Wednesday, July 15, 2009
DAYNA DUPUIS THERIOT
by Jim Belshaw
Dayna and Keeyan's story is brought to you by The Missouri Vietnam Veterans
Foundation.
Dayna Dupuis Theriot writes a letter filled with questions, not the least of
which is to whom she should send it for answers. She scours the Internet
looking for such answers and finds only tantalizing clues, or more to the
point, one clue, one connector between her son and the various abnormalities
that have been visited upon him. The clue repeatedly shows itself, but never to
the degree that she can say it is the answer with any certainty.
“Every time I put in one of Keeyan’s abnormalities with that information about
my dad, Agent Orange in the first thing that would pop up,” she said.
With the exception of a too small body, his physical appearance gives no
indication that her young son knows firsthand the medical mysteries that Dayna
includes in her letter:
“Esophageal Atresia/stricture
“Dyslexia and learning disabilities
“Speech and hearing problems
“Asthma and allergies so severe that Keeyan is on Xolair injections (normally
for people who are 12 years of age or older according to the Xolair Web site)
“Illecolitis (a form of Crohn’s disease)
“Premature Ventricular Contractions (heart disease).”
Her father, a Vietnam veteran who served in the Army, is under treatment for
PTSD, but has never been diagnosed with a disease connected to Agent Orange.
Nonetheless, pointing to the presence of Agent Orange in her Internet research,
Dayna finds yet another clue hard to pin down .
“My father was in an area that was heavily sprayed with Agent Orange,” she
said. “He’s been through a lot. I don’t know how he would handle it if we found
out this kind of thing was transferred from his body to us. It would have a
powerful emotional effect on him. I would hate for him to blame himself. What
I’m doing now is just looking for answers. You don’t know who else is out there
with the same problems.”
Dip in anywhere in her letter and “powerful emotional effect” becomes
understatement.
“My son, Keeyan, was born August 2, 2000, weighting only 4 lbs., 14 oz.,” she
writes. “He had problems before coming home with his sugar levels and body
temperature. We stayed in NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit) for five days
before allowing us to go home. He then came home to vomiting, choking, and
almost losing him in our home.
“He was checked by his pediatrician to discover his esophagus was strictured.
It was narrowed so severely that it only allowed a few drops in at a time and
not even his own mucus could be digested. It is similar to Esophageal Atresia.
He was admitted and the surgeon dilated the esophagus. It lasted two weeks
before collapsing again. So in September 2000, only 4 weeks old, a thoracotomy
was done. They would cut out the narrowed part and resection the damaged
esophagus.
As her letter continues, it takes on a peculiar phenomenon of language, one in
which mothers become conversant in a medical language usually reserved only for
specialists, men and women who have spent the greater part of their lives
studying such things. It falls to mothers to understand medical terms and
procedures that would leave most people scratching their heads.
This is not the case with the mothers of children like Keeyan Theriot. They
understand the complications because the complications become the stuff of
daily life.
“After the procedure was done, he assured us that Keeyan would be fine,” she
writes. “He then began vomiting, choking, and the esophagus was so irritated
that it began to bleed. We began PH probe studies to find out what was going
on. The studies showed reflux and it was really bad. So they put him on a drug
given to patients with esophageal cancer to be able to tolerate feedings. It
didn’t help …
“We went to see a Pediatric Surgeon for Rare Anomalies. He gave us a few
options … He mentioned doing a fundoplication/nissen so he would not be able to
vomit. The procedure was done at age 4 1/2 … only to be discouraged by vomiting
and bleeding …"
Some of the questions Dayna asks are the same questions asked by the wives of
other Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange:
+If the children of women veterans are determined to suffer from such service
connected disabilities, why are the children of male veterans excluded?
(Dayna's son, as well as the children of other women, were born with conditions
that are on the presumptive list for children of women veterans.)
+Studies show more defects in women than men. Why?
+There are cases of second and third generations, but no proven studies. Why?
+Are there more studies planned for future generations?
+In the small study of 24 Vietnam veterans, they all had some type of
chromosomal changes. Why was the study stopped?
It is a proven fact, Dayna points out, that more children of Vietnam veterans
suffer learning disabilities, health issues, asthma/allergies, birth defects,
and other health issues. “They all seem familiar to me,” she says. Kids are
also born with rare disorders that may show up later.
“It’s been rough,” she said. “You always have in the back of your mind that
(answers) would leave you with some closure and you would be done with this. I
mean, you have to live with it, but at least you know why and you say, OK, this
is the way life is going to be. We’re going to have to live with it, like it or
not. This has been my life for the last eight years. I have no idea how I get
through this. It takes a lot.”
This article was Published in The Fresno Bee online on
Saturday, Jun. 27, 2009
by Jim Doyle
On June 2, the Ford Foundation released the results of a lengthy study on the
effects of Agent Orange/Dioxin, and confirmed what Vietnam veterans have known
for years: This stuff will kill you, or worse, pass to your children and
grandchildren and cause a range of disabilities and diseases that will
profoundly affect their lives.
