By Fred Hanson
Mar 17, 2010
HANOVER The federal Department of Veterans Affairs has ruled that
chemical contamination at a Marine Corps base caused a rare cancer
in a local veteran.
The decision grants a full service-related disability pension to Paul
Buckley, 46, who has multiple myeloma, an incurable form of cancer
that attacks blood plasma. It links the cancer to drinking water
that was polluted by a fuel spill at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
For Buckley, the victory was four years in the making and is about
more than money.
"They're finally admitting it," Buckley said of government officials.
"There's no more wondering how this happened. This is the
government's way of saying, 'I'm sorry we did this to you.'"
Buckley hopes the decision will help others in similar situations.
"It was the perfect storm, the perfect case, the perfect time,"
Buckley said. "Nobody gets that cancer that young. It needs a massive
exposure to certain chemicals. I'm hoping this does something for
everyone who was there."
Buckley said he could hardly believe it last week when he got the
letter containing the news.
"I thought it was another denial. I've had five denials in the past
month," he said.
Buckley, a former Braintree resident, was diagnosed with cancer four
years ago, after he drove himself to the emergency room.
"I collapsed at South Shore Hospital and woke up at Beth Israel
Deaconess Hospital" a few days later, he said.
Since then, Buckley has undergone a bone marrow transplant, and he
was on dialysis for a while due to the kidney failure that is related
to his form of cancer. He undergoes full medical checkups every four months.
"The cancer is incurable," Buckley said. "Relapses are part of the
problem and, eventually, you succumb."
He credits his doctor, James Levine, with saving his life numerous times.
Buckley said he started looking at the connection to his illness
after his sister sent him an article about a 1984 fuel spill at Camp
Lejeune. Near the end of his four years in the Marine Corps two
decades ago, Buckley lived for months a few hundred feet from the
site of the spill.
He thanked Emma Sanders of the Disabled American Veterans in Boston
and the office of U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, D-Quincy, for their
efforts on his behalf.
"I think this has enormous national implications," Delahunt said
Tuesday of Buckley's case. "This does establish a precedent. It's
clearly justified, and I applaud the Department of Veterans Affairs
for the decision. We're thrilled for Mr. Buckley."
Jerry Ensminger, a North Carolina advocate for Camp Lejuene veterans,
told the Jacksonville Daily News that he knows of only two others who
have received full disabilities due to the water contamination at Camp Lejeune.
Marine Corps officials referred questions to the Department of
Veterans Affairs. A spokesman for the department could not be reached
for comment late Tuesday afternoon.
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Fred Hanson may be reached at fhanson@ledger.com.
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