Vet's family still seeks compensation for illness that killed him

Vet's family still seeks compensation for illness that killed him
By Sam Stanton - sstanton@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, September 6, 2008
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A1


They'll hold a fundraiser in Auburn next Friday to help pay Matt Bumpus' medical bills.

The Roseville man and his family worked on the event for months in hopes of raising money to treat his leukemia.

But Bumpus won't be there. The 31-year-old father of two died a month ago after a series of battles with his disease.

He believed – and his family still does – that he became ill because he was exposed to depleted uranium at a chemical weapons site while serving with the Army in Iraq.

"All of them were very concerned about what they were exposed to, very concerned," said his stepmother, Laura Bumpus.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs rejected one claim Bumpus filed seeking compensation for his illness. But on Friday, a VA official told The Bee the agency will revisit the case and see whether Bumpus' widow, Lisa, and their two sons are eligible for assistance.

"Lisa and Matt's parents all have the right to come in and file a claim, and I would really welcome that," said Lynn Flint, the VA's regional director in Oakland.

The family plans to file another claim but has seen firsthand the difficulty of proving that an illness diagnosed post-service may have stemmed from wartime conditions.

Veterans from the 1990-91 Gulf War worked years to convince officials that Gulf War syndrome illnesses were real.

And just last month, researchers at UC Davis Cancer Center said veterans exposed to Agent Orange are twice as likely to get prostate cancer as are other veterans – a finding that comes decades after the herbicide was used in Vietnam.

Bumpus, a staff sergeant in the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, was sent Dec. 23, 2003, to guard the Al Muthanna Chemical Weapons complex in Iraq and spent two nights there, his family said.
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