CHILDREN IN PAIN ---- A LEGACY OF VIETNAM

I am the wife of a Vietnam veteran. He was conscripted in 1968 and sent to Vietnam in 1969.
During the Vietnam war, Agent Orange (active ingredient Dioxin) was sprayed extensively as a defoliant, and unfortunately the herbicide contaminated Australian soldiers. While out on patrols in the jungle my husband, along with other soldiers, was sprayed from the air with Agent Orange (Dioxin). Unable to wash while out on patrols the chemical just soaked in.
After returning home he had various health problems. We married and went on with our lives and put Vietnam far behind us.
We had a son in 1971 and a daughter in 1973.
Our son had trouble sleeping as a baby, this has continued all his life. He had speech problems at Kindergarten. All through school he was an "interesting child". He was always running somewhere, never able to finish courses, always able to get a good job but never staying in it for long. By his mid 20's we thought he may have had psychological problems but we were soon to discover that in fact he had a major psychiatric illness, either Bi-Polar Disorder, or Schizophrenia or a mix of both. The Psychiatrists he has seen (there have been four so far!) are having trouble both diagnosing his condition accurately and giving effective treatment. His illness is caused by a chemical imbalance in his brain.
Our daughters' mind is fine, but her body certainly isn't.
As a baby she frequently had bad stomach aches, diagnosed as "immature nerve ends in her stomach". As a child she was investigated for Lack of growth, each Specialist would comment on her enlarged Liver but no one ever did anything about it. They didn't know what to do!
Then at 21 she was admitted to Hospital as an emergency with Ulcerative Pan Colitis-the whole of her Large Bowel was inflamed and ulcerated, and she had a bilateral bowel obstruction. It is unusual for the entire large bowel to be involved.
Then she developed Endometriosis and now she is developing Raynaurds Syndrome.These are all Autoimmune Illness'. They are also conditions which are usually hereditary, as is our sons' condition.
BUT, we realized we had no relatives on either side of our extensive families with any of these conditions.
I started researching. It wasn't really until our son was diagnosed as ill with a major Psychosis, in January 2001 that I began to look at the Vietnam connection between both of the children's illness'
I started to research Agent Orange and Dioxin. Without the Internet I would never have been able to get as much information as I have, and its frightening. I cried when I realized what might have been the cause of my childrens' illnesses.
I approached our daughters Gastoenterologist to see what he thought of my findings. Within a short time he contacted us, offering to write a letter confirming that he felt there was enough evidence /research available to directly link her fathers exposure to Dioxin in Vietnam to her auto immune Illness.
The reality of this situation I find our family in is unbelievable, how did it happen? I keep asking myself !!
It is not my husband's fault. He must never feel to blame. A relatively small group of fit young Aussies are potentially affected (47,772 soldiers still alive according to the V.V. Morbidity study). I have found so much evidence against Agent Orange and the way it was misused in Vietnam, and the damage it can do to second generations, that I feel I must take this matter further.
I would like all mums to think of their children's health. Are there illnesses or conditions that don't have a hereditary base? Remember my son wasn't really diagnosed until 29 years of age and my daughter's condition is slowly worsening each year, so many conditions might still be developing.
Think of the year your husband was in Vietnam (the spraying of Agent Orange was much worse in some years than others), talk to him about being sprayed.
This is horrific but it won't go away. I think the Government just hopes we either don't connect the two or we will be unable to become a formidable group together. There isn't that many Vietnam veterans children (70,867 born between 1966 and 1997, most born between 1973& 1978, according to the VV Morbidity Study).
This may cause you heartache as it has me but we must be strong for our children's sake.
We pay all our children's medical expenses. We cannot do this indefinitely, we are getting older and my husband's health is getting worse
We have spoken to other Vietnam veteran's families, and we realise that these illnesses are more extensive than most people realise. Other veteran's children have similar conditions.
We need the Government, to understand this and accept responsibility; they owe our young a "duty of care".
We are hoping to collect enough information to convince the Federal Government of the ill health amongst our children.
Sue. e-mail : vietvetschildren@yahoo.com.au

[ Sign my Guestbook] - [Read my Guestbook ]
[Guestbook by TheGuestBook.com]

HOME PAGE