A former Orlando police officer, struggling to overcome post-traumatic stress disorder after the shooting at Pulse, is now waging a new fight: to get paid by the city of Orlando.

Gerry Realin wants the city to grant him his retirement benefits. The city will consider his petition at a disability hearing before the pension board in City Hall at 10:30 a.m. Thursday.

“I don’t think that someone who serves our community, who lives their life on the line, should have to worry about losing everything," said his wife, Jessica. “I’m hoping that they will take into account what the doctors have said, and they will retire my husband.”

The fight of their lives

The road to Thursday has not been easy for the family. Soon after the shooting at Pulse, doctors diagnosed Gerry with PTSD. He launched into therapy sessions; his recovery, according to Jessica, hindered by constant battles against Florida law, which does not grant worker's compensation benefits to first responders suffering solely from PTSD.

“While having to battle that, we were battling the system as well," Jessica remarked. “It’s just been incredibly difficult. We went to the city-assigned doctors; we never challenged them.”

But in June, the officer exhausted his sick and vacation time. Paychecks stopped, and the family began living on donations to stay afloat.

“We could lose everything; it’s that real," Jessica said.

Attorney Geoff Bichler is fighting to make sure that doesn’t happen, representing the Realins at Thursday's hearing.

“We feel pretty good that the pension should be awarded," Bichler said. “This has been almost a pattern of harassment from the beginning of this case, where they didn’t want to acknowledge the nature and severity of the condition; they wanted to force him back to work.”

Congressman backs Realin

Others offered their support to the family, including Democratic Rep. Darren Soto, who represents the 9th District. Soto wrote a letter to the pension board on Realin's behalf. That letter can be viewed here.

“This isn’t some whimsical claim for benefits; this is someone who’s been clinically diagnosed," said Soto in a phone call Tuesday.

Orlando said in a statement that it's committed to helping the officer in his recovery but met its limit to reimburse. It also said that it “took into account his doctor’s recommendations” and made other jobs available to Realin, which he did not take.

“It just seems like there’s this vendetta against my husband," Jessica said. “I think they’re afraid of a floodgate situation. They think a lot of people are going to come forward and claim that they have PTSD that do not have injuries."

Jessica insists much comes down to the city not understanding her husband's suffering or what the family has been through.

She has a lot riding on Thursday.

“We’re right now in a downward spiral, but hopefully we’ll be moving forward and closing this chapter," she said.

The disability hearing takes place on the second-floor Sustainability Room in City Hall and is open to the public.

If you'd like to help the Realin family, go to their GoFundMe fundraising page.

Police department responds

In a statement to News 13, the Orlando Police Department mentioned that police pensions are granted by an independent board and that board will make the determination in this case.

The department also mentioned its support for Realin.

"The City of Orlando has supported Officer Realin by insuring that he received full pay through the interim disability committee, whose ability to reimburse officers is limited by policies and procedures, and in Officer Realin's case, those limits have been met. Officer Realin has also had — and continues to have — full access to and use of all of the City of Orlando's resources through the Employee Assistance Program," the police department stated.  

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