Squamous cell cancer & agent orange

My husband is also a Vietnam Vet and has recently been diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma. The Veterans administration has deemed him totally & permanently 100% disabled do to agent orange exposure. He is now receiving a monthly compensation and many other benefits. I would strongly recommend that you contact a local chapter and see if you qualify. Good Luck

Blackhorse said:

Make sure that when your husband goes into remission that you claim evrything that the cancer and its treatment affected. The VA will reduce your rating and may try to say you don't have any residuals problems. DOn't let them get away with it. Keep track of all the meds and treatments. I don't want to bring you down but just trying to help. What I am telling oyu they did to me. I had Non hodgkins too. Have diabettes and heart problems caused by chemo. Good luck!

I too have base of tongue cancer. The VA denied my claim ( agent orange ). However I have read somewhere that RYE vs Principi had his denial overturned. Does anyone have info on how I can get access to that case ?

MarineE5 said:

Ralph, I am also a Vietnam Vet and have base of tongue cancer. I was operated on in Oct. 04. The VA denied my claim also, but I am fighting it. Keep at it and I have only recently heard of the case you speak of.

Boblow305 asked if you can be exposed to Agent Orange without knowing it, the answer is yes. If you were in Vietnam, you were exposed, period. You can be exposed to the chemicals just from drinking the water. To much detail to go into on this post, but you can find info on the internet.

Squamous Cell Carcinoma & Agent Orange
My husband was just recently diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma. He did two tours in Vietnam where Agent Orange was used quite liberally. I have been doing some research on this cancer and have come up with alot of questions.
Squamous Cell Carcinoma can be caused by carcinogens which can be found in cigarettes. However, Agent Orange had a dioxin in it which was known to be a human carcinogen.
The VA recognizes a cancer called soft tissue sarcoma which is also linked to dioxin exposure and according to what I have read, Squamous cell carcinoma and Soft tissue sarcoma tend to mimic each other and are both hard to diagnose. The suggestion they gave was to have a biopsy sample checked by a pathologist who has extensive experience in diagnosing soft tissue sarcoma.
I am getting ready to fight for my husband on these issues, but it doesn't make any sense to me that both can be caused by carcinogens and Agent Orange had carcinogens in it, yet the VA will only recognize soft tissue sarcoma as an Agent Orange related Cancer when Squamous cell carcinoma is also caused by carcinogens.
I don't know if any of this can be of any help to any of you, but thought I would add the information I have come up with so far. I am not done digging and if I come up with something else, I will share it with you as I would hope you would share it with me also, since we are all in this fight together.
God Bless,
Debbie
(Wife of a Marine)

VA
We just went through the VA process and I must tell all military folks that they MUST DOCUMENT ALL health issues from WHEN THEY ENTER THE SERVICE. My husband has experienced hearing loss since sitting in the old missile silo's--which has gotten worse over the years-but never had it documented---so it has been thrown out.Don't let this happen to you---DOCUMENT!!!!

poolside said:

Squamous Cell Carcinoma & Agent Orange
According to a pamphlet that we receive every month titled Semper Fidelis Memorandum for Retired Marines, they now have a blanket policy that states that vietnam veterans may be eligible for compensation & health care for certain diseases associated with Agent Orange, the defoliant sprayed to unmask enemy hiding places in the jungles throughout Vietnam. Special health care and compensation benefits are available to the 2.6 million men and women who served in Vietnam between 1962 and 1975. They then go on to list all of the cancers that they say are based on clinical research of presumptive disabilities.
Unfortunately Squamous Cell Carcinoma is NOT one of the cancers listed, but there is a cancer listed called soft-tissue sarcoma, acute that seems (from what I have read) to mimic Squamous cell carcinoma. I also stated earlier in another posting that both of these cancers can be caused by carcinogens and Agent Orange had a dioxin which was known to be a human carcinogen, however they are saying that Squamous cell carcinoma is related to smoking. You stated you were in the service in 1962, so I believe you are qualified, but we need to get together and get more information on Agent Orange so we can prove that the carcinogens that were in it that they have already agreed caused the soft cell tissue sarcoma, acute, has the same components as the Squamous cell carcinoma which they are currently denying being caused by Agent Orange.
Best of luck and if you find out anything, please let the rest of us know.
God Bless,
Debbie
(Wife of a Marine)

my dad just got diag with squamous
Hi, we just found my dad has squamous cell cancer of the face and hands. He also is a vietnam veteran(marine) he has also been on kidney dialysis for the last 7 to 8 years.We just got the call this morning, now we are in process of contacting the Va. I have told my dad to have a pathologist check it so see if it may be the soft tissue sarcoma (which i see mimic each other) I will fight for my dad on this. His troop was all killed but for 4 men who made it back. He is not healthy enough to fight I can and will. Please if you can give me any information on what i can do or should do it would help thank you

