WASHINGTON —
Vietnam War veteran Robert Lytle was diagnosed in 2009 with bladder cancer, a
disease that he believes — and science now suggests — is linked to the chemical
herbicide Agent Orange.
In the past
nine years, Lytle has undergone three surgeries. Doctors removed eight
malignant tumors from his bladder. The Department of Veterans Affairs has
denied his requests for disability compensation three times.
“I
volunteered to go to Vietnam in 1970,” said Lytle, now 70 and living in Metter,
Ga. “That wasn’t the coolest thing. That didn’t get you a lot of dates. I just
feel like… I just feel they owe me.”
The federal
government is considering whether to add bladder cancer to a list of diseases
presumed to be caused by Agent Orange, but veterans might wait another two
years before a decision is reached.
VA
leadership informed the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs last week that the
government is waiting on results of two studies, the second of which isn’t
expected to be complete until 2020, committee staff said.
For Lytle
and other veterans and their families, it’s already been a long wait.
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