Hello Everyone
Today, May 31, I contacted Veterans Affairs and told them of my father's exposure to Agent Orange . Dad was in the 2nd Btln Black Watch and was posted at CFB Gagetown from 1959 to 1962 and then again from 1965 until the Black Watch was disbanded. Dad had a lot of experience with being on exercises in the training area. So, he was one of the exposed.
To their credit, the Veterans Affairs people are taking this very seriously and are mailing out forms to be filled out. The main criteria is to prove that the Black Watch was in CFB Gagetown at the time of the defoliation. Well, that is not hard to prove. The other aspect is the doctor's forms saying that he died of a rare cancer. They are willing to provide a compensation pension to my mother even though he died six years ago. It will not be retroactive.
The only catch is that it was explained to me that the maximum that the DVA pays for all disabilities is $1,540 a month. So, if anyone has previous disabilities that are equal to the that sum or more, then there would be no additional payment for compensation for being poisoned by our own government. When I put to the pension officer today in that way, she reacted by saying that my analysis was in fact correct, but there were limits imposed by legislation on the amounts. I said to her again that if a veteran who had disabilities which paid the exisiting maximum then there was in fact no compensation for being poisoned and killed by our own government's secret spraying.
She said that I should write to the minister and put it to her like that and request a review of the cap on the disability amounts because I was correct, it you receive the maximum, there won't be additional compensation for being poisoned by Agent Orange.
However, I did not stop there.
I telephoned the Department of National Defense and went through much the same thing there.
Then I got really steamed and I called the CBC....well, I have to say that the CBC did not much care to hear about this initiallly. But I am not one who EVER gives up and I was rudely treated by the reporter at the Assignment desk and he told me that he did not have the time to listen to me but to send him and email. Well, that was one reporter who has missed out on a BIG story.
I continued and looked up investigative journalists in Canada on the Internet and concentrated on the CBC personalities, again I drew a blank. I called another part of the CBC and the staffer on the public affairs line HAD NOT EVEN HEARD OF THE DECISION TO COMPENSATE VETERANS. I couldn't believe this. I asked how long he had been working for the CBC and told him that he better start watching his own broadcasts. He was not impressed, but neither was I and I told him so.
Next I called my MP's office and related my story to the secretary who told me to put it all in writing and it would be looked at by my MP when he had the time.
Each person who turned me down just exacerbated my DETERMINATION to get to someone who would listen.
Finally, a resonsponive and very disbelieving reporter told me to call the CBC Parliamentary Bureau Chief for the CBC and gave me his private number on the hill. I was assured that I would get a voice mail and I might hear back in a week or two...and in my experience with dealing with any person in government agency that meant never.
However, much to my surprise I actually contacted the Bureau Chief, David Taylor and not only did he listen to me, he delayed a meeting he had to ask details and said to me that this story needs to be told and he commended me for coming forward with it. He is sending an investigative team to interview me and then they will take it from there with questions directed to the various officials in the various departments.
You see, not only my Dad was exposed to Agent Orange in Gagetown. But so was I, I worked there as a summer student in late July and August 1966, clearing the defoliated brush. We worked with bare hands, inhaling the fumes that were still prevalent on the dead brush. We had to burn it which was even worse, because we also inhaled the smoke. And by direct contact we absorbed through our skin. And when it came time for a break or lunch, we just sat down where we were working and ate our food with our bare hands that were covered in Dioxin.
There were approximately, 300 of us students hired to do this.
