 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Prostate Cancer / January 2004Agent Orange and Prostate Cancer
Following is an excerpt from a posting in a Yahoo group about prostate cancer that I am a member of. Has anyone in this group checked this out? Those of you who were in the Vietnam War, and have since come down with Prostate Cancer, should check into the VA for possible benefits. I am 61, was in Vietnam in my early 20's and was diagnosed with an early stage of Prostate Cancer at age 60 . I had a radical prostatectomy . When you get a chance, call up the VA web site, check the Compensation and Benefits site, and learn as much as you can about exposure to Agent Orange. There is an on-line application form you can use to apply if you think you are eligible for benefits. BUT - your best bet to apply is to contact a person known as a "Service Representative" through an organization such as the VFW (this is the route I went). They will help you through the entire application and benefit process. This is not a short term process. For me, it's taken 9 months, but I received word a few days ago that I will be getting 100% disability for 6 months (retroactive) and will receive 40% from the 6 month period and at least until my next VA exam (some recovery has taken place and was VA adjusted). This could be a pretty good chunk of change for you, but is small in comparison to the cancer received from Agent Orange and the resultant long-term side affects that are inherent with this operation. Check it out!!! what you said is very true, but here's the joker in the deck and i'm fighting it right now and have been for almost a year. they say you have to be "in country" to be paid. for someone in the army, that usually is no problem. for i was in the navy and i was on land in danang and proving it has been an uphill battle. we pulled in twice and i did go on shore, but for the ones who cruised up and down the country, they are not eligible - it sucks. it also sucks that the fine brave men in the air force who flew those airplanes and landed in vietnam, but did not get out of the plane and touch the land are also not eligible. it's not right, but that's what i've found out so far. but file the claim and see what they say. i've had to go to my congressman to get some of the records but most of them should be de-classified now. hope this helps. ~ curtis knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional My husband served in the US Air Force in Nam. Yes, we checked into it and have received some benefits. Seems the money thing really varies from person to person. But if any of the guys out here have served you need to check into it. My husband's tour was so secretive that it didn't "exist" but he was able to prove he was there because he received combat pay and he also had kept some papers sort of as a memento. So with just a few scraps of paperwork and the right code name for his mission it was easy to prove he was there. Seems it was harder to prove that we are married. LOL His DD214 did not show Nam and he will "someday" in the "near" future a new DD214 with Nam on it. This is strictly a USA thing and does not apply to our neighbors to the North (or any UK) who also served with our men. Bev > Following is an excerpt from a posting in a Yahoo group about prostate > cancer that I am a member of. Has anyone in this group checked this [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > received from Agent Orange and the resultant long-term side affects > that are inherent with this operation. Check it out!!! Was anyone in Vietnam overtly? It seems everyone here and everyone I talk to was there covertly, including my uncle. Of course, he wasn't technically in Vietnam, at least not South Vietnam. Mostly Cambodia and Laos from what he will talk about. Hey, maybe that's why he doesn't have prostate cancer. He was where it was safe.  SignatureProstate Cancer Survivor (so far), not a doctor PSA 16 10/17/2000 @ 46 Biopsy 11/01/2000 G7 (3+4), T2c RRP 12/15/2000 PSA .1 .1 .1 .3 .4 .8 EBRT 05-07/2002 @ 47 PSA .3 .2 .2 .2 .3 Erection 05/12/2003 @ 48 HTbegins 07/21/2003 @ 48 PSA .1 Lupron 7/03, 8/03, 12/03 > My husband served in the US Air Force in Nam. Yes, we checked into it and > have received some benefits. Seems the money thing really varies from person [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > > received from Agent Orange and the resultant long-term side affects > > that are inherent with this operation. Check it out!!! hi steve - they also said that we weren't in laos, or cambodia, yet a friend of mine (navy) wasn't allowed to wear his uniform where he was at and the gov't denied that he was ever in the area mentioned above. so, it goes back to my comment at the first, why would navy (suppose to be on sea) be on land and in another country? and why was i working yankee station search and rescue. pilot goes down, guess where i'm going? and they wonder why i'm crazy. and my friends that were on the PBR's. also in the navy and taking a lot of lead. not to mention some of CB buddies building runways of there in the bush, dodging gun fire and snipers. plus a couple of buddies in the SEAL unit. and yet, if you ask somebody about what the navy did over there, people think they were out in the ocean, steaming around. and