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Monday, December 10, 2012

VA denies cancer-stricken Camp Lejeune Marine compensation

VA denies cancer-stricken Marine compensation
By Donna Koehn
December 9, 2012

SARASOTA - He was expecting the worst, but that did not help when he got it.

The letter came in the mail a week ago, informing Tom Gervasi, 76, he will get no compensation from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for the male breast cancer that is killing him.

He needs proof the rare cancer was caused by contaminated groundwater he drank while stationed as a Marine at Camp Lejeune in 1956, the letter said.

Problem is, the federal agency charged with completing the tests to prove the link between the water and a high number of cancers among those who lived at the camp has not finished analyzing the area where he lived.

His wife, Elaine, calls it a catch-22.

Tom Gervasi calls it just plain nutty.

"They want me to die," he said last week. "But I'm not gonna die."

The problem for Gervasi and others is the law specifies a time frame of 1957 to 1987. Gervasi left in 1956.
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