Proud daughter of a Marine
TIna

poolside said:

Squamous Cell Carcinoma & Agent Orange
My husband was just recently diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma. He did two tours in Vietnam where Agent Orange was used quite liberally. I have been doing some research on this cancer and have come up with alot of questions.
Squamous Cell Carcinoma can be caused by carcinogens which can be found in cigarettes. However, Agent Orange had a dioxin in it which was known to be a human carcinogen.
The VA recognizes a cancer called soft tissue sarcoma which is also linked to dioxin exposure and according to what I have read, Squamous cell carcinoma and Soft tissue sarcoma tend to mimic each other and are both hard to diagnose. The suggestion they gave was to have a biopsy sample checked by a pathologist who has extensive experience in diagnosing soft tissue sarcoma.
I am getting ready to fight for my husband on these issues, but it doesn't make any sense to me that both can be caused by carcinogens and Agent Orange had carcinogens in it, yet the VA will only recognize soft tissue sarcoma as an Agent Orange related Cancer when Squamous cell carcinoma is also caused by carcinogens.
I don't know if any of this can be of any help to any of you, but thought I would add the information I have come up with so far. I am not done digging and if I come up with something else, I will share it with you as I would hope you would share it with me also, since we are all in this fight together.
God Bless,
Debbie
(Wife of a Marine)

Agent Orange Cancer
I am new to this site,why I don't know since I have had two cancers from this poison. I read your post on squamous cell cancer and thought I would tell you my story in a very few words.

I was in Vietnam from 1964 to 65 where I flew support missions for the spray aircraft. We would come back with it all over us, but were told to wash it off "it is not harmful to humans", yeah right!!!

My first cancer was prostate cancer 8 years ago, I caught it early and so far have not had a recurrence. Last year I was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx. I had been on 20% compensation from the prostate cancer, it had been 100% but they pronounced me cured last year (I don't think you are ever cured). They put me back at 100% last year when I was diagnosed to have larynx cancer.

So, yes, if you have not already found out, any kind of cancer to one of their approved cancers will get compensation. I never had any argument from them other than their cutting off the compensation after 2 years because of their ruling that I was cured. Since the larynx cancer is recent they put me back on 100%, but yesterday I got notice that they considered me cured so back to 20%. I am getting an attorney and fighting them on this. The side affects of these cancers are terrible and will last until i die.

I hope you have succeeded with your claim, if not anything I can do to help let me know.

J. McLendon

VA Care and Benefits RE: Agent Orange
The difficulties in dealing with the Department of Veterans Affairs are legion. If the primary cancer is the one in the lung, the condition is "presumptive" for exposure to Agent Orange. At least in theory, all that is required is medical proof of the diagnosis and military proof of service in Nam.

At this point in hearings in Congress only in the past week the VA has admitted to having a million cases attempting to acquire benefits and/or on appeal unanswered. My two tour and later, flying into Nam on the "heavies for four more years," husband was diagnosed on Nov. 11th, Veterans Day in 2008 with squamous cell lung cancer, though he was asymptomatic. The cancer had metastasized to the spine and brain.
As a retired caseworker for an also retired now Member of Congress, I worked daily with the VA assisting vets who went to their M.C. to gain assistance with VA cases for years.

I filed my husbands new case in late December 2008. In an earlier case he had been found to be disabled, but the disabilities didn't amount to the percentage required for payment.

Included in the new case was almost 100 pages of proof of the diagnosis of a primary lung cancer and the original documents on file with the VA since 1992 which include all enlistment, reenlistment and retirement orders showing his last enlistment at Cam Ranh Bay and during that period 313 days served in Nam. Still with all those documents in file and resent with the current case the VA has sent a man who has been labeled as "terminal" by his oncologist for a "lung function" exam to see if he can breathe. Not an atypical action by the VA paper pushers and a waste of resources and time. Still with all the documents on file even showing medical treatment in the hospital at Na Trang in the first tour in 1965and '66, we have been asked to provide proof of service in Nam once again, leading us to question if staff at the Oakland, CA Regional Office are literate.

There is considerable information from the VA website about those conditions "presumptive"
with what is claimed to be automatic disability if they have no time frame limit for filing a case, though the information and the response to the filing of a case are nore than wanting.

A pension, untaxable and provided for widows and children by the VA is also a factor by law for those who die of a service connected condition. The VA website also provides a form for filing the case on line and military service and medical records may also be
applied for on-line. This site should be helpful. BTW by law the minimum percentage of
disability for an Agent Orange related compensation claim is 10%.

These sites should be helpful to those who continue to be diagnosed with conditions related to Agent Orange exposure.


http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/benefits/Herbicide/



http://www1.va.gov/Agentorange/



http://www.vva.org/Committees/AgentOrange/index.html



An unfortunate reality is the quality of VA health care continues to be scandal after scandal such as this NY Times article today related to treatment of also "presumptive" prostate cancer.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/health/21radiation.html?hp=&pagewanted=print


While the appointment of General Shinseki to head the VA has been applauded, even with my
years of experience as a Congressional VA caseworker, I continued to be frustrated and
cynical about my dealings with this now Cabinet level agency, that has been overwhelmed by
a combination of lack of funding commensurate with the huge numbers of wounded and ill from two on-going wars along with those who also served in previous ones who continue to
become ill from the choices made such as the use of Agent Orange in Nam, Korea and other
locations including those who served in "blue water" off the coast of Nam as well as in Laos, Cambodia and even flown into Nam from Thailand and on cargo aircraft that transported these highly toxic dioxins from the CONUS.

My HOPE for 2009 is the claim for benefits for my husband will be granted prior to his death and the best aspect of his treatment is it is provided by Medi-Care and Tri-Care-For-Life. His care has been excellent and unlike some who wait for months to obtain care from the VA because of our age and his service has not been economically costly for us.

Good luck to others who suffer the results of Agent Orange and to those from current and past locations where the use of depleted uranium is now being questioned for benefits as
was back in the 1980s with Agent Orange.

primmy865 said:

my dad just got diag with squamous
Hi, we just found my dad has squamous cell cancer of the face and hands. He also is a vietnam veteran(marine) he has also been on kidney dialysis for the last 7 to 8 years.We just got the call this morning, now we are in process of contacting the Va. I have told my dad to have a pathologist check it so see if it may be the soft tissue sarcoma (which i see mimic each other) I will fight for my dad on this. His troop was all killed but for 4 men who made it back. He is not healthy enough to fight I can and will. Please if you can give me any information on what i can do or should do it would help thank you

Proud daughter of a Marine
TIna

My father, a two tour
My father, a two tour Vietnam Vet, has squamous cell carcinoma on his buttocks and in his lungs. He was also diagnosed with non hodgkins lymphoma shortly after the squamous diagnosis. The Va approved our claim that both cancers were directly Agent Orange related and he now receives monthly benefits. My best advice is to find a Va representative that you can speak to in person, as they are a huge help with all the paperwork and will be the most qualified to explain the entire situation to you. If they deny you a first time, fight even harder on the second. Never stop fighting for your father, he needs you more than ever.

poolside said:

Squamous Cell Carcinoma & Agent Orange
My husband was just recently diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma. He did two tours in Vietnam where Agent Orange was used quite liberally. I have been doing some research on this cancer and have come up with alot of questions.
Squamous Cell Carcinoma can be caused by carcinogens which can be found in cigarettes. However, Agent Orange had a dioxin in it which was known to be a human carcinogen.
The VA recognizes a cancer called soft tissue sarcoma which is also linked to dioxin exposure and according to what I have read, Squamous cell carcinoma and Soft tissue sarcoma tend to mimic each other and are both hard to diagnose. The suggestion they gave was to have a biopsy sample checked by a pathologist who has extensive experience in diagnosing soft tissue sarcoma.
I am getting ready to fight for my husband on these issues, but it doesn't make any sense to me that both can be caused by carcinogens and Agent Orange had carcinogens in it, yet the VA will only recognize soft tissue sarcoma as an Agent Orange related Cancer when Squamous cell carcinoma is also caused by carcinogens.
I don't know if any of this can be of any help to any of you, but thought I would add the information I have come up with so far. I am not done digging and if I come up with something else, I will share it with you as I would hope you would share it with me also, since we are all in this fight together.
God Bless,
Debbie
(Wife of a Marine)

