Gold Star Family Receives Life-Changing Gift Through Service Dogs

Jillian Hinton’s face lights up with a wide smile as Kylo, a two-year-old black lab, playfully saunters over to her desk, resting his face on her lap as Hinton begins a recent Zoom call. 

Kylo is the first service dog to be placed with a Gold Star family through Dogs Inc., which trains highly skilled companion dogs. Since losing her husband, Terrance, in a devastating accident in 2017, Hinton and her young daughter, Kayleigh, barely five years old, struggled to cope. 

But when Kayleigh was placed with Taylor, a therapy dog in 2020, her mom quickly saw how much the dog boosted her daughter’s spirit. Hinton thought maybe bringing in another companion would help her overcome the empty feelings of loss and depression. 

Through Dogs Inc., she was matched with Kylo. As soon as the dog arrived on Oct. 8, 2025, it was like the pair had known each other for years. 

“He ran into the room as if he had been running towards me his whole life,” Hinton told Military.com. “This dog was so excited. He came right up to me, gave me the hug cue, and draped himself on me. I kind of just melted into him.” 

From that moment, Hinton had a buddy to help carry the heavy burden she’s had strapped to her shoulders like a rucksack since May 17, 2017, when she received the words no wife and mother ever wants to hear – your husband has died.  

Dog Helps Heal Daughter 

“Three years of carrying her grief was really heavy for my daughter,” Hinton said. “She had a time when she was looking for ways to go to heaven to be with her dad. Words weren’t enough, counseling wasn’t working and I had learned about Dogs Inc. from another Army widow who had received a Gold Star companion dog also from Dogs Inc. I had seen how a companion dog made an impact in another Gold Star family’s life.” 

After Taylor, also a black lab, arrived at the Hinton home, the connection she made to Kayleigh was instant. Kayleigh had been sleeping underneath her bed for almost a year before Taylor’s arrival. The night after the dog showed up, Kayleigh was no longer scared and started sleeping in her bed.

“Taylor didn’t want anything from her,” Hinton said. “She wasn’t asking her to share her feelings or how it feels since your dad left? She just showed up and stayed. And when you’re little and really confused about all the punches life is throwing at you, at times that’s all you need, that unconditional love to show up, and it helps that it’s black and fuzzy. But sometimes you learn in that moment that the love you thought you lost never left, it just changed forms.” 

While there was no flip of the switch to Kayleigh’s recovery, the dog provided the comfort and unconditional love the young girl needed to slowly return to a healthy life. Before Taylor arrived, Kayleigh had crippling separation anxiety and bouts of self-isolation. Hinton began homeschooling her daughter. 

“I was scared of losing anything else,” Hinton said. “But Taylor came, and she did what I was unable to do. It brought Kayleigh back to me.”

In March of 2024, Kayleigh’s older brother, Christian, followed in his dad’s footsteps, signing up for the Marine Corps. While Hinton was proud of her son serving, Christian’s leaving home and heading off to boot camp sent Kayleigh into an emotional spiral. 

“She was sent down a path of what ifs and what’s going to happen?” her mom said. “No one can tell us everything is going to be OK.” 

Kayleigh’s newfound anxiety has Taylor working overtime to provide as many cuddles as her chief security blanket. 

“She’s just remarkable,” Hinton said of Taylor. 

Christian serves as a corporal at Camp Pendleton in southern California. 

Accident Changes Everything 

Terrance, a sergeant in the Army, was stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. He had worked in the Michigan auto industry for almost a decade, but when the economy took a nosedive, he decided to make a career shift to support his growing family. He joined the Army at age 27. He had spent eight and a half years in the Army at the time of his death. 

Built tall and husky with broad shoulders, Hinton described her husband as a “gentle giant,” always quick to get on the floor and play with his daughter when she was a toddler.  

“He loved Michigan football, loved the Lions,” Hinton said. “He was just a good father, a good husband, and a good son. He was our family’s rock.” 

Terrance was killed during a training exercise that went dangerously wrong. 

On Mother’s Day morning, 2017, Terrance was riding in a large Army vehicle, similar to a semi-truck, during an assignment off base on the Big Island. His truck was tasked with picking up ammunition, but the towing capacity of the cab was not verified against the amount of weight the truck was carrying, according to an investigation after the accident. Hinton said her husband and the driver were towing a forklift they planned to use to transport ammo from local docs into the semi’s trailer. 

The truck was 1.2 tons overweight. As they headed down a mountain, the truck’s brakes suffered “catastrophic failure.” Hinton’s husband, and the truck’s 19-year-old driver, were left with three choices: swerve to the right, left, or simply go over. 

