colon cancer and vietnam vets

i found this sight while i was trying to find information on vets denied compensation for colon cancer i am trying to reach some of you that were talking in 2008 to 2009 i lost my husband on sept 10 of 2010 to cance after a 12 year battle. He was a vietnam and korean vet and was told his cancer was not related to his exposure to agent orange in vietnam. I am fighting for him and need someone to let me know if they or a love one succeded in fighting this cause.

they recognize some cancers but they do not acknowledge that colon cancer is relateded to agent orange exposure. I am fighting for my husbands suvivors benefits and if i can show that someone else was in the same area as my husband and that later in life he was diagnosed with colon cancer i believe that i can win my case.

I, too, am fighting VA to admit that colon cancer is from the exposure to Agent Orange. My husband just turned 60 years old and was diagnosed with colon cancer a year ago. By the time it was caught, he was at stage 3 and needed surgery right away. They took out the entire recum and now he has an ostomy. My husband was in one of the areas in Vietman that had/has the highest concentration of AO. He has diabetes and he gets compensation for that (we didnt have to fight for that), he has PTSD and gets compensation for that (we fought 20 years for that), he has high-blood pressure, early stages of kidney disease (we are fighting for these even though they are side effects for what he is being compensated for now). I guess what it all boils down to...These guys had to fight in Vietnam and they are still fighting. If you want VA to help, you have to fight them. I, personally, am not giving up the fight!

Hello, I just saw your post as I am researching Vietnam veterans with Colon Cancer. My father was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer at the end of January this year. He is currently battling the cancer and it looks like i may be battling the VA. Perhaps we can be of assistance to one another. Have you had any success in your fight? 

Hello,  I too am looking for help for the claim I filed with the VA.  My father serve in the Air Force in Korea and Vietnam. He passed away 3-2011 with colon cancer with metastasis.  Our claim has  been denied. 

dcaldwell,

I've just stumbeled upon this particularly post & have some questions & comments.

It makes me so mad that all our fellow military veterns are getting treated this way.  I find it hard to believe that as smart as the military & our government are that they don't already have the numbers for all our men & women suffering from this same cancer problem!  Why on earth should the families of these veterns have to prove anything.  Every doctors office including the VA Hospitals already have everything they need to show cause that agent orange during the Korea & Vietnam wars is & has minimized the lives of the very people we sent to fight for our country. 

Why don't they just own up to what "WE ALL KNOW" has happened!!!!

It's just like outbreaks of tyford-fever, celmanelya posioning, measels, chickenpox, scarlet fever all over the country.  The CDC "The Center For Diease Control", I'm sure there's some type of orginization keeping track of all this type of stuff & it's probably the "VA". 

My God, what is wrong with them. 

After all these years since the Korean & Vietnam wars, they've had way more than enough time to figure it out for themselves but just won't take the responsibility.  THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE.  How many damn claims do they have to get before they realize what this boils down too!!!!

I lost my dear husband 2 years ago to non War cancer & I'm still devistated to this day.  I can't even imagine having to fight the VA for benefits rightfully eligible to him while he was fighting for his life or even after loosing him.  My prayers & strength go out to you all.  Don't give up hope.

Broken

On Sep 10, 2012 12:11 AM dcaldwell wrote:

Hello,  I too am looking for help for the claim I filed with the VA.  My father serve in the Air Force in Korea and Vietnam. He passed away 3-2011 with colon cancer with metastasis.  Our claim has  been denied. 

dcaldwell & others,

Has anyone ever thought about blogging on one of the military websites for retired Korean & Vietnam Vets?

I know they exist because my late husband's uncle passed three years ago whom was a former Sargent Major of the Army & he went to all these sites to pull various media for a home DVD he was creating in memory of Uncle Wilbur.

For starters, go to U-tube & search Sargent Major Dunaway.  Look at some of the news broadcast of the Washington, DC special services event & take note of all the different military news media and search those sites accordingly.

Maybe this will help.

Broken

Thanks.  I will continue to resaerch all I can.  Hopefully others will do the same.  Maybe together we can fight for our veterans that we have lost or that are still fighting this colon cancer.

I have a 23 yo son with stage IV crc who had just returned from IRAQ last year with signs and symptoms  of crc and was diagnosed 6 months after his tour and AF reserves deciding if they going to pay for treatment or not :(

To All,

If you haven't searched the VA site in the Board of Appeals section, here is the link to the VA Claims section.

http://www.bva.va.gov/

I just tried searching for all of you, but the site is closed at the moment and will be up at a later date. Once you open the link given, on the left hand side, look for- Search Decisions-.

Once you get there, you can searcch by year. Type in the words needed to search Colon Cancer/Agent Orange and you will see the claims filed in that year. To simplify your search, scroll down to the bottom of each claim and see the results, be it - Denied or Granted.  Read some of the claims that were denied and find out why. If you do find some that were Granted, keep those and read exactly what needed to be done in order for the Veteran or the Spouse to be granted Service connection to Agent Orange.

Also, although the VA states that many cancers are not on the presumed list, they DO look at each case and decided according to the evidence given to them by the Veteran.

It is a rare case that wins when the Veteran or Spouse put in a claim on their own. It usually takes the help of a Veteran's Service Officer (VSO) that is certified by the VA who works for the different Military Organizations in your area such as the Vietnam Veterans of America, VFW, DAV, or American Legion,etc.

Don't give up, it can be a long battle. Unfortunately, the VA is under staffed and they have not only the real claims to look at, but those that state that they served and were never in the Military to start with. The VA has to weed out those claims as well.

I hope that is of some help.

My Best to Everyone Here