The cinders from Nathan Foster’s Spanaway home crunched under his shoes as he walks. He held a wallet photo booklet in his ash-stained hands and flipped through the pages; the fire didn’t touch scorch post of the pictures. He stared at snapshots of his family, smiling during happier, simpler times.

"So much is gone or ruined," the 32-year-old father of four said. "We probably don’t even know everything that was destroyed. But we really are trying to look on the positive things."

It’s been three weeks since a fire tore through the Fosters’ home. The insurance company declared it a total loss, and it could be a long time before they can rebuild and move back in.

The family struggled at times with despair and frustration: How would Nathan, a Washington National Guard soldier, return from Iraq? How would they deal with the insurance company? Where would they stay?

But the positive things about which Foster speaks are many. Neighbors, many of whom they rarely talked to, offered to help. Strangers helped collect donations of money, clothes and more for them. Family took them in. And the Army, just days before Nathan was scheduled to return to Iraq, reclassified him, allowing him to stay with his family.

"It’s been a best-case scenario and a worst-case scenario," said Nathan, a staff sergeant with the 81st Brigade Combat Team. "Things get frustrating at times, yeah, but really, people have been so helpful this entire time. I’ll always remember that."

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"The Alzheimer’s Project," an HBO documentary that has been receiving some buzz ahead of its debut Sunday, focuses in part on research done by scientists at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System.

Press release below:

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