Rheumatoid Arthritis & Agent Orange

[Guest guest]

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.