“But what if you’re a young lieutenant who did four years and got out, and 15 years later you have an awful blood cancer and you are paying God knows how much?” “His care didn’t bankrupt my family,” the son said. ![]() Walter Reed doctors said his six-month battle could have cost more than $1 million if the family had to go through a private hospital and insurance, Fawcett Jr. Because the elder Fawcett served a 20-year military career, he received lifetime military medical care. said.īut the son is hoping the Air Force will do more to look for possible causes. served for 25 years - and if he was alive now, “would never be able to bring himself to the conclusion” that his missileer service might have been connected to his cancer, his son said. He died in 2016 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, both types of blood cancers. ![]() Jeff Fawcett Jr.’s father also served with 564th missile squadron at Malmstrom, from 1988 to 1992. I’m very happy that there’s some spotlight being put on it, because then it will make people more aware, and kids who are going into the service may ask more questions, and it may help in that regard." Too big a fight,” she said of trying to push the Air Force to figure out why her son and other missileers were getting sick. Her son, Jason Jenness, died five months after his diagnosis. To her, the letter left her feeling that the cancers were "being swept under the rug.” He died from non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2001 at the age of 31.Įven back then, his mother says, she was concerned his cancer had to do with his service, “and his friends were concerned, because there were rumors." But when she reached out to the Air Force, “I got a form letter," she said. Jason Jenness was a senior missile launch officer in the 1990s with the now-deactivated 564th missile squadron at Malmstrom. The findings by the Air Force - which do not mean it will stop investigating the issue - are bringing both frustration and renewed grief to the families whose service members are fighting cancer, or have already died.īut some also hope a spotlight on the issue will at least result in the Air Force carrying out a full cancer study of all the men and women who have worked with the nation's nuclear warheads, and hopefully an easier path to medical care. “Additionally, there was nothing specifically noted at Malmstrom’s main base or operational missile sites that would indicate a specific reason for increased cancer," the report said. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California have come to light.īut the medical review found that “overall, there were no factors identified that would be considered immediate concerns for acute cancer risks,” the Air Force’s 711th Human Performance Wing said in a report obtained by the Associated Press. ![]() In the months since, more than 30 cancer cases at Malmstrom and the nation's other nuclear missile facilities, including F.E. The service has been investigating the issue since reports surfaced in January of at least nine missileers who had served at Malmstrom Air Force Base who were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. A review of a Montana nuclear missile base where an unusual number of troops have been diagnosed with blood cancer has found no current risk factors that could explain it, the Air Force says.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |