I know it's been a while for an update on my son-in-law. His oncologist is pleased and surprised that Heath was still with us for the holiday season, something the doctor thought improbable back in March. His body is responding to the immunotherapy treatments, Keytruda, which is keeping him alive. The doctor did warn, though, that the day will arrive where he will cease to respond be it days, weeks or months or hopefully years from now.
My daughter and those around him work effortlessly to keep his spirits up, which is a full time job for Danielle, especially. Emotionally he's up and down, mostly down, knowing he's not going to see his daughter off on her first date...her prom...teach her to drive....walk her down the aisle....his grand-children. A few of his friends have been showing him pictures of their daughters doing some of those things. "Here she is all beautiful getting ready for the homecoming dance" etc. They mean well, beaming with pride showing their family photos but it depresses Heath and brings him back to reality all the joys he and his child will be missing. My husband and I were able to recently be with him during one of his treatment sessions. A couple times, other patients before waving goodbye and leaving the treatment area, went up to a bell hanging on a wall and rang it, throwing their fist in the air. Heath said that's the "last treatment bell". Patients ring it upon completion of their final treatment. With tears in his eyes, Heath said to me, "I'm never going to get to ring that bell." His treatments will never stop until he dies.
Heath always wears an Ohio State t-shirt and hat to treatments. I think he feels it will help ward off negativity that creeps up inside him.
He's also angry that this happened to him. He knows it could've and should have been prevented. He knows the top military officials KNEW there was imminent danger of poisoning thousands of soldiers after air quality tests revealed a host of toxins and carcinogens were polluting the environment spewing out from the burn pit emissions. He knows the DOD classified and buried that report keeping it secret until the infamous "leaker" Chelsea Manning, caused it to go public as one of the secret documents she gave to Wikileaks. He knows the military commanders KNEW the soldiers were being poisoned and yet they continued to do it and currently, the VA nor the Dept. of Defense will acknowledge or admit any of this.
So, you can imagine the difficulty in keeping his emotions on a positive wavelength right now. We try and so does he, to put on that happy face as much as possible for his daughter. Danielle is committed to making every day a good one for her husband, but it's wearing on her.
We've had people make hurtful comments that he knew what he was getting into when he signed up. That's a load of crap. He knew he could be put in dangerous situations and was willing to sacrifice injury or his life for his country but he did not sign on to be knowingly poisoned by his top military officials and then expected to suck it up while they furiously deny and deny some more what they did. Heath always believed that our government would do everything humanly possible and beyond to keep him and his fellow soldiers safe.
Physically, his condition has slowed down as far as deteriorating since April, May, and June. Back then we didn't think he would survive past June but obviously with prayers and treatment, he's gaining some extension to his life as well as a little better quality of life than he had at that time. Because the cancer is metastasized in his mucous membranes, he does suffer daily with horrible nose bleeds where bone tissue is expelled because his septum is eroding away. The doctor said there is nothing they can do to stop that. But, for the first time since April, his heart rate is down to normal. He had been struggling with A-fib as the cancer also has affected his pericardium.
As you know a charity granted him a trip to Dallas for a Cowboys game back in early Nov. The trip went well and he, Danielle and The Cheesehead had a wonderful time. On Sat. they had a tour of the all the Cowboys facilities from the practice areas to the locker rooms...yes the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders locker room, too, (even met a couple of them) to the Dallas HOF and awards room and had lunch in the restaurant inside the stadium. Their tickets were in a suite, donated by a couple, who joined them for the game and also had them to their ranch for dinner. It was an incredible experience for a life long Dallas Cowboys fan. And he loved the autographed Zeke jersey he received.
We also managed to get him to the OSU-PennState game, which in all probability could be the last Ohio State game he will attend in his young life. I like to think there was divine intervention in that thrilling victory grasped from the clenches of defeat by our Buckeyes just for Heath. You can't even imagine the sinking feeling in my gut sitting through those first 3 qtrs. Not because Ohio State was losing because I've attended enough horrible losses to not let it get to me anymore but I kept thinking, "This can't be happening! We brought him here to cheer him up and have some fun and this isn't fun." Thank God it turned into a lot of FUN!!!!
2017 has also been a year where I turned my anger and anguish into doing "something". I had no clue, and maybe still don't, what my end goal is, but whatever efforts I've been putting forth in bringing attention and awareness to this horrible atrocity perpetrated on our American soldiers may not be huge in the grand scheme of things but it sure does make me feel as if I'm doing something to help. Feeling helpless and not knowing how to react or what to do is an awful feeling.
I've learned that it's not easy to get the attention of our senators and congressmen/women but I caught a break. After writing, emailing, leaving messages, to several I wasn't getting any responses. I know how busy they are and can only imagine the enormous piles of letters and emails they receive. I have written to both Sen. Portman and Sen. Brown many times but I decided, after learning that Sen. Brown is a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee that I would focus on him. Advocates for burn pit victims have been pushing for years for one or both of the Congressional veterans' affairs committees to hold a public hearing whereas burn pit victims and their families can testify and tell their stories. The House Veterans Affairs Committee chairman recently declined a request submitted by 14 of their fellow congressmen and women and we are totally disgusted!!!! The chairman is an M.D.!!!!!! I don't understand why these congressmen and women who are on a committee supposedly to solve problems and issues regarding veterans would not want to hear the testimonials from suffering vets!!!!!!!!!!!! And being a doctor, it's outrageous that he has no interest in hearing their stories. Unreal. The House of Representatives denying this request has renewed my anger. My New Year's resolution is to harp on the Senate committee and not let up until they decide to wake up and schedule a hearing for Burn Pit victims. If I have to, I will start visiting Sen. Brown's Lorain or Cleveland office in person and making my requests in person to anyone who will listen.
Anyway, in trying to connect with anyone representing Sen. Brown, I wasn't having much luck until one day, here in Sandusky, I volunteered to clean up trash and litter in some areas of town with a couple of our city commissioners. Knowing that one of our commissioners was formerly a member of the Ohio Legislature I figured he would have some Sen. Brown contact info and he provided me with an email address to one of Sen. Brown's aides. I managed to persuade the aide to attend my Sandusky screening of the Burn Pits Documentary, "Delay. Deny. Hope You Die." She was reluctant at first or didn't know if she was available on the date but offered to relay any and all of my information and research on to others who would then decide if it's something they need to bring to the Senator's attention. I didn't let up, and practically begged her or any other of Brown's aides to attend. She never promised me but that night she did show up. She was aghast. She listened to my and my daughter's stories about our lives since March 21, 2017. She learned how our soldiers were expendable for profits and how the VA is delaying and/or denying medical care to sick and dying veterans. After telling me she had no idea this was happening she fulfilled her promise to me in spreading the news throughout the senator's camp. Because of this I was invited to a Veteran's Affairs Field Hearing hosted by Sen. Brown a few days before Thanksgiving at the Columbus library. They only touched lightly on the burn pits situation but being there I realized that the Ohio VA Director gave a wrong answer to Brown's question regarding burn pits and whether there is a list of illnesses related to exposure. The director assured Sherrod Brown that there is, indeed a list and that's totally, absolutely not true. The VA's current stance is that there are no long term health effects resulting from burn pit exposure. The VA has no current list of illness for doctors to look out for since they deny there are any illnesses caused by these toxic exposures in the first place. I was able to speak with the senator afterwards and assured him of that untruth, and asked him to look into it more to find out who is right.
I found out at this hearing also, that one of Sherrod Brown's constituent advocates, Seth, from his Cleveland office, heard that I was attending, so he drove to Columbus in an effort to meet me. He said his office received a lot of letters regarding this as I've had a few letter writing campaigns and am planning more. He said he was moved by my personal letter describing the horrors and nightmare our life has become because of criminal negligence (that they will never be charged with, unfortunately) perpetrated by our top military officials and other top people in government, namely those who profited mightily off the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Seth introduced me to Sen. Brown's Washington DC office manager and also his Columbus office manager, who were all very interested in hearing what I had to say. Also, unintentionally, I was able to meet a woman who is the general counsel for the entire Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. She was most interested in my story and requested copies of many of the documents I had with me. She gave me her contact info and urged to me to send her everything and anything else I come across. I expressed to her that we want a hearing before the SVAC. On this day, the denial from the House Veterans Affairs Committee hadn't been revealed yet and I'm still in shock that they did deny the request.
So volunteering to pick up trash in my town one day ended up opening a lot of doors for my advocacy and activism for veterans who were unknowingly poisoned in Iraq and Afghanistan by people who knew the hazards and dangers were real.
On to the movie.....This morning the movie's producer, Gregg Lovett informed me of a sponsored screening of "Delay. Deny. Hope You Die" scheduled at 7pm on March 8 in Washington, D.C. Tickets are free if anyone here lives in the area and is interested in attending. I'm planning to be there. Even if you can't attend there is a preview of the documentary at the following link you can watch. The man who says something like, "They knew about it and they kept freakin' doing it" worked for the defense contractor. His mother attended my screening of the movie in Columbus. They were originally from Massillon. He lives in Portland, OR and she lives in New Washington, OH. A week after meeting her, she had a flight booked to Portland because he was having more surgery to remove more tumors and he wasn't doing very well.
Register for free tickets and the event information can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/delay-deny-hope-you-die-washington-tickets-41236138400?aff=eac2#tickets
My daughter and those around him work effortlessly to keep his spirits up, which is a full time job for Danielle, especially. Emotionally he's up and down, mostly down, knowing he's not going to see his daughter off on her first date...her prom...teach her to drive....walk her down the aisle....his grand-children. A few of his friends have been showing him pictures of their daughters doing some of those things. "Here she is all beautiful getting ready for the homecoming dance" etc. They mean well, beaming with pride showing their family photos but it depresses Heath and brings him back to reality all the joys he and his child will be missing. My husband and I were able to recently be with him during one of his treatment sessions. A couple times, other patients before waving goodbye and leaving the treatment area, went up to a bell hanging on a wall and rang it, throwing their fist in the air. Heath said that's the "last treatment bell". Patients ring it upon completion of their final treatment. With tears in his eyes, Heath said to me, "I'm never going to get to ring that bell." His treatments will never stop until he dies.
Heath always wears an Ohio State t-shirt and hat to treatments. I think he feels it will help ward off negativity that creeps up inside him.
He's also angry that this happened to him. He knows it could've and should have been prevented. He knows the top military officials KNEW there was imminent danger of poisoning thousands of soldiers after air quality tests revealed a host of toxins and carcinogens were polluting the environment spewing out from the burn pit emissions. He knows the DOD classified and buried that report keeping it secret until the infamous "leaker" Chelsea Manning, caused it to go public as one of the secret documents she gave to Wikileaks. He knows the military commanders KNEW the soldiers were being poisoned and yet they continued to do it and currently, the VA nor the Dept. of Defense will acknowledge or admit any of this.
So, you can imagine the difficulty in keeping his emotions on a positive wavelength right now. We try and so does he, to put on that happy face as much as possible for his daughter. Danielle is committed to making every day a good one for her husband, but it's wearing on her.
We've had people make hurtful comments that he knew what he was getting into when he signed up. That's a load of crap. He knew he could be put in dangerous situations and was willing to sacrifice injury or his life for his country but he did not sign on to be knowingly poisoned by his top military officials and then expected to suck it up while they furiously deny and deny some more what they did. Heath always believed that our government would do everything humanly possible and beyond to keep him and his fellow soldiers safe.
Physically, his condition has slowed down as far as deteriorating since April, May, and June. Back then we didn't think he would survive past June but obviously with prayers and treatment, he's gaining some extension to his life as well as a little better quality of life than he had at that time. Because the cancer is metastasized in his mucous membranes, he does suffer daily with horrible nose bleeds where bone tissue is expelled because his septum is eroding away. The doctor said there is nothing they can do to stop that. But, for the first time since April, his heart rate is down to normal. He had been struggling with A-fib as the cancer also has affected his pericardium.
As you know a charity granted him a trip to Dallas for a Cowboys game back in early Nov. The trip went well and he, Danielle and The Cheesehead had a wonderful time. On Sat. they had a tour of the all the Cowboys facilities from the practice areas to the locker rooms...yes the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders locker room, too, (even met a couple of them) to the Dallas HOF and awards room and had lunch in the restaurant inside the stadium. Their tickets were in a suite, donated by a couple, who joined them for the game and also had them to their ranch for dinner. It was an incredible experience for a life long Dallas Cowboys fan. And he loved the autographed Zeke jersey he received.
We also managed to get him to the OSU-PennState game, which in all probability could be the last Ohio State game he will attend in his young life. I like to think there was divine intervention in that thrilling victory grasped from the clenches of defeat by our Buckeyes just for Heath. You can't even imagine the sinking feeling in my gut sitting through those first 3 qtrs. Not because Ohio State was losing because I've attended enough horrible losses to not let it get to me anymore but I kept thinking, "This can't be happening! We brought him here to cheer him up and have some fun and this isn't fun." Thank God it turned into a lot of FUN!!!!
2017 has also been a year where I turned my anger and anguish into doing "something". I had no clue, and maybe still don't, what my end goal is, but whatever efforts I've been putting forth in bringing attention and awareness to this horrible atrocity perpetrated on our American soldiers may not be huge in the grand scheme of things but it sure does make me feel as if I'm doing something to help. Feeling helpless and not knowing how to react or what to do is an awful feeling.
I've learned that it's not easy to get the attention of our senators and congressmen/women but I caught a break. After writing, emailing, leaving messages, to several I wasn't getting any responses. I know how busy they are and can only imagine the enormous piles of letters and emails they receive. I have written to both Sen. Portman and Sen. Brown many times but I decided, after learning that Sen. Brown is a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee that I would focus on him. Advocates for burn pit victims have been pushing for years for one or both of the Congressional veterans' affairs committees to hold a public hearing whereas burn pit victims and their families can testify and tell their stories. The House Veterans Affairs Committee chairman recently declined a request submitted by 14 of their fellow congressmen and women and we are totally disgusted!!!! The chairman is an M.D.!!!!!! I don't understand why these congressmen and women who are on a committee supposedly to solve problems and issues regarding veterans would not want to hear the testimonials from suffering vets!!!!!!!!!!!! And being a doctor, it's outrageous that he has no interest in hearing their stories. Unreal. The House of Representatives denying this request has renewed my anger. My New Year's resolution is to harp on the Senate committee and not let up until they decide to wake up and schedule a hearing for Burn Pit victims. If I have to, I will start visiting Sen. Brown's Lorain or Cleveland office in person and making my requests in person to anyone who will listen.
Anyway, in trying to connect with anyone representing Sen. Brown, I wasn't having much luck until one day, here in Sandusky, I volunteered to clean up trash and litter in some areas of town with a couple of our city commissioners. Knowing that one of our commissioners was formerly a member of the Ohio Legislature I figured he would have some Sen. Brown contact info and he provided me with an email address to one of Sen. Brown's aides. I managed to persuade the aide to attend my Sandusky screening of the Burn Pits Documentary, "Delay. Deny. Hope You Die." She was reluctant at first or didn't know if she was available on the date but offered to relay any and all of my information and research on to others who would then decide if it's something they need to bring to the Senator's attention. I didn't let up, and practically begged her or any other of Brown's aides to attend. She never promised me but that night she did show up. She was aghast. She listened to my and my daughter's stories about our lives since March 21, 2017. She learned how our soldiers were expendable for profits and how the VA is delaying and/or denying medical care to sick and dying veterans. After telling me she had no idea this was happening she fulfilled her promise to me in spreading the news throughout the senator's camp. Because of this I was invited to a Veteran's Affairs Field Hearing hosted by Sen. Brown a few days before Thanksgiving at the Columbus library. They only touched lightly on the burn pits situation but being there I realized that the Ohio VA Director gave a wrong answer to Brown's question regarding burn pits and whether there is a list of illnesses related to exposure. The director assured Sherrod Brown that there is, indeed a list and that's totally, absolutely not true. The VA's current stance is that there are no long term health effects resulting from burn pit exposure. The VA has no current list of illness for doctors to look out for since they deny there are any illnesses caused by these toxic exposures in the first place. I was able to speak with the senator afterwards and assured him of that untruth, and asked him to look into it more to find out who is right.
I found out at this hearing also, that one of Sherrod Brown's constituent advocates, Seth, from his Cleveland office, heard that I was attending, so he drove to Columbus in an effort to meet me. He said his office received a lot of letters regarding this as I've had a few letter writing campaigns and am planning more. He said he was moved by my personal letter describing the horrors and nightmare our life has become because of criminal negligence (that they will never be charged with, unfortunately) perpetrated by our top military officials and other top people in government, namely those who profited mightily off the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Seth introduced me to Sen. Brown's Washington DC office manager and also his Columbus office manager, who were all very interested in hearing what I had to say. Also, unintentionally, I was able to meet a woman who is the general counsel for the entire Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. She was most interested in my story and requested copies of many of the documents I had with me. She gave me her contact info and urged to me to send her everything and anything else I come across. I expressed to her that we want a hearing before the SVAC. On this day, the denial from the House Veterans Affairs Committee hadn't been revealed yet and I'm still in shock that they did deny the request.
So volunteering to pick up trash in my town one day ended up opening a lot of doors for my advocacy and activism for veterans who were unknowingly poisoned in Iraq and Afghanistan by people who knew the hazards and dangers were real.
On to the movie.....This morning the movie's producer, Gregg Lovett informed me of a sponsored screening of "Delay. Deny. Hope You Die" scheduled at 7pm on March 8 in Washington, D.C. Tickets are free if anyone here lives in the area and is interested in attending. I'm planning to be there. Even if you can't attend there is a preview of the documentary at the following link you can watch. The man who says something like, "They knew about it and they kept freakin' doing it" worked for the defense contractor. His mother attended my screening of the movie in Columbus. They were originally from Massillon. He lives in Portland, OR and she lives in New Washington, OH. A week after meeting her, she had a flight booked to Portland because he was having more surgery to remove more tumors and he wasn't doing very well.
Register for free tickets and the event information can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/delay-deny-hope-you-die-washington-tickets-41236138400?aff=eac2#tickets
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