this doesn't include the bravest of them all - the corpsman. a navy person attached to the marine corp unit, has to met the same standards - running, etc as the corp and go to the same places they do and will risk his life to save everyone else. yet, all this is navy and someone in washington thinks these guys didn't pay enough and don't want to compensate them now because they are coming down with the cancers because they can't document where they were. yet, they are sending our money over to iran and iraq and rebuild kuwait, and vietnam. what happened to the money for g.i. joe? let alone, for his spouse that he left, when he died while filing the paper work. a canadian wrote a beautiful article that america sends help to all the countries who are in need, whether it is hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, starvation, war, even the threat of war, we are there. and yet the same gov't dare pass judgement on those same fellows who just came back giving to their all to the cause and say " you don't qualify" look at the how they have treated our gulf war vets. they were ok when they left, but look at some of them now. and they aren't in their 50's and 60's and developing prostate cancer ------yet. what's the gov't going to say then? ~ curtis knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional > Following is an excerpt from a posting in a Yahoo group about prostate > cancer that I am a member of. Has anyone in this group checked this [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > received from Agent Orange and the resultant long-term side affects > that are inherent with this operation. Check it out!!! I'm a member of DAV and I called them up but they did not seem too interested so I kind of forgot about it. It's a long time ago, memories fade, and I'm kind of happy about that. Dale J. SignatureEmail: dalej2@mac..com > > Following is an excerpt from a posting in a Yahoo group about prostate > > cancer that I am a member of. Has anyone in this group checked this [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > received from Agent Orange and the resultant long-term side affects > > that are inherent with this operation. Check it out!!! My husband was in Vietnam (he was in the Army) and we have filed a claim as well. Initially, they questioned his DD214 since it did not specifically stated Vietnam and his dates of service. (although his Vietnam service medal and vietnam campaign medals were listed as well as his last duty assignment being "134th AVN APO 96215 USARV" which also pinpoints his Vietnam address). We were able to produce further documentation and his case is at present being rated. I must say, it has and still is quite a lengthy process. We initiated the claim in August 2003 and we are still waiting but I'm told that 6-9 months is average. Sandi hi sandi - i didn't mention this but on my DD-214, it is marked that it was not in the vietnam area, but a couple of lines down states that i was awarded the vietnam service metal, the vietnam campaign medal, and navy unit commendation. i was wondering if this would have been a sticking point, but so far, they have not brought it up. it's been 11 months since i filed. ~ curtis knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional Curtis, your 214 was probably typed by a 19 year old who did not want to be sitting in front of a typewriter......:) Mike > hi sandi - i didn't mention this but on my DD-214, it is marked that it > was not in the vietnam area, but a couple of lines down states that i [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional hi mike - probably a lot of truth in what you said. ~ curtis knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional > hi sandi - i didn't mention this but on my DD-214, it is marked that it > was not in the vietnam area, but a couple of lines down states that i [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional Curtis, I was told by one Veteran counselor that they were always trained that the vietnam metals did not prove "in country" since many gentlemen abroad received them that were not specifically in Vietnam. All I know is that they did not help us prove our case. Also, we were told not even to bother requesting my husbands military records since they were probably burned in the 1973 fire and even if they had anything, it would take months - around 8 months. Well, I requested them anyway and less than 8 weeks later, I received all his military records excluding his medical records only because they reside at another facility. For any of you gentlemen in need of your military records (including DD214), there is an online military personnel request system which can be accessed by going to http://vetrecs.archives.gov Sandi It's been more than a year and we are still awaiting the new DD214 with "updated" info. We were told it could take as much as 18 months. Bev > > hi sandi - i didn't mention this but on my DD-214, it is marked that it > > was not in the vietnam area, but a couple of lines down states that i [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] > > Sandi i ran across this article - 30 years later after the vietnam war ended. land mines have killed and maim 1270 people. most occurred among farmers working the fields. farmer Le Tat Ha and his