Get This Out to all Viet Nam Veterans

Pass this on. Sent from email.

Got this through several friends - have not been able to verify it but thought best to forward FYI. As usual, check with your Doctor and the VA.

Subject: Get This Out to all Viet Nam Veterans
All:
Forwarded for your information. Please consider forwarding to those on you E-Mail list who may be impacted by this information. ~~ Semper Fidelis!!! . . .

-------------"Therefore I say; know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril." ~~ Sun Tzu


http://www.vva.org/veteran/0807/letters.html

PARASITE WARNINGI am writing to inform all Vietnam veterans about a potential health risk that they may have been exposed to while serving in Vietnam: the little-known danger from parasites.

My husband, who was otherwise healthy, passed away on January 20, 2006, from cholangiocarcinoma, cancer of the bile duct of the liver. It is very rare in the United States, but it is very prevalent in Vietnam and surrounding countries. There are two (2) known causes of this type of cancer: from contracting hepatitis C and from ingesting a parasite from the water supply in Vietnam. My husband did not have hepatitis C; therefore, it was determined that his cancer derived from a parasite. I have received official notification from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that his death was service related, which is not something the VA determines without an overwhelming amount of evidence.This cancer does not manifest itself until later in life, when you are between 60 and 70 years old.

Once the symptoms occur, which usually include jaundice, it is very difficult to treat or beat. My husband was 58 years old when he passed away. If he had been informed that there was a possibility that he could have ingested a parasite while serving in Vietnam, he would have taken precautions to have his bile ducts examined, possibly extending his life. The parasite is long gone, but it left behind damaged cells, which developed into cancerous tumors in the bile ducts.If you spent time in Southeast Asia and are having gastrointestinal issues for no apparent reason, please have your physician check for damage within the bile ducts. It may save your life.

Mrs. Edward S. (Pete) Harrison

Horseheads, New York

There is a long list of problems Vietnam veterans faced and still deal with today. They were joined by Gulf War veterans and to this day, they still fight. Wonder when the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will be able to say they don't have to fight to have their wounds treated and their illnesses taken care of because the government did in fact honor them?