The Neil Haley Show Featuring Yul Vazquez, James Muir, Dr. Gilda Carle, and Mike Freix

The Neil Haley Show Featuring Yul Vazquez, James Muir, Dr. Gilda Carle, and Mike FreixNeil opened the Total Celebrity Segment with actor Yul Vazquez, the Reverend on NBC's Midnight, Texas, talking ahead of the season finale. Yul shared how he constantly gets recognized for his Seinfeld appearances (including the famously controversial Puerto Rican Day Parade episode and the "wear the ribbon" episode) decades after the fact. He walked through his Reverend character, the oldest inhabitant of Midnight whose secret were-tiger nature surfaces during the full moon, and previewed the finale's veil fraying and demon arrival. Yul lit up describing the show's fan base, with whom the cast live-tweets every episode, and made a direct appeal to network executives that streaming, social media engagement, and demographic wins matter more than overnight ratings, urging NBC to renew rather than risk a fan riot. Find him on Twitter at @YulVazquez and use #AskMidnightTexas during the live tweet.Neil then welcomed retired paramedic and author James Muir to discuss his book Damaged: A First Responder's Experiences with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. James offered a clear-eyed definition of PTSD as a normal response to abnormal situations, with the amygdala refusing to let go of what it has seen. He shared how decades of unprocessed trauma turned him into someone who couldn't tolerate small sounds, blew up over dropped spoons, lost sleep, and ended three marriages before his current wife became his biggest supporter and found him a PTSD service dog (part Great Dane, part Dutch Shepherd) that transformed his ability to leave the house. James walked through coping tools that have worked for him, including woodworking, music (especially Evanescence at bedtime), and counseling, and described the most haunting call of his 1986 to 2011 career, a 1988 pediatric case for a little girl named Krista whose mother reached out through a memorial page in 2018 after he posted that he still thought of her every day, finally letting him release the guilt. James spoke candidly about hypervigilance, isolation, addiction to pain medication after breaking his hand and his back, and the truth that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. Pick up Damaged on Amazon or contact James at damagedthebook@outlook.com.Dr. Gilda Carle then joined for a Gilda Gram dedicated to the International Council for Men and Boys, where she serves as spokesperson. Inspired by a request from the executive vice president to write a blog, she highlighted country music singer Tate Holder, who canceled the rest of his tour to take a mental health break. Dr. Gilda called him a real man not just for acknowledging the problem, but for doing so without a woman pushing him to a doctor and for sacrificing something he loved (his music) to address that he felt "lonely and unfulfilled." She cited the suicide rate among men being four times that of women and urged listeners to recognize that real women love real men who allow themselves to be vulnerable. Visit drgilda.com.Neil closed with the Storehouse Media Group / Jesus and Ugly Jody simulcast with host Jody Corbet welcoming her dear friend Mike Freix, founder of Lazarus MotorWorks and Make a Difference NoVa, based in Centreville, Virginia. Mike shared his faith journey from 45 years as a practicing Catholic to questioning the Magisterium after Bible study with a seminarian, full-immersion baptism in June 2023 at New Life Church under Pastor Pat Ferguson, and the two annual words his wife challenged him to pick that reshaped his life: "surrender" and "make a difference." Out of those came his nonprofit work serving the homeless and the founding of Lazarus MotorWorks with co-founder Dan, branded by Patrick Dennis, which has now given away 50+ cars in less than three years, including roughly 15 to 20 cars to Afghan Special Immigration Visa refugee families. Mike, a Navy veteran originally from Florida who transitioned into Defense...