By Ami Schmitz and Kristina Krohn
Rock Center
Mike Partain got the shock of his life five years ago when he was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 39. That he got breast cancer at all is surprising. It's so rare that for every 100 women who get it, just one man will.
“Five years ago I was just an ordinary father of four, husband of 18 years. And one night, my then-wife gave me a hug and she felt a bump on my chest,” he said in an interview with Dr. Nancy Snyderman airing tonight at 10pm/9CT on NBC News’ Rock Center with Brian Williams.
When his doctor delivered the devastating news in a phone call, Partain’s first thought was, “What contest in hell did I win to deserve this?”
After his diagnosis, Partain was desperate to answer the question, “why”? He said, “I don't drink. I don't smoke. I've never done drugs. There is no history of breast cancer in my family.”
But everything changed after he saw a news report, where a former Marine drill instructor named Jerry Ensminger told Congress how his 9-year-old daughter Janey died of leukemia, and that he believed her death was caused by drinking water at Camp Lejeune contaminated with chemicals.
“My knees buckled,” Mike said, “I grabbed the back of the couch and I sat there. I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is what happened.’”
The son of a Marine, Partain was born at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. He soon learned that there had been a long history of suspicion about the water at Camp Lejeune.
“The entire time my mother was pregnant with me, we were drinking high levels of tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, and benzene in our water” he said. Partain believes these chemicals caused his breast cancer.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that between 500,000 and 1 million people were exposed to the contaminated water from 1953 to 1987, when the last of several contaminated wells were closed.
Partain has found 83 other men who lived or served at Camp Lejeune who have also been diagnosed with male breast cancer.
Peter Devereaux, a 50-year-old a former Marine, is one of them. He was diagnosed in 2008.
Devereaux remembers when his doctor first let him know he had breast cancer.
“I was just like, whooo. Even now I've said that so many times, it still takes your breath away,” he said.
Dr. Katherine Ruddy, a medical oncologist at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, is Devereaux’s doctor.
“When Peter was first diagnosed, he had a stage III cancer. And approximately a year later, we did find that he had distant metastases to his bones,” said Ruddy. She says his cancer is terminal.
Click here for more of Peter Devereaux's story.
Like Devereaux, most men tend to get diagnosed at later stages than women do, which decreases their survival, according to Ruddy. Devereaux needed a mastectomy and hormone treatment, both of which are common for men with male breast cancer. But the side effects of hormone treatments affect men differently than women, according to Ruddy.
“Men are not used to hot flashes and I think it is a particularly challenge for men to deal with the side effects of our treatments, including the hot flashes from our endocrine therapies that just are not something that they went into this expecting to feel,” Ruddy said.
It is not just the disease that upsets the men from Camp Lejeune. They are angry because of how they believe they got cancer.
A Lab reports from 1980 show that the United States Marine Corps started routinely testing tap water back in 1980. Testing eventually revealed one sample that contained 280 times the acceptable standard of Trichloroethylene (TCE), a chemical which can cause cancer.
For more on Camp Lejeune and its drinking water, click here.
Some of the chemicals were linked to a dry cleaner off base that has since closed. But a recently-released report found that the worst contamination came directly from the Marine Corps, because of its industrial waste practices and from leaking fuel storage tanks. One document, released by the CDC in December 2012, details how over 1 million gallons of fuel seeped into the ground from underground storage tanks, contaminating the camp’s well water.
Officials say that while testing of the tap water began in 1980, it took them four years to determine exactly which wells were contaminated, and that once those wells were identified, they were shut down immediately. Partain says the Marine Corps should have closed the wells earlier. “They chose to keep those wells on for whatever reason and did not begin shutting the wells down until 1984,” he said.
As for any connection between the chemicals in the water and cancer, Marine Corps officials maintain that "reliable scientific evidence is lacking" to prove one way or another whether the water contamination caused any illness. But Dr. Richard Clapp, one of the nation’s most respected experts in cancer and the environment, disagrees.
“The level [of contamination] in the drinking water was the highest that I've ever seen,” said Clapp, an epidemiologist at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. “I've been working on this kind of thing for 30 years. I have never heard of a community that's had the levels of contaminants that they had at Camp Lejeune.”
He has examined the data from Camp Lejeune and says he believes the contamination and the cancers are related. “The cluster of disease-- for example, male breast cancer-- may also turn out to be the highest that's been seen anywhere. “
Though the Marine Corps has not acknowledged a link between the bad water and any illness, Congress felt there was enough evidence to act to help the veterans who believed the water at Camp Lejeune made them sick. In 2012 the president signed a law providing health benefits to Camp Lejeune veterans and their families who can prove the contamination made them sick.
The law lists several types of diseases that may be related to the poisoned water at Camp Lejeune, including childhood leukemia as well as cancers of the kidney, lung, bladder and breast. But it has been hard for the male breast cancer patients who believe they’re cancer was caused by contaminated water at Camp Lejeune to get benefits, which are managed through the Veteran’s Administration.
One former Camp Lejeune Marine, Tom Gervasi, says he has been denied benefits several times. He says that for him, time is of the essence.