Every good parent does their best to assure a better life for their children,
irrespective of time and place. Many Vietnam veterans, however, have
unintentionally left a disturbing legacy -- birth defects or damaged genes that
carry the potential risk of birth defects in succeeding generations.
This troubling inheritance is directly linked to the harm caused as a result of
our exposure to Dioxin, an unintended by product of the combination of 2-4-5-T
and 2,4,D that created the herbicide more commonly known as Agent Orange.
Over a period of nearly 10 years, about 21 million gallons of Agent Orange was
sprayed over more than 10 million acres in Vietnam. The VA presumes that
veterans who served in Vietnam were exposed to Agent Orange. It was in the air
and in the water. Dioxin was one of the more prevalent culprits at Times Beach
and Love Canal.
Agent Orange was composed primarily of two commonly used commercial weed
killers, the combination of which creates the chemical
2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), known to be toxic in humans. One of
these ingredients (2,4,5,T was banned by the World Health Organization in 1970.
TCDD accumulates in human fatty tissue, where it is neither readily metabolized
nor excreted.
Over time, the toxin accumulates and the effects can remain. In April 1970, the
federal government found evidence that TCDD had caused birth defects in
laboratory mice, but it was still used in Vietnam for nearly eight more months.
Children and grandchildren of Vietnam veterans suffer from a wide spectrum of
conditions including Achondroplasia, a type of dwarfism to Williams Syndrome, a
rare disorder caused by "erasure" of about 26 genes from a specific
chromosome that can cause mental retardation, a distinctive facial appearance
and cardiovascular problems for starters.
Cleft lip and palate, congenital heart disease, fused digits, hip dysplasia,
neural tube defects and undescended testicles -- the list goes on.
Who drafted these kids?
Physical, mental and emotional disabilities in our children, and now a growing
number of anecdotal reports of these same birth defects turning up in our
grandchildren haunt Vietnam veteran parents.
These are the result of wounds that will never be acknowledged by a Purple
Heart medal, wounding yet another generation.
When will the casualties of the Vietnam War end? After 30 years of research,
the evidence is firmly on the side of Vietnam veterans, both male and female.
Despite this evidentiary flood, Mom and Dad are still running the gauntlet of
rules, regulations, administrative decisions, legal opinions, forms, physical
examinations, evaluations and plain old indifference in an attempt to get
treatment and compensation, not only for themselves but for their children.
Again it must be asked, who drafted these kids?
After more than 30 years, isn't it long past time for this issue to be settled?
The Ford Foundation report calls for improved diagnosis and treatment, and
continued study of the environmental and health effects of Agent Orange. It
also appeals for expanded care, not only for veterans but for their children
suffering next-generation effects from their parents' toxic exposures.
In the face of the growing scientific evidence and the conclusions of the
foundation study report the government still refuses to fully acknowledge the
friendly fire toll of Agent Orange, now visited upon another generation.
Vietnam veteran moms and dads must focus on what will be there for their
children after the flag on their casket has been presented.
The reality is that there are hundreds of thousands of Vietnam veterans who
endure daily struggles with diseases and conditions that are a direct result of
their exposure to Agent Orange and other toxic chemicals used in Vietnam. There
is little, if any, serious dispute of that fact. Millions of Vietnamese also
suffer the same illnesses and die the same agonized death, and their children
too.
Just as Traumatic Brain Injury has become the signature wound of the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan, so to has the long-festering wound of Agent Orange become
the signature wound for Vietnam veterans.
Before his death in January 2000, Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., commander of
U.S. naval forces in Vietnam and later Chief of Naval Operations, fought to
force those in power to take responsibility for their actions and admit that
Agent Orange killed more than vegetation.
Zumwalt ordered the spraying of Agent Orange in the Mekong Delta and it
ultimately lead to the cancer that killed his Navy lieutenant son, Elmo Zumwalt
III at 42. Grandson Elmo IV was born in 1977 with a severe learning disability.
For Admiral Zumwalt, it was simple.
When Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, a World War II veteran whose son
served in Vietnam and died from cancer, recuses himself from Agent Orange
cases, there is a reason.
Vietnam veterans are not asking for a handout, they are just asking for some
truth. Oh, and a return on the investment they made in freedom four decades
ago. There can be no recession in that account.
