Minn. Vietnam Vet Links Agent Orange To Parkinson’s
With the help of other Vietnam veterans, he founded the U.S. Military Veterans with Parkinson’s.
“Part of our job was to cut these 55 gallon drums in half for outhouses, made barbecues out of them, stored potatoes in them, filled them with sand for bunkers. It was just every day use of these spent drums,” he said.
The drums once contained Agent Orange. More than 20 million gallons of the herbicide were sprayed in Vietnam from 1961 to 1971 as part of Operation Ranch Hand.
After leaving Vietnam, Fiscus had no idea that a chemical once sprayed in a foreign jungle would end up changing his life. That was until about 10 years ago, when a doctor gave him devastating news.
“I was with the guy for 15 minutes and he came back and he said, ‘I just met you, but I’m afraid that I hate to tell you that you have Parkinson’s,” recalled Fiscus.
“He’s been fighting this for all these years. He’s won it for everybody else, but he can’t win it for himself … that’s the sad part,” said Fiscus’ wife.
Image courtesy of AO Legacy
No comments:
Post a Comment