Re: Rheumatoid Arthritis & Agent Orange

[Guest guest]

Helen...

Hi I'm Jan in CA.

I read your letter with great interest. I have a friend in Tx that has Agent

Orange related disabilities as well as his two brothers who have passed on. I

do not know the nature of the disabilities as even though our friendship goes

back to the very early 60's, we do not discuss the nature of the disabilities.

If you give me your permission, I will send the request to him and have him get

in touch with you. I am sure he will be interested.

Thanks and best wishes toward aquiring all the information you need to help get

the government to see the connection. They sure can be blind sometimes!

Jan...=^..^=

P.S. I am a widow of a Vietnam vet kia.

helenpasquinosmith <helenpasquinosmith@...> wrote:

My husband served 14 months (June 29, 1969 - September 1, 1970)in

Viet Nam as RTO for Charlie Company, 3rd of the 506th, 101st

Airborne. In early 1980 he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis

and by 1984 was totally disabled, unable to work & on Social

Security. He has had both knees replaced, left wrist & left shoulder

replaced, needs to have right shoulder replaced, both ankles have

locked/fused, and neck/spine is degenerating to point that he will

need surgery to prevent paralysis. No one in his immediate family has

arthritis (parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins).

He received a small settlement from the Agent Orange Class Action

suit because they felt there was a correlation between Agent Orange

exposure and rheumatoid arthritis; however, the Veterans

Administration has denied him compensation because rheumatoid

arthritis is not one of the diseases approved by the government as

being linked to Agent Orange exposure. Even though it is well

documented that Agent Orange (dioxin) causes a breakdown in the

immune system and it is also well documented that rheumatoid

arthritis is a breakdown in the immune system, the government does

not see this as a link. We have some people willing to help us with

our appeal. We are looking for any veterans who served in Viet Nam,

who feel they were exposed to Agent Orange and have been diagnosed

with rheumatoid arthritis.

[Guest guest]

Thank you very much for your response and support. You definitely do

have my permission to forward my information to your friend in Texas.

> My husband served 14 months (June 29, 1969 - September 1, 1970)in

> Viet Nam as RTO for Charlie Company, 3rd of the 506th, 101st

> Airborne. In early 1980 he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis

> and by 1984 was totally disabled, unable to work & on Social

> Security. He has had both knees replaced, left wrist & left

shoulder

> replaced, needs to have right shoulder replaced, both ankles have

> locked/fused, and neck/spine is degenerating to point that he will

> need surgery to prevent paralysis. No one in his immediate family

has

> arthritis (parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles,

cousins).

> He received a small settlement from the Agent Orange Class Action

> suit because they felt there was a correlation between Agent Orange

> exposure and rheumatoid arthritis; however, the Veterans

> Administration has denied him compensation because rheumatoid

> arthritis is not one of the diseases approved by the government as

> being linked to Agent Orange exposure. Even though it is well

> documented that Agent Orange (dioxin) causes a breakdown in the

> immune system and it is also well documented that rheumatoid

> arthritis is a breakdown in the immune system, the government does

> not see this as a link. We have some people willing to help us

with

> our appeal. We are looking for any veterans who served in Viet

Nam,

> who feel they were exposed to Agent Orange and have been diagnosed

> with rheumatoid arthritis.

>

>

>

>

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