Poisoned patriots? Stricken Marines seek help with illnesses

Source: CNN

TAMPA, Florida (CNN) -- For Rick Kelly, the first sign of cancer was a feeling of discomfort in his chest.

"My wife would hug me, and it became almost unbearable," he said. "I went to a doctor, and they sent me to the oncologist, and they did biopsies on both sides. And then I ended up with a double mastectomy."

Kelly is one of 20 retired U.S. Marines or sons of Marines who once lived at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and who are now suffering from breast cancer, a disease that strikes about one man for every 100 women who get it. Each of the seven men CNN interviewed for this report has had part of his chest removed as part of his treatment, along with chemotherapy, radiation or both.

All 20 fear that water contaminated with high levels of toxic chemicals may have caused their illnesses, but the Marine Corps says no link has been found between the contamination and their diseases. Without that link, the men are denied treatment by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which says it can't treat them for a condition that hasn't been shown to have been "service-related."

Kelly was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998, 16 years after he served at Camp Lejeune. Now a single father of a 7-year-old boy and without health insurance, he filed a claim with the VA to help pay his medical bills.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/25/marines.breast.cancer.folo/index.html

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Jim Fontella, diagnosed with cancer in 1998, was based at Camp Lejeune in 1966-67.

What kind of bullshit is that? My mother started getting treatment from the VA 54 years after she was discharged from the Navy and there is no doubt that her complaint was NOT "service related".

because they just can't get disability pensions for this.

care of our veterans.

Someone at the VA should be fired.
Part of being required to be shot at in the line of duty is medical care!

benefits since we have an excellent VA hospital nearby and we are both getting a bit long in the tooth. So, we got our paperwork together and she started talking to the VA rep about getting medical care. Turns out that the VA uses a "means" testing process to see who is eligible for coverage. Neither she nor I were eligible because of our incomes--and we are not wealthy by any means.

Perhaps these men are fortunate enough to have a decent income and therefore do not qualify for coverage by the VA. That's a very sad state of affairs, if it's the case here.

I and my friend have decent health insurance so we would rather that others less fortunate than us get the care from VA anyway.

If you like war, YOU go!

or maybe just one very bored person, who does nothing but Unrec OPs.

There's always one, you know?

Idiot(s).........................

WE NEED A REC/UNREC UNDO BUTTON!!!!!

would help.

:grr:

for this one. She'll fight the good fight. Someone's head should roll at the VA. This is appalling.

come to class. No Child Left Behind guarantees recruiters access to classrooms, so I like to liven things up a bit.

to *classrooms*. What does that mean? That they can set something up (with who? teachers, admin) and come in at any time, or during certain times?

So when you hand out an article, has there been any resistance (from administration, parents)? Sorry for all of the questions; I'm curious.

the questions they can and go on.

I think it's very important for kids to have the whole picture about any life choices, and the military is a particularly hazardous occupation.

NCLB requires "reasonable" access to classrooms and full access to all student names and home addresses. The recruiters must make an appointment that is mutually okay, but they cannot be refused.

One of them showed up at my classroom to talk to one of my students. I refused to allow the student to leave class. The recruiter told me the student was interested in joining the military. I told him to see the student outside of class time, and that I had no interest in helping him recruit students. He asked me "what kind of future would these kids have without the military"? (I teach in a low-income area). I told him "A living one".

The next day, two of them showed up to talk to me about my opinion of the military. They offered me a weekend, at their expense, at an expensive hotel here in town so that I could learn about the great things the military is doing for our "youth". I told them I was not interested and that I didn't need their indoctrination to understand the effects of war on civilians and military personnel.

They are relentless (probably out of desperation).

Whole class presentations are what I'm writing about. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

Are students allowed to opt out?

Very few people think of that during the rush to register, so I've only had two students exempt since we started this.

of a freshman's arrival, at least they've done that with my two older children.

Thanks for the thread, RamboLiberal.

Someone related to my family had to wait for over 2 years before the VA
provided him with a wheelchair but for that he had to go on TV and tell
his story.Among other things he's paralyzed from the waist down due to
depleted Uranium poisoning. :grr:

and it is terrible to know that the military wont take care of those that fought for them and served their nation.

geesh, even back then people knew. The powers-that-be just looked the other way and told people to "move along" like they usually do. "Nothing happening here, people."

And "nothing happening in your drinking water that's still chlorinated and still contains trihalomethane."

creates a situation where these warnings are ignored by potential recruits and/or their families.