Read the Ford Foundation Report on Agent Orange at:
http://www.vva.org/Committees/AgentOrange/Understanding_the_Impact_40_Years_Later(US_Viet_Vets_and_AO)-06-01-2009.pdf
Waiting For An Army To Die Won't Work When A Significant Number of Vietnam
Veterans Are Reporting Children and/or Grandchildren With Birth Defects Related
to Exposure to Agent Orange:
by Mokie Porter
Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at the Cosmos Club in Washington D.C.the Ford Foundation,
announced that it is funding and launching of a full-scale, public-relations
campaign to win the sympathy of the American people for the plight of Agent
Orange victims in Vietnam
The Ford Foundation and the U.S.-Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin
are hoping to mobilize resources and raise awareness for the continuing
environmental health consequences of dioxin contamination in Vietnam resulting
from the use of A/O, with the end goal of gaining the support of Congress,
American business, and the American people to direct U.S. dollars to Vietnamese
victims of Agent Orange. When representatives of Vietnam Veterans of America
(VVA) asked at the June 2nd meeting whether the condition of American veterans,
their children, and grandchildren would also be a subject of the public
relations campaign, the answer from the chair of the Working Group, came back
"We have given you the report."
The June 1, 2009, report, "U.S. Vietnam Veterans and Agent Orange:
Understanding the Impact 40 Years Later," which was done by the National
Organization on Disability with funding from the Ford Foundation, concludes
that it is not "too late to correct the lapses in the nation's treatment
of veterans who were exposed to dioxin during the Vietnam War." It goes on
to state that "One lesson of the Agent Orange experience has been that the
consequences of such chemicals are rarely easy to predict, and that the burdens
they impose may well be borne for generations." for report and VVA
reactions.
The report includes five detailed recommendations for greater clarity and
justice: (1) Outreach to All Affected Veterans and their Families; (2) Outreach
to Health Practitioners and Disability-Related Service Agencies; (3) Medical
Care for Affected Children and Grandchildren; (4) A Fresh Approach to Research;
and (5) Direct Service to Veterans and their Families, in Their Communities.
If the Ford Foundation's publicity campaign will focus on the plight of Vietnamese
victims of Agent Orange, but not American victims of Agent Orange, then
veterans need to launch our own grassroots publicity campaign to gain the
support of Congress, American business, and the American people for the
unfinished Agent Orange agenda for American veterans and their families.
The Task Ahead: Don't Mourn, Organize and Publicize in Your Own
Communities
This is not just a VVA issue.VVA members, chapters, and state councils need to
reach out and work with other veterans organizations in their communities and
to be a force multiplier. Many of our members, of course, are members of other
veterans organizations, so this will help.
The brunt of the fallout of this one-sided, public-awareness campaign will rest
on our members at the grassroots, in chapters and state councils, where the
network exists for our veteran families. We cannot allow those veterans outside
the VA/VSO network to find out about their A/O exposure from the perspective of
the Vietnamese victims, as they watch the Ford Foundation media campaign unfold
in print and on television.
While, at this point, we know very little about the when and where of the Ford
Foundation media campaign, we expect that it will begin this summer and
continue through the year. We anticipate a multi-media barrage, with Ford's
efforts directed toward the documentary film industry, the print media, radio,
television, celebrities, etc. We have not located the budget for this endeavor
yet, but expect that, minimally, it will be in the range of six figures.
This is not about animosity toward Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange, but it
is a response to the telling of only one side of the story by the Ford
Foundation media campaign. That's not the right approach to take and may well
create a great deal of pain in those veterans, whose "welcome home"
nearly forty years ago, was a slap in the face, or disdain and distance, and
who will now, once more, be reminded of the esteem in which their government
holds them, as they watch while the Ford Foundation media campaign focuses on
the suffering of their former enemy.
What do we need to create awareness? We need real stories about real people to
convince the American people and Congress that our A/O problems are real.
We already have two excellent stories, though still in the rough draft stage.
More will be needed. If each state would identify at least one family with a
child or grandchild affected by A/O, willing to share their story, we will
begin to have ammunition to use locally and nationally with the media and with
legislators.
One idea that has been suggested is holding veterans health forums at the
chapter and state council levels. That's a good way to get local media
attention, and a forum to discuss the issue of A/O, as well as all the host of
illnesses and maladies associated with military service. It would likely be
useful to have a nuts-and-bolts, how-to plan for this type of health forum.
What we need is something that could be shared with other states and chapters,
like a "checklist for organizers of local health forums," or a
document that has tips for putting on a "high-interest, high attendance,
high media coverage veterans health forum in your community.
Ideas other than a veterans health forum will likely emerge, and a forum for
the sharing of these ideas, info, intel, and good stories will be needed, if we
are to sustain a vital campaign. What works in one area may not work in another
area. Local initiative, local creativity, and local enthusiasm and energy will
be essential.
This is not just about Vietnam/Agent Orange alone; it is about all toxic
exposures in all theaters of our recent wars whether in Thailand, on Eglin Air
Force Base, Guam, Puerto Rico, Texas, the Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.--the
larger lesson continues to be this: The cost of war doesn't end when the guns
are silent, in fact it takes a generational toll so we, as a nation, must be
willing to pay the price.
(See VVA web page http://www.vva.org/ for report and VVA reactions. The report
is also available at http://www.veteranstoday.com/article7206.html)
