HEBRON, Ky. — A Kentucky man who was preparing to hike across the country for the second time has sadly had his journey cut short. While Troy Yocum was dedicated to ending veteran suicide, it was COVID-19 that ultimately took his life too soon, according to his family.
What You Need To Know
- Troy Yocum was training to hike across America for the second time to raise awareness of veteran suicide
- Yocum became ill with COVID-19 in late December and passed away shortly after
- His sister said his passing came as a shock to her family
- Yocum’s mission to end veteran suicide will continue through his charity, Warrior Battalion
Spectrum News 1 first met with Yocum in November.
He was just preparing for what would be the journey of a lifetime for most people. For him, this was his second time around.
“I deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007 and 2008, and returned home from war, and had a crazy idea to walk across America,” he said. “It obviously was a very difficult thing physically, but also mentally, to wake up every single day, walk another 15 to 25 miles to the next town, and then do it all over again every single day for 17 months.”
Yocum set out to raise awareness of veteran suicide. His younger sister Tara Jo Thomas said he did just that.
“We thought he was crazy. But at the same time, we were like, that’s Troy. He’s got a vision, he’s going. The wheels just don’t stop for him. And I’ll be darned if he didn’t do it. He did it. And he got sponsors. And was recognized across America,” she said. “It was amazing. And I forgot how amazing it was, because I kind of got used to how amazing it was. You can Google him forever.”
There Yocum was in November, in a gym in Florence over 10 years later, trying to get himself in shape to do it again through his charity, Warrior Battalion.
Thomas said that’s just the person her brother was.
“He was ready to strap on the boots again and get back to it. He had plans. It just didn’t come to fruition,” she said.
About a month later, just after Christmas, Yocum became sick with COVID-19. Thomas remembered calling her brother on December 29.
“He just said he felt terrible,” she said. “Something was different about that conversation, I do believe, because he was telling me other things going on in his life, and I just tried to tell him, ‘Hey just get through COVID, and worry about the next step after.’”
Thomas described her brother as a “tough nut to crack.”
“The way that he was a little gentler on that phone conversation, it seemed that he was a little like ‘this is serious,’” she said.
The conversation wrapped up. No big deal, Thomas thought.
“He said I love you, and I said I love you, and I just didn’t know that was going to be the last conversation, because it seemed okay. And then a few days after, he went to the hospital. And it happened so quickly that we didn’t really even know, until he was coding in the ICU,” she said.
She jumped in her car and rushed to the hospital to be with her brother, along with their mother.
Yocum passed away on Jan. 4, 2022. He was 42 years old.
One of his goals with his training was to lose a significant amount of weight. Thomas said she thinks his weight played a factor in his condition deteriorating rapidly.
Fast forward to March, and instead of going to see her big brother, and giving him a big hug, Thomas was looking at his pictures in disbelief.
“My admiration for him was undeniable. I was a tomboy because I had a big brother, and just always hanging out with the guys,” she said. “I know I annoyed him because I tattle-tailed on him like crazy.”
He was a leader who “had his moments” of getting into trouble as a child. As the two grew up, Thomas said her friends always wanted to date her brother.
She picked up a picture of Yocum taken after he joined the Army.
“This is my favorite picture. I just love this one. Because he wants to pretend that he’s so bad. And I’m just like, nah. I know what I could do to just take you out,” Thomas said, laughing.
Joining the military changed Yocum’s entire perspective on life, Thomas said.
“That’s when things changed for him. He saw a different side of the world,” she said.
Veteran suicide is something Yocum saw up close, losing one of his best friends.
What Thomas admired most about her brother, she said, was how driven he was to help veterans not feel so alone. In his final moments, she wanted him to feel that way, too.
“The last thing I told him was, I love you, you’re not alone. So I could kind of reiterate that affection,” she said.
Yocum really wasn’t alone. Thomas said she’s been blown away by the hundreds of people who’ve commented about the impact her brother made after she posted about his passing on Facebook.
“They remembered him. And that speaks volumes,” she said. “I think he could’ve lived to 100, and his mission still wouldn’t have been done, because he was never going to stop.”
That mission isn’t done. Yocum’s friends with the Warrior Battalion plan to continue the hike across America Yocum was planning. Thomas said she’ll do some hiking for her brother, too.
“It was an honor to grow up with him. I’ll miss him forever. I really will. Him and I being children together, you don’t lose that bond. We loved him very much,” she said.
In November, Yocum said he had a long way to go in his training, but he wanted to give others hope, and continue to put a spotlight on something he cared about deeply.
“You know, obviously people ask me, so how did you walk across America? My answer always is one step at a time. It just happened to be 35 million steps,” he said.
Services for Yocum will be held at the Newcomer Funeral Home in Louisville on March 18 from 9:30-10:15 a.m.
The procession will begin at 10:30 a.m., and graveside services begin at 11 a.m. at Kentucky Veterans Cemetery.
Instead of flowers, his family is asking for donations to the Warrior Battalion.
