The photo and everything after
My keynote. April 19, 1995, the twenty years of PTSD and silence that followed, and what it cost me before I asked for help.
Hi, I’m Chris.
As a 30-year firefighter and the subject of the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of the Oklahoma City Bombing, I know from personal experience that you can say you’re fine, look fine, and still be falling apart. Now, I help people stop pretending and start to recover.
On April 19, 1995, I carried a one-year-old girl out of the rubble in Oklahoma City. A photograph of that moment went around the world, and in some ways became the image of the disaster. While the photo ended up winning a Pulitzer Prize, what it never showed was the twenty years of PTSD, anxiety, and life collapse that followed.
Now I speak across the country about how to stop pretending, take off the mask, and build a life worth living.
31 years
on the Oklahoma City Fire Department
5,000
people reached each year
12+
speaking events a year, from academy classes to national conferences
Speaking
What I speak about
I speak at about a dozen events a year, especially to first responders (including their families and the clinicians who treat them) but also to anyone who has faced trauma and found it beginning to unravel their life. I speak to a variety of audiences and formats, from banquets to keynotes to workshops.
The mask
Why the people everyone leans on are often the last to admit they are struggling, and what it costs them to keep performing strength at work and at home.
Where it started
Why the hardest years often trace back to something much older, and why naming it was the turning point in my recovery.
Support Work
The work after the podium
I’m a peer team member for the Oklahoma First Responder Wellness Division, giving peer support and critical incident stress management to firefighters and other first responders across the state.
I serve on the advisory boards of the Survive First Foundation and the Quell Foundation, whose documentary Lift the Mask: Sound the Alarm featured me as one of its subjects.
I don’t call myself a hero. I call myself a fellow survivor.
Podcast
Trauma Behind the Badge
I co-host a weekly conversation about responder mental health with Chris Scallon, a retired Norfolk police sergeant and practicing clinician, and Raul Rivas, the Orlando officer who stopped the Pulse nightclub shooter. Each week, we deal with tough subjects in a frank and honest way.
Press
My story has been featured both by the biggest news outlets in the world and local media.
- The Long AftermathWORLD Radio, The World and Everything in It · July 14, 2026
- Retired Firefighter Looks Back at Tragedy of Oklahoma City Bombing, 30 Years LaterPBS News Weekend, with John Yang · April 19, 2025
- 30 Years Later: First Responders Reflect on Oklahoma City Bombing ResponseFireRescue1 · April 19, 2025
- Retired Firefighter Reflects on Oklahoma City Bombing ResponseNewsNation, Morning in America · April 17, 2025
- The Oklahoma City Bombing Was 30 Years Ago. Some Survivors Worry America Didn’t Learn the LessonAssociated Press, Syndicated nationally · April 16, 2025
Bring Chris to your organization or event
Click to book Chris at your next event.