British Army veteran Harry Turner had PTSD and was suffering from depression after leaving the service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unable to see the forest through the trees after a deployment to Afghanistan \u2014 one that led to a medical discharge \u2014 Turner booked a flight to the Peruvian Amazon with no plans to return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI bought a ticket to the jungle,\u201d he told Military Times. \u201cI went there with the intention to die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, Turner learned how to live, and moreover, how to save a life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While in the Amazon, Turner met doctoral candidate Samantha Zwicker, who studies and works in rainforest wildlife preservation. The pair formed an unlikely bond, and Turner signed on to her mission to help rehome a baby ocelot into the jungle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I came across Harry, he was extremely misunderstood,\u201d Zwicker said. \u201cThis boy who went to war instead of going to college, which is what a lot of people see when they look at him \u2014 but I obviously saw something super special in him. He spent his time in the jungle volunteering and helping me with this greater cause.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ocelot, named Keanu, became an integral part of Turner\u2019s healing story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I was so depressed, when I was in the jungle, I had this little tiny life that could fit into one of my arms, that needed my love and needed my affection, that needed a mother,\u201d he said. \u201cI then had this mission. I had this drive to become a better person in my own mental health so that I could be the best mother that I could be to this young cat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turner\u2019s journey alongside Keanu forms the premise of Amazon Studio\u2019s documentary \u201cWildcat,\u201d an Oscar-hopeful directed by Melissa Lesh and Trevor Beck Frost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n