BY PHILLIP O'CONNOR poconnor@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8321 | Posted: Sunday, September 12, 2010 12:30 am
Iraq veteran Tim Wymore spends most of what he believes are his last days worried about what will become of his family.
He has three lesions on his brain, another on his eye. He suffers from a blood disorder, a damaged esophagus and abdominal problems that led to the removal of most of his colon. He can barely stand, and then only with the aid of a cane.
He is 44 years old.
Wymore, of St. Charles, is one of several hundred veterans across the country who have filed lawsuits contending that dangerous toxins from open-air burn pits operated on U.S. military installations in Iraq and Afghanistan made them sick. Last week a federal judge ruled the case could proceed.
The Department of Veterans Affairs acknowledges that Wymore's health problems are war-related.
But the VA believes his condition may improve. Because of that, the VA has yet to declare Wymore permanently disabled. As a result, his family is not eligible for many benefits. Those include medical insurance for his wife and college costs for their three sons. Also, Wymore worries that should he die, the VA will not pay a survivor's benefit to his wife unless she can prove his death is directly related to his military service, a challenge he doesn't want to put her through.
"I took the oath and did what was asked of me," he said. "Now, I feel it's time for the military to do their part. I'm tired of fighting them."
Wymore's wife, Shanna, quit her job to care for him full time. For now, the couple survive on his Social Security and military disability payments and the charity of others. The lawsuit is no guarantee of a financial payoff.
The VA has told the couple they will review Wymore's disability rating in 2012 to see whether his condition has improved. The couple fear that could be too late.
"We've gone so far downhill so fast I don't want to see what another six months will look like," Shanna Wymore said.
OFF TO IRAQ
Tim Wymore grew up in Arnold, graduated from Fox High School, then served three years' active duty with the Air Force. He met Shanna while home on leave between basic training and his first duty station. They married two weeks later and have been together 25 years.
After active duty, Wymore joined the Missouri Air National Guard. He served with the 131st Fighter Wing at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport driving trucks and forklifts, and offloading planes.
In civilian life, Wymore made good pay as a tool and die maker. Shanna, 43, sold industrial tools and supplies, and worked part time at a convenience store and as a real estate agent.
The couple worked hard and were on track to retire at age 50.
Wymore was surprised he was sent to Iraq; only five members of his unit deployed. He was stationed at Balad, one of the largest American military bases. Each week, he made several trips to the base burn pit, often driving his truck to the edge to unload anything he'd been ordered to dispose of - from tents to trash to air conditioners. Five football fields long and 300 feet deep, the pit spewed thick black smoke continuously.
"They didn't even give us paper masks," Wymore recalled.
Fumes lingered over the sprawling base. Wymore said he inhaled them in his trailer at night.
"You'd wake up to that taste in your mouth," he said.
Even now, he sits in the shower in the morning with his mouth open to rid himself of the bitter, metallic taste.
During his six-month tour, Wymore complained of headaches, stomachaches and trouble breathing. "Everybody got the same medicine," he said. "800 milligrams of ibuprofen."
Wymore said he knew at the time he probably was sacrificing his health. When he left Iraq in 2005, he demanded that his burn pit exposure be included in his medical records.
"I was worried," he said. "I knew down the road something was going to happen, but not this soon."
Back home, his health declined. He required emergency surgery to remove an infection in his stomach, battled pneumonia and was in and out of the hospital. He began blacking out at work and eventually could no longer do the job.
About a year and a half ago the couple turned to the VA for help. Doctors determined he suffered from post-traumatic stress, but had no answers about his physical problems. They ordered more tests. Still, no one could provide a definitive diagnosis.
Unknown to the Wymores, other veterans across the country were coming forward to complain of similar health problems, including cancers, respiratory disease and skin disorders.
Eventually, the Wymores joined veterans or their survivors in 42 states in filing lawsuits against Kellogg Brown & Root, the military contractor that operated many of the burn pits.
On Thursday, a federal judge in Maryland, where the lawsuits have been consolidated, ruled the case could go forward despite KBR's contention it was following the military's orders and bore no legal burden. The lawsuit contends the pits contained a poisonous mixture of plastics, metals, paints, solvents, medical waste and other products that caused severe illness.
Jon Gelman, a New Jersey attorney representing some of the soldiers, said he believed as many as 30,000 to 40,000 veterans might have been affected by the burn pits.
"It is going to have a devastating impact on our medical system to treat these soldiers. They start out as mystery illnesses and then blossom into conditions, just like Agent Orange," Gelman said, referring to the herbicide that sickened many Vietnam veterans. "We have a real tragedy ongoing."
As far back as 2006, an Air Force study warned that the size and proximity of Balad's burn pit to soldiers' quarters made it "an acute health hazard."