“I've got stage 4 terminal cancer. My survival is minimal. What I worry about is my wife, and her being taken care of by the VA and the Marine Corps, if at all possible,” Gervasi said.
The men are waiting on a report due out this year from the CDC's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) that they believe may help them prove it was the water that made them sick, and that the Marine Corps is, in fact, responsible.
Partain and Camp Lejeune families say the CDC analysis, which began more than 20 years ago, is taking too long. Dr. Christopher Portier, the director of the ATSDR told NBC News “I think we are late on this one.” Now he says he is pushing his staff to finish quickly. “Our responsibility for these people is to do the absolute best science, make sure we get it exactly right so nobody can challenge any of our results when we're done.”
As everyone waits for the report, Partain and his men want the Marine Corps and the Veterans Administration to step up and take care of their Marines and their families. Partain asks, “When is the leadership of the Marine Corps going to stand up and say we made a mistake?”
For more on Camp Lejeune and its drinking water:
Register to receive notifications regarding Camp Lejeune Historic Drinking Water, by clicking here or call (877) 261-9782.
Click here to visit the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
Leave a Comment:
I live in Albuquerque. We host Kirtland Air Force Base, the largest repository of nuclear weapons in the world. Kirtland "sprang" a jet fuel leak in the late '50's, "discovered" it in 1997 they say. 24 million gallons of jet fuel, now in our sole drinking water source of this beautiful mile high city. The fuel "plumes" now extend 3.5 miles + east and northeast of the base, and contrary to Kirtland statements, will arrive at pumping stations (eg: direct pumping from our aquifer, up, to people's faucets) imminently if not already there.
The Exxon Valdez spill, by comparison, was about 11 million gallons. Our spill is the largest, by volume of contaminant into a public drinking water supply, in the history of the US. And... it hardly makes the news.
Myself and a few others have taken up the fight to save our Aquifer. Along the way, we've studied the LeJeune "event" because, not only have so many people gotten very sick, but the people in that community had a formidable group of smart intelligent and capable "activists", yet could not get the job done.
Curretly, there are 42 US Air Force sites on the Super Fund list. Many more Army, Marine and Navy sites. The list is posted here:
Super fund means something. When a toxic pollution event is identified, EPA steps in and formalizes it's toxicity. EPA, under RICRA (Clean Water Act) is responsable for advising a given polluter as to standards of action it must meet, in "measuring" their event, then cleaning it up. The Polluter is given great opportunity to clean up.
At some point, if a given pollution event "expands" to an extent where EPA determines it is an imminent threat to public health, EPA takes over the job, implicitly declaring a given polluter's cleanup a failure.
42 Air Force Bases on this list means something: they don't clean up their messes.
They certainly aren't clean up ours (Albuquerque's), and fighting them with facts is like pounding sand. Somethings' very very wrong here in the USA, with all this nonsense.
...
I would encourage all your readers/viewers to take an evening and read the LeJeune website linked in this article. Their site is here:
In particular, read that site's timeline section. It is a... horror. We see the same thing unfolding here, if US values don't come of age and realize we are running out of water, that our Military is supposed to "keep us safe", but defies the public's hosting them when their sloppy and utterly uncaring toxic spills kill residents hosting them.
The US Military Base superfund list link, in previous post didn't show up. It seems this forum does not allow links. You can find the list by Googling: Military Sites on the EPA Superfund List. The first link Google returns, eg: VeteransInfo, has the list.
Thank you Jim, yes the time line is a "horror" especially, when you compare it to the statements and claims made by the leadership of Camp Lejeune about this issue. To date, no one from HQ Marine Corps has sat down with us to discuss the disturbing facts we have uncovered. In fact the officers handling this issue are under orders not to speak to Jerry or myself about Lejeune. They even boycotted the meetings at the CDC by stating their presence there is a distraction.
I was told by VA Hospital in Tampa fl that I have Leukemia and I too was stationed at Camp LeJeune North Carolina in 1971 But also Lived On base with My Uncle as a Child for Several yrs around 1966 to 69...Then as a Civil service employee around 19977. VA awarded Me My Leukemia and Backdated it to June 2010 BUT I feel it should have been BackDated Untill at LEAST 1971...SEMPER-FI
God bless all of you men and women who have suffered as a result of your service to our country. My father was a marine. He has passed on, but to the best of my knowledge he did his basic training at Paris Island and then went straight into the Reserves, where he remained for 6 years. Although he never served in active duty he was always proud to have been a marine.
It's all about money - making sure those with it see to it that those without it don't get it.
Ironic isn't it, that the nuclear chemicals made by the citizens of this country in order to kill the citizens of other countries, are now killing them instead?
What is going to happen when the sequester of cuts take effect the first of march , cuts across the board including the VA ? We use to have a government that took care of its people now its just about the very wealthy and those who can hide their profit and income from the rest of us .
Hey repub. you on here to sell your filter.
