The Cleveland Browns recognized a Navy veteran and his new service dog at Huntington Bank Field Sunday afternoon during their game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Ellis Newsome lives with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and was recently matched with Valor, his new service dog from K-9s for Warriors.

“It was like a new start. He helped me in so many ways,” Newsome said. “I have a social life now compared to before him, I rarely left the house unless I had to.”

Lindsay Grayson, Director of Revenue, spoke to News 5 about the importance of the K9s’ work to the Warriors.

“It’s extremely important to recognize service dogs and what K9s for Warriors does. We provide these highly trained dogs to veterans for free, but they suffer from these invisible wounds of war that people don’t see,” he said. Grayson said. .

Dogs in the program are rescue dogs who are then trained to become service dogs.

Valor was rescued from a breeding hoarding case before being paired with Newsome.

“Studies show that service dogs reduce suicidal ideation and they are able to go out and regain their independence, something they were not able to do before being deployed or joining the service.”