Over the last twenty years, cancer has become a way of life for Angeleno Lesli Moore Dahlke who, in 1970, was given the opportunity to travel to Vietnam with the legendary Johnny Grant on a handshaking tour along with three other women.
Her latest diagnosis, just days ago, of lymphoma, is a third cancer which she attributes to her exposure to Agent Orange (AO) in Vietnam.
Then in June 1990, Dahlke was diagnosed with a soft tissue sarcoma — a large abdominal retroperitoneal liposarcoma. Surgeons removed a tumor, nearly 8 lbs in size, along with 80% of her stomach, spleen, left adrenal gland and a partial pancreatectomy. Surgery was followed with three 5-day 24/7 continuous chemo drugs in the hospital.
In 1992, a CAT scan revealed what doctors thought was a recurrence of a cancerous tumor. During surgery, adhesion tissue was found and removed along with four feet of her jejunum (the middle portion of the small intestine).
In May 2010, Dahlke’s cancer returned. This time it was T- Cell Large Granular Lymphocytic Leukemia- her second bout of cancer.
Quite by accident, Dahlke stumbled onto the VA website where she was stunned to find the words, “Liposarcoma is a presumptive disease the VA recognizes as being associated with Agent Orange and those presumed exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam between 1962 and 1975 (including those who visited Vietnam even briefly).”
So, Dahlke filed a claim with the Department of Labor under the Defense Base Act on July 8, 2010.
Dahlke filed an appeal of denial and received a final denial on July 1, 2011
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