A Terrible Injustice

The following is a personal story submitted to Civilian Exposure and published as part of our new series: “Contamination Chronicles: Personal Stories of Exposure”. If you would like to submit your story, you may fill out our form here or send directly via email to share-@-civilianexposure.org.

I was a dependent from 1958-1964. We lived on Butler Drive in Midway Park on Camp Lejeune, where I also attended elementary school.  I went from 1st grade to 7th grade also attending Brewster school. I was sick suffering nose bleeds and fainting spells and have an enlarged liver.  My 4th grade teacher at the time asked my parents if I “was well.” Also, my medical records were not found in the St. Louis archives.

Of course, I was not well, and my family was not well.  My stepdad died from pancreatic cancer in1988.  My mother died from lung cancer in 2009.  And my sister died at 41 years of age from water retention so bad that she literally drowned. Last year (2017) I was diagnosed with breast cancer and now need to take anastrozole everyday for five years…possibly ten.

I feel that I have had a terrible injustice done to me and possibly my oldest 34-year-old daughter. She suffers each day from autoimmune diseases. I believe it was passed to her from me. Thanks for hearing me.

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Editor’s Response:  As for potentially passing it along, I can tell you that some science indicates that chemical exposures can fundamentally alter your DNA, which can then be transmitted down through your children.  We featured a story on this a while back, and here’s the link. You might find it a very interesting read. Thank you for sharing your story. I think many will be able to relate to it. – GS

Note: The author currently resides in Nevada. The account/editorial is verbatim from the author without edit, with only the omission of their name to preserve anonymity.