“My husband’s last words were to that 19-year-old kid, saying, ‘Hey, take us to the left, we’re going for a ride.’” He tried to take it left, but it sent the truck into a barrel roll, flipping it over the side of a cliff. When the vehicle came to a rest, the trailer had folded over onto the passenger side of the cab. My husband was crushed and killed instantly,” Hinton said.      

Following the accident, the military investigated to determine if Terrance died with honor and whether the victim’s family could receive benefits. Hinton said it’s a long, drawn-out process that can often make the pain and anguish of losing a loved one much worse. 

“We never talk about this in public because sometimes it’s a very lonely journey for the family, especially if it feels like the military is trying to discredit your soldier and it ends up being ‘unmerited’ or ‘unfounded,’ but it doesn’t remove the investigation or what we had to go through,” Hinton said. 

Throughout the investigation, Hinton said the Army scrutinized several of her husband’s actions before the accident – was he drinking? Did he have eight hours of sleep the night before? Was he wearing Kevlar? Was he wearing his seatbelt? 

Since the accident occurred on public property, Hinton was able to work with the Hilo Police Department to help support her case. However, that meant viewing extremely graphic photos of the accident scene, which was like a knife cutting open fresh wounds for the Army widow. 

“I had to see pictures of my husband’s crushed body to confirm he had his equipment on; pictures of him being cut from the wreckage so I know he had a seatbelt on,” Hinton said. 

Hinton also had independent toxicology reports completed showing her husband was not drinking alcohol before the accident. While photos proved Hinton’s case, the gruesome images became lodged in her memory for years afterwards. 

“For years, those pictures have played in my mind, and they flash between wonderful pictures of family memories and pictures of his death,” Hinton said. “It created this sense in me that’s made me very afraid of the unknown and the unpredictable, and … it’s seven-plus years later, and I feel like I just started my grief journey when I met Kylo.” 

Hinton thought she had to face her grief alone until Kylo arrived. The dog sleeps with her at night and is the calming presence Hinton needs to help overcome anxiety and keep her centered. 

“He’s got me,” she said. “He’s really taught me, very quickly, that the here and now is exactly where I want to be.” 

Kylo’s Effect 

Several years after tragically losing her husband and raising her daughter through the most difficult time of her young life, Hinton thought she had reached a healthy spot. She was fooling herself. 

“My grief was still buried and unresolved,” she said. “Having the platform to take to the stage and share the story of my husband has really shaken loose some emotions that I had spent years suppressing.” 

Not long after she started working at Dogs Inc., Hinton realized she had never truly processed the grief over Terrance’s death. Last February, sensing one of his employees was in need, Dogs Inc. CEO Titus Herman met with Hinton and asked how the organization could help. Herman thought maybe supplying a service dog for a Gold Star family would help Hinton with the healing process. 

In the months leading up to Kylo’s placement, Hinton had doubts she was doing the right thing. 

“Do I really deserve this dog? Am I taking a service dog away from a veteran?” Hinton said. “I’ve never worn the uniform. Why do I deserve this? But Dogs Inc. explained to me, ‘Yeah, you didn’t wear the uniform, but you certainly paid the price.’” 

Hinton often puts up a deflective shield to protect herself from deep emotional wounds. 

“Everyone who’s met me since working at Dogs Inc. has met this cheerful version of me, always bubbly, always laughing … they still don’t even know that’s like my armor, my camouflage, and that’s the thing I do to make sure people don’t touch the raw parts of my story,” Hinton said. “But I’m thankful that I’m in a place now where I want to get help and I want to get healed. I shouldn’t feel guilty for that.” 

Since welcoming Kylo into her home, Hinton and her pal have been almost inseparable, traveling to several events across the country, from being on the sidelines at a University of South Florida football game to meeting Director of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and sharing their story in front of thousands of eager listeners. 

Hinton felt a wave of apprehension wash over her the first time she spoke in front of a large crowd two weeks after receiving Kylo. She wondered, Would he know when I’m struggling? Would he know how to comfort me when I get to the most difficult parts of my story?  

“I sat down on a chair, and he just rested his head on me, and he stayed there through the rest of my speech, kind of letting me know that I don’t have to carry the heavy parts alone anymore,” Hinton said. “He brought me right back to the parts of the speech I was giving and brought me back from some of the parts that are triggers for me. I hugged him and started crying. I said, ‘Thank you, Kylo. You have no idea how much I’ve needed this and how long I’ve been waiting for you.’”