son, Toan are examples of the impact of the leftover explosives. Ha accidentally hit a bomb with a hoe while farming in june 1975 - two years after the war had ended. the explosion, which threw him more than 30 feet & broke his arms left shrapnel embedded in his chest, arms and legs. his son set off another explosion more than a decade latter while tilling the fields as a teenager. the fingers on his left hand were blown off, making most farm work impossible. Phan Quang as a farmer makes only $64 dollars a year decided that he can make more money digging up land mines. he lost many friends this way, but he must accept the risk. he earns 6.50 to 13 dollars for each land mine he digs up. he said, "i know it is dangerous, but there's nothing i can do to earn extra money to support my family. --------------------------- it's not all one world ~ curtis knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional makes me wonder how many Vietnamese men have Prostate Cancer and all of the other afflictions that we are getting some help with. > i ran across this article - 30 years later after the vietnam war ended. > land mines have killed and maim 1270 people. most occurred among [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > > knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional > It's been more than a year and we are still awaiting the new DD214 with > "updated" info. We were told it could take as much as 18 months. > Bev Bev, There does seem to be quite a bit of disparity in how the VA works. I would imagine it would take longer to request an "updated" DD214 as opposed to the original but still 18 months? Thats outrageous! My husband knows a gentlemen who filed a VA claim online for prostate cancer related to agent orange and one month later he was approved!! And here we sit almost 7 months later and we still know nothing - go figure?!? Sandi The "State" of Virginia (it's not a state but a commonwealth) has a Dept of Veteran's Affairs. They have walked us through most of it. They actually have been very good and making things happen quickly. We probably should have filed for the updated DD214 through them but we did that before we contacted them thinking we would need it. Bev > > It's been more than a year and we are still awaiting the new DD214 with > > "updated" info. We were told it could take as much as 18 months. [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Sandi >Following is an excerpt from a posting in a Yahoo group about prostate >cancer that I am a member of. Has anyone in this group checked this [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] >received from Agent Orange and the resultant long-term side affects >that are inherent with this operation. Check it out!!! If the VA rates someone for a service connected disability and, God forbid, that person dies from that disability then his/her spouse may be eligible for DIC - Death Indemnity Compensation. ~$1000 per month. Bill N thank you for that information. i to was in vietnam and came down with prostate cancer. in fact when we were on an opration in vietnam, we would see helicopters and c 130 planes spraying right over us. i will check it out. welcome home vietnam vet. My hubby was keeping those C130's flying over your head. Strangely enough I have a friend who sent me all the original info I had on VA stuff and Agent Orange. Her hubby was directly sprayed (oh, we didn't do that!) with AO to the point that his skin burned for days afterwards. So far no PC but he is watched like a hawk! She was a military brat so she kept up on the stuff. She sent me so much info because she has always felt it was only a matter of time before her husband has some sort of something as a result of his exposure to AO over there. Bev > thank you for that information. i to was in vietnam and came down with > prostate cancer. in fact when we were on an opration in vietnam, we > would see helicopters and c 130 planes spraying right over us. i will > check it out. welcome home vietnam vet. bev, i don't know who gave you the info "that c-130 planes did not spray ao on our soldiers in vietnam. i have been on alot of missions in vietnam and observed the spraying. you might start a survey and find out how many vietnam vets were expose to ao. about the veterans admin and getting disability, they are political driven like any other govt org and they are pressure to keep within their budget, by our wonder-ful political leaders. the lower personnel do there best to help all veterans. i hope every vietnam veteran who has prostate cancer receives some disability and this includes navy vets and air force vets, whether they never set foot on vietnam soil, they deserve something. i agree with paul - i talked with one marine who said the same sandi's husband did. the AO burns the skin with a stinging sensation as he was in the jungle. i guess the scary part was that he was 56, african american, and never been checked for prostate cancer, and didn't know anything about AO. that was two years ago. ~ curtis knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional Don Cooly (www.coolyville.com) has a listserv dedicated to vets their dealings with PCA (and several other listservs). It too is worth checking out. DanR |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.