Even as a family member of a veteran, I did not truly comprehend the lasting and ongoing impact their service had on them, their spouse, children, and the rest of the family. Blood Stripe tells the story of that ongoing experience in a way that resonated with me and so many others, helping me appreciate what service to your country really means." — Megan's Brother, Aaron Gula

About the Filmmaker

​Denise Weller has a professional background in the performing arts and has worked in the field of dance and theater as a teacher, dancer, author and choreographer. In 1992, she founded Ohio Dance Theatre, a professional ballet-based contemporary dance company, and served as the company's Artistic Director for 25 years. In 2015, motivated by her daughter Megan's experience as the spouse of a veteran with PTSD and TBI (traumatic brain injury), Denise began working on a new project intended to bring attention to the ongoing challenges faced by families whose veterans suffer from invisible wounds of war. The result was an original multimedia theatrical dance performance piece titled “Blood Stripe: a Spouse's Story,” which premiered at Cleveland Public Theatre. 

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AUDIENCE MEMBERS RESPOND TO THE MESSAGE OF BLOOD STRIPE

• One email — from the son of a WWII veteran — spoke of a resentment that had lasted a lifetime and how he had finally understood his father's behavior. He thanked me for the performance and wished his mother were still alive to have seen the production. He believed if she had, she would have known that it was never her fault.
• A Viet Nam veteran who worked closely with PTSD veterans remarked that he thought after all these years, he knew everything there was to know about living and dealing with PTSD. Following the performance he said that he owed his wife a huge apology. He had always been so consumed with his own pain and the challenges he faced living with PTSD, he never realized how much pain she was in or how much being a part of his life and living with his PTSD had effected her.

I soon realized I needed a more practical way to deliver the message than an expensive stage production and decided a film documentary would be more useful. The film could help bring attention to the challenges faced by combat veteran spouses, but I needed to do more than help veteran spouses validate their experience.

In the Spring of 2017, Hearts of Patriots was founded so that others would not have to endure similar struggles alone. Denise has been a featured speaker at the statewide American Legion of Ohio Mid-Winter Conference, and the 2019 VA Community Mental Health Summit. Her work with Hearts of Patriots has been highlighted by CNN New Day Weekend, Cleveland Magazine, NewsChannel 5, WKYC theTV-3 and more.