Vietnam Vets

tomt263

I was diagnosed almost 5 years ago with RCC and lucky for me it was stage 1.  It was small enough that a partial nephrectomy was all that needed to be done and so far I am fine aside from the residual medical anxiety, insomnia etc that many of us have.  As I look at many of the posts regarding kidney cancer, an alarming number are from other Vietnam Vets or their survivors and there is no doubt in my mind that exposure to Agent Orange is responsible.  And yet, the VA in most cases denies service connection.  For those who also served at Camp Lejeune NC like me there is another nasty little surprise in that we were exposed to contaminated drinking water and the VA now pays for medical treatment of a short list of illnesses including kidney cancer.  At the same time they admit no causal relationship between drinking the water and the diseases on the presumptive list.  According to recent articles the VA is in the process of adding kidney cancer to its presumptive list of service connected illnesses.  Has anyone had success with claiming service connection of kidney cancer at the VA?  Mine was denied and I filed a NOD 2 years ago with no decision so far.  Best wishes to all of my fellow vets, cancer survivors and those who are fighting this terrible disease.