That is why this story is so unique as the Bureau Chief said to me. Because I am seriously ill with neurological deficiencies in my brain (my frontal lobes are 30% atrophied and I take anti-seizure medication for that) In 1977, my liver literally blew up to twice it's size and I was diagnosed by two prominent liver specialists (hepatologists) and had three liver biopsies done. They concluded in 1977 that I was suffering from "Toxic Hepatitis" caused by an extremely toxic chemical. I was sick for four years, felt like I had a mild case of the flu. Then in 1981, I started having all sorts of medical problems, stomach ailments, acne, seizures, and these went until 1990 when I started having blackouts and I was put on CPP and have been on CPP since then. My blackouts advanced to memory problems, brain dysfunctions, and a host of problems that would make my medicare bill equal to a small city's. In 1998, I had my first attack of pancreatitis and then another and another and so. I also developed Type II Diabetes, then micronodular cirrohsis of the liver even though I have never drank alcohol. I have been in the hospital 16 times, six times last year and so far this year once in April.
My doctors tell me that my exposure to Agent Orange is responsible for all this. They also tell me that my liver profile tells them that it is not a question of "if" I develop liver cancer it is a question of "when". Currenly I go for an AFP test every three months (Alpha Feta Protein) it is a test to determine if the proteins in my blood are abnormal and if they are, that means the cancer has started.
I told all this to the Parliamentary Bureau Chief and he was astonished because not only myself is sick, there must be dozen or hundreds of us former teenagers in 1966 who are sick, dying or have already died. So from a perspective of being a good news story....Father and Son exposed to Agent Orange and dying from it... I don't mind because the story needs to get out to educcate our young to what our government did not only to the serving members of any regiment that spent time in the training area of CFB Gagetown but also to the teenagers who are my age now...and who may not know why they are dying of various forms of cancer, liver disorders, neurological anomolies, and a host of other diseases that are listed on the American Veterans Websites. But it is also the undiscovered diseases of what this most deadly Dioxin will cause in future years because it also alters your DNA and then you pass it along to your children.
If anyone out there was a worker with me in 1966 clearing the brush in the training area. Please post yourself and get ahold of the press and let them know.
And finally, I would advise ANY person who spent any amount of time in the bush in CFB Gagetown to get yourself checked out for cancer. Get an AFP blood test done regularly and demand compensation form the government.
I have a feeling that this is just the beginning of my odyssey.
Nuf said....take care all...and you can reach me at kdobbie2@cogeco.ca
Today, May 31, I contacted Veterans Affairs and told them of my father's exposure to Agent Orange . Dad was in the 2nd Btln Black Watch and was posted at CFB Gagetown from 1959 to 1962 and then again from 1965 until the Black Watch was disbanded. Dad had a lot of experience with being on exercises in the training area. So, he was one of the exposed.
To their credit, the Veterans Affairs people are taking this very seriously and are mailing out forms to be filled out. The main criteria is to prove that the Black Watch was in CFB Gagetown at the time of the defoliation. Well, that is not hard to prove. The other aspect is the doctor's forms saying that he died of a rare cancer. They are willing to provide a compensation pension to my mother even though he died six years ago. It will not be retroactive.
The only catch is that it was explained to me that the maximum that the DVA pays for all disabilities is $1,540 a month. So, if anyone has previous disabilities that are equal to the that sum or more, then there would be no additional payment for compensation for being poisoned by our own government. When I put to the pension officer today in that way, she reacted by saying that my analysis was in fact correct, but there were limits imposed by legislation on the amounts. I said to her again that if a veteran who had disabilities which paid the exisiting maximum then there was in fact no compensation for being poisoned and killed by our own government's secret spraying.
She said that I should write to the minister and put it to her like that and request a review of the cap on the disability amounts because I was correct, it you receive the maximum, there won't be additional compensation for being poisoned by Agent Orange.
However, I did not stop there.
I telephoned the Department of National Defense and went through much the same thing there.
Then I got really steamed and I called the CBC....well, I have to say that the CBC did not much care to hear about this initiallly. But I am not one who EVER gives up and I was rudely treated by the reporter at the Assignment desk and he told me that he did not have the time to listen to me but to send him and email. Well, that was one reporter who has missed out on a BIG story.
