Making a meaningful impact in memory of a brother, son, friend and veteran

Making a meaningful impact in memory of a brother, son, friend and veteran

Kind, energetic and always willing to lend a hand. That's how Brooke Mohn says her son's fellow service members described him, and it's how she knew his legacy should always be remembered. Sgt. Tyler John Wood joined the Army after graduating from Onalaska High School in 2014. The five years that followed included stations at Ft. Sill in Okla. and a deployment to South Korea, after which he married his wife and had a baby girl.

While stationed in Hawaii, Tyler died by suicide on July 17, 2019 - a moment that Brooke still struggles to talk about. In 2019, more than 6,000 veterans and almost 500 active-duty military members also lost their lives this way. "You just feel like, he's meant to be more than that, than just another statistic of suicide," says Brooke.

According to Brooke, service members often face extra stigma around mental health concerns, and they fear getting discharged if they speak up. She remembers her own fear of talking about her son's suicide, but she decided to honor her son's memory by working with her family and the community to help others in need. Together with her sister and stepdaughter, they formed Wood's Warriors Suicide Awareness and Prevention (SAP). Brooke says using Tyler's last name was crucial to show that "we're his warriors, keeping his spirit alive."

While the name of their organization includes awareness for suicide in general, it was also important to Brooke to keep an emphasis on the military. When planning their first event, an online initiative due to COVID, they challenged participants to get 22 miles of some sort of exercise each day. This was a reference to the often-quoted statistic from a 2012 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs report that said 22 veteran and active-duty military members take their own lives every day.

In addition to the fitness challenge, the team created a grid to track all the activities, had t-shirts made, made Facebook and blog posts highlighting other veterans who had died by suicide and gave out prizes for the people with the most miles tracked. Brooke recalls, "it was a lot of work for just three of us," but she says they learned a lot from the experience.

A few years later, the team got together again and partnered with Hometown Heroes, a group whose local chapter chose to honor Tyler at their ice fishing tournament for three years. This experience empowered Brooke and Tyler's family to start their own ice fishing event. On Jan. 25, 2025, they hosted the first annual Wood's Warriors Ice Fishing event at Lucky's on the Lake in Lodi, Wis. to help raise funds for local suicide outreach efforts. The event included a basket raffle, live auction and a meat raffle, in addition to fishing. Brooke says everyone pitched in, with meals provided by Lucky's and signed sports memorabilia, homemade quilts, ice fishing equipment and many other donated items.

Because of the community's love of Tyler and enthusiasm for mental health awareness, Brooke says the event surpassed all expectations. She reports that 70 people were in attendance for ice fishing, and many more showed up in support of the event, including packing the bar and local hotel full. They raised almost $26,000! This made Brooke and the family wonder, "we got way more than we expected; where do we want to put some of these funds?"

Thankfully, that answer came easily. Because Tyler's dad and stepmom were connected to the Madison area, they gave some of the proceeds to Ruck 22, an organization that raises awareness for veteran suicide. For Brooke's part, her work as a revenue cycle manager at Emplify Health by Gundersen came into the picture. She had been working with Josh Court, clinical operations director of Behavioral Health, on the billing and payments for the EmPATH unit. This "mental health urgent care" project is slated to open soon on the La Crosse hospital campus, thanks in part to philanthropic support. "It kind of felt like I was brought into this project for a reason," Brooke says. Though this project isn't specifically to benefit only veterans, she feels like the impact still matters. "We have enough military in the area that if we have options for mental health care, it would be beneficial to give," says Brooke.

And so, on what would have been Tyler's 30th birthday, Sept. 17, 2025, Brooke and Wood's Warriors SAP made a $10,000 gift to EmPATH in memory of Sgt. Tyler John Wood. This gift will help ensure this much-needed resource is available to veterans and civilians alike. And Brooke and her family say they're not done yet. Starting with next year's fishing event on Jan. 24, 2026, they're looking to raise funds to support the next generation of behavioral health professionals by starting a scholarship for high school seniors entering the field. Brooke hopes that their efforts will show others that it's okay to talk about mental health and veteran suicide and that together, we can create a healthier community.

Join Brooke in supporting the EmPATH project.