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This page is dedicated to active service members, veterans and their loved ones who are ill as a result of chemical exposure due to their service in our military branches.
First and foremost, thank you for your years of service in the military and most especially for your service in the Gulf War. You are not alone in your quest for answers in regards to becoming ill with cancer/leukemia after service in Iraq or Afghanistan – the list of those, who like you have served, and have become so seriously ill due to exposure is now in the hundreds. Certainly far more cases than would occur in the natural course of life, particularly for healthy young men and women.
We want to take this opportunity to extend our selves to you, not just as an informational site but as an active resource. We strongly encourage you to contact either or both of us personally. This is a very difficult situation to deal with and we are available to you by phone, email, and in person to talk, to brainstorm, to share resources and when needed to have a good cry. You are not alone. We will do everything in our power to help.
We work with many families, only a few of whom have chosen to be featured on this site. For many, the wounds are too tender to display publically and for others it is part of the healing to speak out in this format. You and your family will know what is best for you. If you would like to be included in the site, please contact us directly.
Whether or not you choose to be on the web site you are welcome and encouraged to join our group. Our goals are:
We believe our best chance to succeed and to bring about change is to unify together as one group. The stronger we are, with large numbers of people supporting this cause, will make it harder for the VA and other branches of our government to deny that this is happening and hopefully encourage them to work towards resolving these issues. Our mission is to save lives and to help families that suffer similar situations.
In addition to helping each other with resources and news, we can work towards preventing other families from having to go through this. Please sign up for the GWC Family Newsletter to keep updated on things we feel you may want to be aware of.
We have been going through this for several years now. In that time we have collected some great resources & some ideas that we would like to share with you. We are not lawyers, we are not doctors, we’re just family members sharing what we have found. Please let us know of any resources that you may find, we’d love to include them.
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Laura Bumpus, Founder Stepmother of SSG. Matthew Bumpus laura@gulfwarchemicals.com |
 SSG. Steven Ochs |
Stacy Pennington Co-founder Sister of SSG. Steven Ochs stacy@gulfwarchemicals.com |
Because of the intensity of dealing with serious illnesses many families find that it is easiest to appoint a “family representative”. The role of the representative is to communicate to the outside world when help is needed. For instance, if you decide to:
Your family representative would be the contact and the “go between” for the family and the rest of the world. Depending upon the size of the family and the enormity of the task some families have a group assigned to this role – or various people who step up to coordinate different aspects. This allows the rest of the family to better focus on health and healing. 
With every family we have encountered - the devotion and love of the family members, their friends and their communities have been deeply touching and inspiring to us. This is a time when friends, family and community can make all the difference. While this kind of illness can bring you to your knees the love and support you receive from family, friends, your community and total strangers will lift you just as high.
We are in the process of coming up with a method for treating doctors to communicate with each other. These cases are difficult to treat. In the past few months some of the treating doctors have been communicating with each other to discuss treatments and other issues. If you are interested in having your doctor participate please talk with him/her and let us know.
Record keeping is very important. Get & retain copies of all your civilian health records and all military records, including medical. Keep these and any and all correspondence between you and the VA together. We have found tabbed binders work well. If you feel up to it write a review of your time of service and course of treatment and progress.
It is hard not to be discouraged by dealing with the V.A. and their denials. The burden of proof with the V.A. is that we prove “it as likely as not” that chemical exposure caused these illnesses. Every veteran we have worked with has had the V.A. deny service connection to their illness. Many people are working very hard to change the out-dated rulings that allow this. The V.A. will continue to have to re-open these cases as we develop additional information and evidence – their own rules require them to. Again, believing that as a combined group we will a greater more voice, many of us have chosen to have Disabled American Veterans represent our cases with the V.A.
The VA recently send out a Training Letter regarding Environmental Hazards in Iraq Afghanistan and Other Military Installations in which they acknoledge "Service members can be exposed to environmental hazards in the course of their military duties, which may result in adverse health effects."
We are thrilled to see the VA recognize and begin responding to this issue and we believe this "Training Letter" is definitely a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, from what we can see it does not address the issue of denials that have been based on the above CFR's. It will be interesting to see if the denials continue or with this new Training Letter has policy really changed?
Disabled American Veterans (DAV) has been actively involved in this issue from the beginning with their work in promoting related legistlation and testifying federally on our behalf, as well as helping affected veterans deal with their VA claims.
In 88 offices throughout the United States and in Puerto Rico, the DAV employs a corps of approximately 260 National Service Officers (NSOs) who represent veterans and their families with claims for benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Defense and other government agencies. Veterans need not be DAV members to take advantage of this assistance, which is provided free of charge.
Additionally we are following legislation and keeping in touch with the United States Senate Committee of Veteran Affairs and other committees dedicated to this and other veterans issues. In October 2009, we had the privilege of presenting a Statement to the Senate Committee of Veteran Affairs on behalf of the veterans and their families in regards to their chemical exposure and the effects it has had.
The National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2647), which has been signed into law, included important provisions to protect the thousands of troops exposed to open, toxic burn pits used in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have sickened hundreds of troops. These provisions were based on the Military Personnel War Zone Toxic Exposure Prevention Act, (HR 2419) introduced May 14, 2009 by Bishop and Shea-Porter.
Burn Pits Action Center (2010). This site has a forum, additional information and sources regarding the effects of the Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Burn Pits Facebook (2010). This site is an additional resource regarding the Burn Pits effects, breaking news and other sources. The is an active forum for those affected and interested public.
Burn Pits Lawsuit (2010). A number of those suffering from diseases related to chemical exposure, believed to have been caused by the burnpits, have joined together in a class action lawsuit.
The National Marrow Donor Program is a tremendous resource and the people who work with them are absolutely outstanding. Contact them at 1-800-MARROW-2 or visit their site at: http://www.marrow.org/. They are available to answer any questions you may have about the bone marrow match & transplant process. Also if you are interested in holding a bone marrow drive they will help every step of the way – often in conjunction with your local blood donor program. All it takes to become a member of the bone marrow registry is to fill out a little paper work and have a simple cheek swab. We would like to see everyone join this life saving registry!
Dr. Tim Grennan, a veteran himself, is very supportive of this issue. He has graciously offered to review the Chromosome Analysis of any veteran suffering with AML. In many cases, the Chromosome Analysis, which is done immediately after diagnosis and prior to treatment, will indicate whether the AML may have an association with chemical exposure. When chemical exposure occurs specific strands of chromosomes may be affected and this is often reflected in the Chromosome Analysis. If you are interested in having Dr. Grennan review your Chromosome Anaylsis please contact laura@gulfwarchemicals.com and I will forward him your information. There is no cost for this service, it is done out of the kindness of his good heart.
© 2010 Gulf War Chemicals º www.gulfwarchemicals.com º Last Updated: October 4, 2010