Sarcoma vs carcinoma
Hi Debbie,
Have you had any luck obtaining Agent Orange benefits for your husband? Hope he is doing well.
My husband was in Vietnam 68-69. In 2006 He was diagnoised with salivary gland cancer; carcinoma to perinodal soft tissue. He applied for benefits and was denied. He appealed the decision and passed away two week later. I am gearing up to continue with the appeal process and feel as you do regarding soft cell tissue sarcoma. Please provide any information that may be helpful.
God Bless you both,
Lu

usmc said:

Agent Orange / Soft Tissue Sarcoma
I was a Marine in Vietnam in 1967-68, exposed to Agent Orange, and 6 years ago diagnosed with Soft Tissue Sarcoma. The tumor was attached to the ascending colon and therefore the ascending colon, appendix and my gall bladder as well as the tumor were removed. I was not aware of the connection with Agent Orange, so didn't apply for compensation right away. After couple of years a VA social worker told my wife that if I applied for it I would get an automatic 100% disability compensation. I am here to tell you it isn't true! I got 20% for residual scarring and loss of the colon. Then, just two months ago I was again diagnosed with a soft tissue sarcoma in the same area only deeper. The VA did that surgery and did it poorly. I ended up with a "civilian surgeon" in an outside hospital and I am now well on my way to recovery. This didn't keep the Seattle VA hospital from claiming fees in excess of $105,000 to my insurance company. I have once again requested compensation commiserate with the disability I have and, so far, I just get the run around and stall tactics. My wife is working on my claim as I am really not well enough. I do know and have explained to her that they keep the treatment and compensation branches of the VA saparate for a reason other than service to the vet. They have a whole staff of insensitive jerks whose only purpose in live is to deny any claim put before them. I would like to sit across from table from them when they decide how to, once again, deny my claim; or, better yet, wish upon them, in their lifetime to live what I and others have lived.

Having vented my spleen, I must say my purpose is two-fold. I must encourage you to never give up. The system is designed to wear you down. It is too bad we have no voice speaking for us. Also, so you understand what you are dealing with, the VA is governed by the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Google VA and CFR and it should put you on the right track. It will give you an insite as to how the jerks think. Use the wrong buzzword or terminology and they will use it against you - not request clarification.

Lastly, for the last six years plus I have been unsuccessfully looking for someone with my form of cancer who has survived.

Stay in there and don't let the turkeys put you down.

squamous cell
I just joined this site looking for info on Agent Orange-related cancers because I was told there had been some new action by Congress. I was a Marine Corp grunt in 67-68 (crashed the Tet party in Hue - were you there?)and was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma in my right tonsil six years ago. It metasticized down the lymph nodes on the right side of my neck. Many surgeries later with chemo- and radiation therapy I have been told I can call myself a "survivor" just this year. Like many of us, I never say I've 'beaten' cancer - bad mojo or something. I thank God that I am still here and am grateful for every day.

My question is: why are so many respiratory cancers considered AO-caused but not swallowing cancers? Like many others of you, I am not considered a good candidate for cancer. I smoked a little but not much, am not over-weight, and not a heavy drinker (I ride a Harley but I dont think that counts).I was fortunate in having private health insurance and didn't have to go to the VA for treatment. I got a great surgeon but he doesn't agree that AO is a cause. Some of his colleagues, however, feel that it "may" be. On other issues, specifically hearing loss, the VA has been pretty good to me.

We need to keep posting to this site, and any others you may know of, to track those who were NOT good candidates but got cancer, anyway, through AO exposure.

Regardless, good luck and God bless you all in your fight. The Marine Corps taught me to keep putting one foot in front of the other and that's what I did - with the help of a terrific wife who just wouldn't let me give up. I'll check back once in a while to see how you are all doing. I hope to hear more from you.

Stay strong!