Vietnam Vets With Cml

[TomLeo 0]

It is very important that Vets with CML (Chronic Myloid Leukemia aka Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia) share our status and information. This would be a logical site for that, if any of us can ever get to the approved stage where our posts show up timely, or show up at all. CML is a rare form of Leukemia, and not on the list of presumptive diseases for AO (yet). It is so rare that even a lot of the oncologists many of us see have never before treated a case of CML. Some CML patients drive 200 miles to see an oncologist who has some experience with CML. The biggest "norm" for P+ CML (Philadelphia gene positive -- it is a gene transport in the chromosome in the bone marrow) is MEN in their 50s and 60s. VA has been denying every case of CML starting in the 1990s (about the time the older Vietnam Vets who were boots on the ground would be turning 50-60). Most of those early claimants are now dead. The first effective treatment for CML started in 2002 (clinical trials the year before). Now we are into the 3rd Generation of targeting chemotherapy drugs. Still no cure, but we may be the first generation to die with CML rather than from CML.

All the VA denials and appeals denials have basically been due to a lack of medical testimony that CML is linked to AO. CML has been proven to have no hereditary link. So it must be caused by environmental factors, although there are some who put forth the thesis that it "just happens". There were two studies that showed a statistical link between Vietnam Veterans and CHILDREN with CML. In fact, I have been in contact with a sister AND brother with CML whose father was a Vietnam Vet. There have been numerous studies, including studies of identical twins proving NO hereditary link for CML -- yet the CHILDREN of Vietnam Vets seem to have a high incidence of CML. To me, this is all leading to the probability that AO exposure affected the chromosomes of the affected Veteran and was passed on to his children.

Further, there are to me a goodly number of Vietnam Vets I am running across on Leukemia forums that have CML. Think about it a moment, we have a hard time finding oncologists who have ever treated a CML patient, but we are not having a hard time finding each other. Does that make you think for a moment? What we must do is get together electronically to share information. The VA seems to be accepting a link for CML to benzene, and has approved at least one Gulf War vet with CML due to chemical exposure. Okay, lets carry out that thinking. AO, or TCDD, the primary component of AO, requires TWO benzene molecules to form. I am told by one of the Air Force guys on Ranch Hand that AO was mixed WITH benzene to keep the nozzles from clogging. And the potential for benzene exposure from all those diesel fuel cans burning human waste, the helicoptors and JP4, etc, etc. Point is, we must work extra hard because there are so (relatively) few of us. Rare disease, easier for VA to deny. But it is not as rare, in my opinion, among Vietnam Vets -- AND their children.

If this ever does get approved and posted, and you want to reply to this and you happen to be new to the site, please keep trying. I also have a BLOG on the CML forum site of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society website. I also have several discussions on the CML forum on that site. If this site is nothing more than an information site, it will help a lot. But lets try using the CML site until we have more of us in the "approved" status.

[David Thompson 0]

I served in Vietnam with the 1st Infantry Division in 1965-66. I was stationed at Di An, in the III Corp Zone, the region that received the heaviest spraying of Agent Orange in all of Vietnam. Needless to say, I have a variety of issues related to my exposure to AO, and I am compensated for nearly all of them. In 2003, my oldest son was in school, studying to be a nurse anesthetist. He was having a great deal of trouble with his eyes, and his side was causing significant pain. On a particular Saturday night I had my siblings at my house for a get-together. My son dropped by for a while. After much laughter, my son whispered to my wife that he was having a lot of pain on his side. The next morning around 2:00 a.m., our daughter-in-law called from the hospital, crying. She told my wife that she had our son in the ER, and the doctor was saying he had either lymphoma or leukemia. On Monday, spinal fluid was drawn and tested, and it was confirmed that he had chronic myeloid leukemia or (cml).  Right away, his oncologist began to treat him h with a relatively new drug called Gleevec. Our son responded well to treatment, but we fear that the drug will, one day, stop working.  Several years ago I ran across an article on the internet where 23 soldiers from New Zealand had been tested, and it was found that all of them had had their DNA altered.  In addition, the ones who did the study said it would be passed from from generation to generation.  I spend most of my time wondering when either of my two sons or grandsons will come down with some disease that can be traced back to AO.  My guilt feelings are forever there.  

 

Edited January 26, 2019 by David Thompson

[Curious 0]

I am the daughter of a 3 time Vietnam War Vet living with CML. Thanks for this info. 

[Berta 4,215]

This new post could have gotten lost in this thread:

 

"Bruce VN Vet
E-2 Recruit
Bruce VN Vet
New User Review
 0
1 post
Posted yesterday at 07:49 AM
Mozartplayer -

Thank you - I am a Vietnam Vet – served there 1971-1972 – diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid (myelogenous) Leukemia August 2020. My state Department of Veterans Affairs helped file my disability application with the VA and they are POA on my app. VA contacted me and requesting medical opinion as to connection of Agent Orange to my cancer' I sure can use guidance and help from folks who have traveled this road before.

Any direction is really appreciated.  Bruce"

You will need a strong IMO./IME- and independent medical opinion from a doctor, and the info they need to follow is in our IMO/IME forum here: at hadit.

There have been recent awards at the BVA for this disability:

"As such, the Board finds that the third criteria has been met, and that the Veteran’s diagnosis of CML was at least as likely as not caused by his exposure to toxic herbicides, as a result of his Vietnam service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303.

 

Accordingly, the Veteran’s death due to CML is considered to have resulted from his exposure to toxic herbicides, which in turn carries a presumed association with the Veteran’s service in the Republic of Vietnam. 38 U.S.C. § 1310; 38 C.F.R. § 3.312. 

 

Thus, entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death is granted. 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. The Board, having granted the Appellant’s claim on her first theory of entitlement to service connection, need not address her second theory of entitlement to service connection.

 

In closing, the Board would be remiss if we did not express our sincere condolences to the Appellant, and our gratitude for the Veteran’s honorable service."

https://www.va.gov/vetapp20/files5/20030779.txt

The claimant above was the veteran's widow .

I am an AO widow. 

Also there might be past CML awards here in our AO forum.

This is the search feature you could use to find more cases like yours:

https://www.index.va.gov/search/va/bva_search.jsp?QT=CML&EW=Agent+Orange&AT=granted&ET=&RPP=10&DB=2020&DB=2019

You can expand the dates in the BVA search feature.

Denials of similar CML cases should be read as well- 

But if you get a strong IMO/IME opinion and maybe these cases at BVA reveal other types of evidence you can use, you should be able to succeed on the CML claim.

The BVA might even have the names of the IMO/IME doctors in the above decisions.

They must follow the IMO/IME criteria in that forum here.

 

 

[Berta 4,215]

This new postcould have gotten lost in this thread:

 

"Bruce VN Vet
E-2 Recruit
Bruce VN Vet
New User Review
 0
1 post
Posted yesterday at 07:49 AM
Mozartplayer -

Thank you - I am a Vietnam Vet – served there 1971-1972 – diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid (myelogenous) Leukemia August 2020. My state Department of Veterans Affairs helped file my disability application with the VA and they are POA on my app. VA contacted me and requesting medical opinion as to connection of Agent Orange to my cancer' I sure can use guidance and help from folks who have traveled this road before.

Any direction is really appreciated.  Bruce"

[Berta 4,215]

Can someone fix this thread for the new member Bruce?

I lost one reply and maybe posted it twice again-

[Buck52 3,235]

iS THIS BETTER  Ms BERTA?

TomLeo 

Is the Original poster that started this thred  and they are 7 pages of postings.