ Duff: Everyone around me was killed. There's bodies, alive and dead, being piled up in the midships. And-- I think that's really where I just started holding everything in. Randy Weaver: Don't have it where I'm-- I'm jumping in ditches when I hear loud noises. My PTSD's-- is kind of a self-destructive form. Randy Weaver is a police officer in New York. A former staff sergeant in the Army, he was diagnosed with PTSD in 2007, after returning home from tours in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Randy Weaver: It's the constant, you know, what if I had done this? What if we did that, you know? Anderson Cooper: Are those things you want to revisit while you're taking the psilocybin? Randy Weaver: Yeah. If I could revisit them-- and see them maybe from a different perspective like, not where I failed somebody. Anderson Cooper: Is there a particular incident that you feel that you failed somebody? Randy Weaver: Yeah. So-- March 18th, 20 years ago. In 2004, Weaver's platoon was caught in a firefight in an Afghan village. Two soldiers were killed, one of them his friend, Staff Sergeant Anthony Lagman. Weaver's worn this bracelet with Lagman's name on it since coming home. Anderson Cooper: You've been wearing that for 20 years. Randy Weaver: Yeah. Every day. Weaver says he's tried nearly every treatment for PTSD the VA offers including talk therapy, exposure therapy, meditation, and antidepressants. Randy Weaver: You get to a point where you're-- you're so mentally exhausted and you've created so much destruction that you-- your demons tell yourself that these-- your family would be better off without you and when those demons tell you those things every day, it's somethin' hard to ignore. Anderson Cooper: Will this help with that? Randy Weaver: I hope so. Randy Weaver speaks with Anderson Cooper 60 Minutes The retreat was organized and paid for by the Heroic Hearts Project, a nonprofit that's helped more than 1,000 U.S. veterans with combat-related PTSD access psychedelics. Ed Glover: I came home-- super angry, super anxious, hyper-vigilant. You know, that led to-- a pretty nasty divorce. Ed Glover was in Afghanistan with the Marines. He's been a firefighter for 22 years. 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Jesse Gould: I appreciate you guys for putting the-- the faith in me, the faith in us coming here. Jesse Gould, a former Army ranger, founded the Heroic Hearts Project in 2017 after he tried another psychedelic, ayahuasca, at a retreat in Peru. Gould says psychedelics can help veterans revisit traumatic moments in ways they may be unable to with other therapies. Jesse Gould: The value of what we're finding with psychedelics is it's a very individualistic journey. You know it comes at you. It brings up the emotions. It heightens your senses. And so you're having to face it. And-- so that's why you see such big revelations because it's giving you the tools to actually get there. Anderson Cooper: Do you worry that some who see this as sort of a last hope may end up disappointed? Jesse Gould: I worry that we're at the situation where people are having to go to other countries for their last hope that indicates a major flaw in the system. 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While firefighter Ed Glover appeared caught between rapture, and deep sorrow. Five hours later, when the psilocybin began to wear off, the vets removed their eye masks and found the heat of the afternoon sun. The next day the group gathered to discuss what they'd gone through. Michael Giardina: It literally felt like an exorcism. My foot was goin' crazy, and I could kinda feel like my body was convulsing. Michael Giardina 60 Minutes Ed Glover: I felt like I was taking-- every last breath of any victim, patient, or friend that I had lost. So I really struggled to breathe yesterday Randy Weaver: I've never done anything like that before. …Randy Weaver appeared to find some of what he traveled all this way for. Randy Weaver: One thing that I remember very vividly was flying back with the guys that-- that we lost like bein' on that medevac, even though I wasn't there in the real world. I was there s-- spiritually with them. TJ Duff however, found it unsettling and at times scary. 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Dr. Shereef Elnahal: They can concern me because there's no way to monitor, certify-- make sure that they're actually safe environments. They're seeking these therapies because they do not see our current options for them to be effective enough, and they're in a state of desperation. And that, in and of itself, them seeking this type of unauthorized therapy, is just another indication on why we need to study this further, and get it to a safe and effective medical environment Last August, the FDA rejected a pharmaceutical company's application to use the psychedelic MDMA in combination with therapy as a treatment for PTSD, after an FDA advisory panel said there wasn't enough evidence it was safe or effective. The VA is now conducting 11 clinical trials using MDMA and psilocybin to treat PTSD, depression and addiction. Dr. Elnahal told us, a small phase two trial by the VA using MDMA and therapy to treat PTSD, completed last year, showed real promise. Dr. Shereef Elnahal 60 Minutes Dr. Shereef Elnahal: 45% have gone into complete remission, which is essentially a "normal emotional state." That is unheard-of with prolonged exposure, cognitive processing, and certainly SSRIs, the current standard-of-care options. Anderson Cooper: Almost half of the people who came in with PTSD and did MDMA therapy at the VA were cured? Dr. Shereef Elnahal: Yes. Anderson Cooper: So you have no doubt that this works? Dr. Shereef Elnahal: We need to do larger Phase III clinical trials. That's the best way, scientifically, to understand what the true-- adverse events are and whether we can reproduce these results in larger populations of veterans. I'm very optimistic we will be able to demonstrate that. Anderson Cooper: How long do you think it'll be before veterans can go to the VA and get this therapy Dr. Shereef Elnahal: It could be another couple of years. The incoming administration is gonna take, you know, a pretty bold stance on this Anderson Cooper: What makes you optimistic that the new administration is gonna be a believer in this? Dr. Shereef Elnahal: We've heard the nominee for HHS-- Robert F. Kennedy, Junior, talk about what he thinks the potential breakthrough therapy is. We'll see what that stance is of other health officials, but that's really promising. Nearly a year after that retreat in Mexico, we checked in with the nine veterans who attended. Eight of them told us their symptoms had improved and called their experience with psychedelics "life-changing." Ed Glover said he felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Anderson Cooper: How are you doin'? Ed Glover: Very well. Ed Glover in Mexico 60 Minutes Shortly after coming home from the retreat, he decided to retire as a firefighter. Ed Glover: Prior to the retreat, I thought about takin' my life just about every day. I had a very close call. You know, the note, the gun. That is no longer the case. Anderson Cooper: You haven't had thoughts of killing yourself since then? Ed Glover: Not one. And Randy Weaver says his suicidal ideations have stopped as well. Randy Weaver: I don't have any of those thoughts since-- since goin' through-- through this journey. Anderson Cooper: That's remarkable. Randy Weaver: I would say yeah. Anderson Cooper: You had told the-- the group afterward that you had visualized people on a medevac helicopter that you had served with. Randy Weaver: Yeah. Anderson Cooper: What-- what was the impact of that? Randy Weaver: In combat things happen quickly. One minute you're talkin' to your friend and the next minute, you know, he's-- you're-- you're puttin' him in a body bag. That causes a gap in your psyche so to be able to revisit those incidences -- you know, seein' those helicopters come back with friends it brings a little-- peace to you, yeah. Since our report aired in February, former firefighter Ed Glover suffered a setback in his decades-long battle with PTSD and has since sought conventional mental health care. The new head of the Veterans Administration, Secretary Doug Collins, says he supports more research for psychedelic therapies. Produced by Katie Brennan. Associate producer, Eliza Costas. Broadcast associate, Grace Conley. Edited by Matthew Danowski.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Navy launches frantic search for female sailor who vanished near her barracks a week ago
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