Imagine surviving two deployments in
Iraq, constantly dodging bombs and enemy gunfire, only to realize that
the air you were once thankful to be able to breathe was making you
sick. This is what happened to Sergeant Major Rob Bowman, who passed away from cholangiocarcinoma, a rare form of bile duct cancer, at the age of 44.
Unfortunately,
as many military families know all too well, Sergeant Major Bowman’s
situation is not unique. “Of the 30 men in Rob’s platoon who returned
home, nearly one-third of them developed uncommon cancers and medical
conditions,” said Coleen Bowman, Rob’s surviving spouse, “and the first
doctor we saw confirmed immediately that the cause of Rob’s cancer was
environmental, not genetic.”
The
environmental exposure Bowman referenced — known as toxic exposures in
the military — is of increased interest to lawmakers, advocates, and
medical professionals as a result of the frequency with which it is
occurring in post-9/11 veterans. However, given the notoriously slow
pace of legislative oversight and government-funded medical studies,
advocacy groups are now playing an important role in finding answers for
military families.
No comments:
Post a Comment