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 17 when I left Camp Lejeune for Okinawa, Japan. For years, I couldn’t explain why I was having some difficulty with PT, as it was always a strain. I didn’t smoke, didn’t drink heavily, etc. My PT scores were getting lower and lower over the years and suddenly I was getting periodic urine infections.
Long story about all the signs and symptoms made short, I knew nothing about the contamination for nearly 20 plus years. Meanwhile my health deteriorated. I rode mountain bikes, played basketball, and went on weekly 3+ mile walks, and still could not lose weight, etc. Now they are trying to say that high blood pressure and being overweight caused my kidney failure. But it’s amazing how my BP is under control now that my blood is cleaned 3 times a week!
I have had a claim with the VA for over a year and nothing.
As private as this matter is and as personal, I hope you organization is doing something other than chatting about it. Because from my point of view, I was wondering if Flint’s victims weren’t somehow compensated for damage to innocent lives, what is the purpose? Publicity and awareness? It does not save lives, compensate loss, etc.
This is why large organization don’t fear individuals or the law. Nothing will be done and they don’t lose anything. Until it happens to one of their top personnel, they will not change. And that’s sad, because we are talking about the harm of people by people…as long as its not them.
Note from the Editor: The account/editorial is verbatim from the author without edit, with only the omission of their name to preserve anonymity. In addition, I want to address a specific item in this submitted story.
At Civilian Exposure, we are indeed doing more than just chatting about these issues. We are researching and reporting on stories and working to hold government accountable for this generational health catastrophe. It is playing out in real time at base communities all over the US, and has been for at least the past 5 decades. We are also working on a research project now with a educational/scientific group and intend to use that to try and form programs that can get real help to people exposed.
However, know that we are 100% dependent on reader contributions, private donations, grants or any other sources of funding. In truth, all of those have been either nonexistent or negligible to date. Regardless, our volunteers and I continue to pour our own time, talents, money and resources into this effort to keep it going because we believe it is helping people. We hear from folks daily who need the information we are providing or are just learning about these issues for the first time from finding our site. We aspire to provide much more than just reports, but we desperately need more public support for that to happen.
For details on how you or those you may know can support our efforts, click here. Thank you. – GS
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