Since then, the Department of Defense has ordered a review of the burn pits and Congress has passed legislation limiting their use. Many are being replaced with incinerators that are more expensive to operate. The Balad burn pit was extinguished late last year, more than four years after Tim Wymore first complained.
Earlier this year, the VA notified its employees that burn pits should be considered as potential health risks in veterans' claims. The VA also is paying the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine to conduct a study on the long-term health effects from burn pit exposure. The study is to be completed in May.
A HOSTILE SYSTEM
The Wymores continue to fight the VA over benefits and Tim's medical care.
In August, Rep. Todd Akin, R-Town and Country, wrote a complaint letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki.
"For nearly a year, as her husband's health continued to deteriorate, (Shanna) has fought an indifferent and sometimes hostile veterans medical system that has made giving her the runaround an art form," Akin wrote.
The VA said in a statement Friday that it was continuing to review the case.
Tim Wymore used to love to ride his Harley Davidson motorcycle. Now he passes the time sleeping and watching television. Sports, mostly. He wishes the Cardinals were playing better. He's heavily medicated, and his eyes often remain closed during conversations. Occasionally, he coughs.
"Some really gunky stuff," he said.
On Thursday, workers installed a stairway lift in the couple's home, eliminating a daily struggle that left both Tim and Shanna breathless.
The couple once looked forward to an active retirement, traveling and playing softball with their sons, Tim, 24, Ben, 21, and Cody, 18. Now they are almost broke.
Shanna lost her insurance and now forgoes the monthly $500 prescription to treat her Lyme disease. Their house is about to be foreclosed on.
"This is the life I live. I'm losing everything," Shanna said. But she isn't going down without a fight.
In the dining room, her stacks of paper sit on the table and spread across the floor. Two open suitcases are jammed with more documents. She's determined to learn as much as she can about what is killing her husband. She would like to see experts brought together and a hospital established to treat burn pit victims. She wants to pass on everything she's discovered.
"I'm not going to stop," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "I'm afraid if I stop, he'll give up. There's got to be an answer."
My intentions are to help, my advice maybe wrong, be your own advocate and know what is in your C-File and the 38 CFR that governs your disabilities and conditions.
Do your own homework. No one knows the veteran’s symptoms like the veteran. Never Give Up.
I do not give my consent for anyone to view my personal VA records.
Question
pacmanx1
Veteran fights VA over exposure to burn pits
BY PHILLIP O'CONNOR poconnor@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8321 | Posted: Sunday, September 12, 2010 12:30 am
Iraq veteran Tim Wymore spends most of what he believes are his last days worried about what will become of his family.
He has three lesions on his brain, another on his eye. He suffers from a blood disorder, a damaged esophagus and abdominal problems that led to the removal of most of his colon. He can barely stand, and then only with the aid of a cane.
He is 44 years old.
Wymore, of St. Charles, is one of several hundred veterans across the country who have filed lawsuits contending that dangerous toxins from open-air burn pits operated on U.S. military installations in Iraq and Afghanistan made them sick. Last week a federal judge ruled the case could proceed.
The Department of Veterans Affairs acknowledges that Wymore's health problems are war-related.
But the VA believes his condition may improve. Because of that, the VA has yet to declare Wymore permanently disabled. As a result, his family is not eligible for many benefits. Those include medical insurance for his wife and college costs for their three sons. Also, Wymore worries that should he die, the VA will not pay a survivor's benefit to his wife unless she can prove his death is directly related to his military service, a challenge he doesn't want to put her through.
"I took the oath and did what was asked of me," he said. "Now, I feel it's time for the military to do their part. I'm tired of fighting them."
Wymore's wife, Shanna, quit her job to care for him full time. For now, the couple survive on his Social Security and military disability payments and the charity of others. The lawsuit is no guarantee of a financial payoff.
The VA has told the couple they will review Wymore's disability rating in 2012 to see whether his condition has improved. The couple fear that could be too late.
"We've gone so far downhill so fast I don't want to see what another six months will look like," Shanna Wymore said.
OFF TO IRAQ
Tim Wymore grew up in Arnold, graduated from Fox High School, then served three years' active duty with the Air Force. He met Shanna while home on leave between basic training and his first duty station. They married two weeks later and have been together 25 years.
After active duty, Wymore joined the Missouri Air National Guard. He served with the 131st Fighter Wing at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport driving trucks and forklifts, and offloading planes.
In civilian life, Wymore made good pay as a tool and die maker. Shanna, 43, sold industrial tools and supplies, and worked part time at a convenience store and as a real estate agent.
The couple worked hard and were on track to retire at age 50.
Wymore was surprised he was sent to Iraq; only five members of his unit deployed. He was stationed at Balad, one of the largest American military bases. Each week, he made several trips to the base burn pit, often driving his truck to the edge to unload anything he'd been ordered to dispose of - from tents to trash to air conditioners. Five football fields long and 300 feet deep, the pit spewed thick black smoke continuously.
"They didn't even give us paper masks," Wymore recalled.
Fumes lingered over the sprawling base. Wymore said he inhaled them in his trailer at night.
"You'd wake up to that taste in your mouth," he said.
Even now, he sits in the shower in the morning with his mouth open to rid himself of the bitter, metallic taste.
During his six-month tour, Wymore complained of headaches, stomachaches and trouble breathing. "Everybody got the same medicine," he said. "800 milligrams of ibuprofen."
Wymore said he knew at the time he probably was sacrificing his health. When he left Iraq in 2005, he demanded that his burn pit exposure be included in his medical records.
"I was worried," he said. "I knew down the road something was going to happen, but not this soon."
Back home, his health declined. He required emergency surgery to remove an infection in his stomach, battled pneumonia and was in and out of the hospital. He began blacking out at work and eventually could no longer do the job.
About a year and a half ago the couple turned to the VA for help. Doctors determined he suffered from post-traumatic stress, but had no answers about his physical problems. They ordered more tests. Still, no one could provide a definitive diagnosis.
Unknown to the Wymores, other veterans across the country were coming forward to complain of similar health problems, including cancers, respiratory disease and skin disorders.
Eventually, the Wymores joined veterans or their survivors in 42 states in filing lawsuits against Kellogg Brown & Root, the military contractor that operated many of the burn pits.
On Thursday, a federal judge in Maryland, where the lawsuits have been consolidated, ruled the case could go forward despite KBR's contention it was following the military's orders and bore no legal burden. The lawsuit contends the pits contained a poisonous mixture of plastics, metals, paints, solvents, medical waste and other products that caused severe illness.
Jon Gelman, a New Jersey attorney representing some of the soldiers, said he believed as many as 30,000 to 40,000 veterans might have been affected by the burn pits.
"It is going to have a devastating impact on our medical system to treat these soldiers. They start out as mystery illnesses and then blossom into conditions, just like Agent Orange," Gelman said, referring to the herbicide that sickened many Vietnam veterans. "We have a real tragedy ongoing."
As far back as 2006, an Air Force study warned that the size and proximity of Balad's burn pit to soldiers' quarters made it "an acute health hazard."
Since then, the Department of Defense has ordered a review of the burn pits and Congress has passed legislation limiting their use. Many are being replaced with incinerators that are more expensive to operate. The Balad burn pit was extinguished late last year, more than four years after Tim Wymore first complained.
Earlier this year, the VA notified its employees that burn pits should be considered as potential health risks in veterans' claims. The VA also is paying the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine to conduct a study on the long-term health effects from burn pit exposure. The study is to be completed in May.
A HOSTILE SYSTEM
The Wymores continue to fight the VA over benefits and Tim's medical care.
In August, Rep. Todd Akin, R-Town and Country, wrote a complaint letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki.
"For nearly a year, as her husband's health continued to deteriorate, (Shanna) has fought an indifferent and sometimes hostile veterans medical system that has made giving her the runaround an art form," Akin wrote.
The VA said in a statement Friday that it was continuing to review the case.
Tim Wymore used to love to ride his Harley Davidson motorcycle. Now he passes the time sleeping and watching television. Sports, mostly. He wishes the Cardinals were playing better. He's heavily medicated, and his eyes often remain closed during conversations. Occasionally, he coughs.
"Some really gunky stuff," he said.
On Thursday, workers installed a stairway lift in the couple's home, eliminating a daily struggle that left both Tim and Shanna breathless.
The couple once looked forward to an active retirement, traveling and playing softball with their sons, Tim, 24, Ben, 21, and Cody, 18. Now they are almost broke.
Shanna lost her insurance and now forgoes the monthly $500 prescription to treat her Lyme disease. Their house is about to be foreclosed on.
"This is the life I live. I'm losing everything," Shanna said. But she isn't going down without a fight.
In the dining room, her stacks of paper sit on the table and spread across the floor. Two open suitcases are jammed with more documents. She's determined to learn as much as she can about what is killing her husband. She would like to see experts brought together and a hospital established to treat burn pit victims. She wants to pass on everything she's discovered.
"I'm not going to stop," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "I'm afraid if I stop, he'll give up. There's got to be an answer."
My intentions are to help, my advice maybe wrong, be your own advocate and know what is in your C-File and the 38 CFR that governs your disabilities and conditions.
Do your own homework. No one knows the veteran’s symptoms like the veteran. Never Give Up.
I do not give my consent for anyone to view my personal VA records.
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