I continued and looked up investigative journalists in Canada on the Internet and concentrated on the CBC personalities, again I drew a blank. I called another part of the CBC and the staffer on the public affairs line HAD NOT EVEN HEARD OF THE DECISION TO COMPENSATE VETERANS. I couldn't believe this. I asked how long he had been working for the CBC and told him that he better start watching his own broadcasts. He was not impressed, but neither was I and I told him so.
Next I called my MP's office and related my story to the secretary who told me to put it all in writing and it would be looked at by my MP when he had the time.
Each person who turned me down just exacerbated my DETERMINATION to get to someone who would listen.
Finally, a resonsponive and very disbelieving reporter told me to call the CBC Parliamentary Bureau Chief for the CBC and gave me his private number on the hill. I was assured that I would get a voice mail and I might hear back in a week or two...and in my experience with dealing with any person in government agency that meant never.
However, much to my surprise I actually contacted the Bureau Chief, David Taylor and not only did he listen to me, he delayed a meeting he had to ask details and said to me that this story needs to be told and he commended me for coming forward with it. He is sending an investigative team to interview me and then they will take it from there with questions directed to the various officials in the various departments.
You see, not only my Dad was exposed to Agent Orange in Gagetown. But so was I, I worked there as a summer student in late July and August 1966, clearing the defoliated brush. We worked with bare hands, inhaling the fumes that were still prevalent on the dead brush. We had to burn it which was even worse, because we also inhaled the smoke. And by direct contact we absorbed through our skin. And when it came time for a break or lunch, we just sat down where we were working and ate our food with our bare hands that were covered in Dioxin.
There were approximately, 300 of us students hired to do this.
That is why this story is so unique as the Bureau Chief said to me. Because I am seriously ill with neurological deficiencies in my brain (my frontal lobes are 30% atrophied and I take anti-seizure medication for that) In 1977, my liver literally blew up to twice it's size and I was diagnosed by two prominent liver specialists (hepatologists) and had three liver biopsies done. They concluded in 1977 that I was suffering from "Toxic Hepatitis" caused by an extremely toxic chemical. I was sick for four years, felt like I had a mild case of the flu. Then in 1981, I started having all sorts of medical problems, stomach ailments, acne, seizures, and these went until 1990 when I started having blackouts and I was put on CPP and have been on CPP since then. My blackouts advanced to memory problems, brain dysfunctions, and a host of problems that would make my medicare bill equal to a small city's. In 1998, I had my first attack of pancreatitis and then another and another and so. I also developed Type II Diabetes, then micronodular cirrohsis of the liver even though I have never drank alcohol. I have been in the hospital 16 times, six times last year and so far this year once in April.
My doctors tell me that my exposure to Agent Orange is responsible for all this. They also tell me that my liver profile tells them that it is not a question of "if" I develop liver cancer it is a question of "when". Currenly I go for an AFP test every three months (Alpha Feta Protein) it is a test to determine if the proteins in my blood are abnormal and if they are, that means the cancer has started.
I told all this to the Parliamentary Bureau Chief and he was astonished because not only myself is sick, there must be dozen or hundreds of us former teenagers in 1966 who are sick, dying or have already died. So from a perspective of being a good news story....Father and Son exposed to Agent Orange and dying from it... I don't mind because the story needs to get out to educcate our young to what our government did not only to the serving members of any regiment that spent time in the training area of CFB Gagetown but also to the teenagers who are my age now...and who may not know why they are dying of various forms of cancer, liver disorders, neurological anomolies, and a host of other diseases that are listed on the American Veterans Websites. But it is also the undiscovered diseases of what this most deadly Dioxin will cause in future years because it also alters your DNA and then you pass it along to your children.
If anyone out there was a worker with me in 1966 clearing the brush in the training area. Please post yourself and get ahold of the press and let them know.
And finally, I would advise ANY person who spent any amount of time in the bush in CFB Gagetown to get yourself checked out for cancer. Get an AFP blood test done regularly and demand compensation form the government.
I have a feeling that this is just the beginning of my odyssey.
Nuf said....take care all...and you can reach me at kdobbie2@cogeco.ca