When I was in serving in the Navy in Puerto Rico, the building I was working at had an Asbestos team come in and clean it out. The team were all wearing space suits and each area they worked in was encased in plastic, but the fans blew the air from those plastic tents into our break area, that break area was also where you had to walk through to eat lunch. We had to walk through this plastic tunnel to get to the rooms and offices we worked in and you could feel air from the other side blow against your face as you passed through. When the clean up was over, the government actually wanted everyone to sign a document stating that none of us were exposed to asbestos during the clean up. Some people signed, but me and a bunch of other people wouldn't. We were threatened with Captain's Mast (court martial) until surprisingly, our captain also refused to sign this document. Luckily I have never gotten Mesothelioma, but I always wonder if anyone else working there at that time has.
Unfortunately, water filters don't remove the chemicals listed in Camp LeJeune's water. They filter out bacteria and minerals like lead, copper, etc.
Do you think this is one of the non-disclosed reasons why residents are abandoning New Mexico? I figured that many are concerned that there must also be contaminated soils remaining from nuclear testing which began during WWII. News reports blame the economy, but I wonder if there is more to it than money. One report can be read at, "Record number of people moving away form Albuquerque" by kob.com Eyewitness News 4, Jan. 8 2013 by Scott Dyson.
If you think that Mexico is bad, check out Oak Ridge and Hanford. They were the sister research facilities to Los Alamos and developed the plutonium used in the bombs. From what I have read, all three sites are some of the most polluted places on the earth. Hanford has been a storage facility for chemicals but the football size storage tanks leaked and leached chemicals into the ground (and probably water but I have no proof). The Columbia river runs right thorough the area. Look around a little more, Now, chemical polution is in the food chain.
You are correct Jim. Something is wrong and it is getting worse. Our foods are genetically engineered and are toxic to animals and humans -
GMO/GE foods deadly - the creation of increased health issues: www.youtu.be/a3aei4ayCFA
GMO back lash with spontaneous abortions in cattle?: www.naturalnews.com/031473_GMOs_pathogens.html
The majority of people have chosen death over life by electing a president that endorses abortion by giving Planned Parenthood $500,000,000 of our tax dollars to perform 3000+ killings per day, but tells us we need to protect children!? This is evil at its worst. This is Nazi Germany on American soil. I can go on and on, but you get the point.
Do not give up on your quest to do right. Trust the Lord and move forward.
"Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." James 4:17
Jermo 1.14: Lay off the booze or don't post your nonsense. We're having serious discussions here and your Fox non-fact reports are as toxic as the water. Keep pushing for fracking and the Keystone pipeline. Keep destroying what little is left so your buddies can roll in their filthy money bins while their greed destroys our families.
That Marine Corps officials would drag their feet behind CONGRESS of all things is despicable; they should be the first to demand care and stop the cause of this. So much for Sempre Fi. No good deed goes unpunished for the Marines who served their country to be thrown under a bus.
PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!
everyone that has shared their story on the thread- call your congressmen or congresswomen this week and share the same story with them!!!
N/A... removing duplicate.
Mike Partain,
This is a double post but I wanted to move this from the 8th page to the 1st page because it's good information.
I'm glad to see that male breast cancer is getting some much needed attention. I'm sad that you have to deal with it and the frustration of finding the cause and getting justice. I've been recommending to my male patients to do breast exams for years. I haven't been to any of the websites that you've listed so you may have something posted. If not, I do hope you add a comment encouraging men to do self breast exams regularly and I hope anyone reading these comments will share this with the men and soon-to-be men in their lives. Ladies - keep checking and teaching your daughters to check as well! =)
I have my patients review this instructional video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIRjYUHcyws
The YouTube video is titled: "Self Breast Exams for Men: Breast Check Techniques for Male Breast Exams"
Thank you for your service to our Country! I wish you well and good luck!
Not sure if this is connected, but my Grandpa was a WWII Marine(I was also a Marine), and went through Camp Lejeune, and he also had Breast cancer. He sadly is no longer with us.
Kevin please send me a message through Facebook. I would like to speak to you about your grandfather.
Mike, the story quoted you as saying,"My then wife." Is there more to this?? Just trying to understand ones reaction to something like this.
Good luck to you.
Yes we are now divorced....I prefer to leave the details out. Unfortunately the help we tried to get for us was woefully inadequate and down right destructive and the help we needed arrived only after we were divorced.
I am not sure if this link will post here or not, but please take a moment to visit the page for our timeline of events. Please read over our time line and click the links to the documents. Then go an see the myriad different versions of the official USMC timeline and compare them....not they NEVER site documents to support any of their critical points.
The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten www.tftptf.com
Mike, I didn't know your marriage had become a casualty of this madness. I saw your video a while back, I guess before you and your wife broke up. I hope your girls are doing OK. God bless.
double post
Camp Lejuene is the base that is discussed the most, but there are many contaminated bases and people affected. The soil and water on Andersen AFB Guam has been contaminated with many chemicals since WWII. Google " Andersen AFB Guam Contamination"
Ironically, one of the civilian administrators who dealt with the Lejeune issue for LantDiv has been at Guam for sometime. Not sure if he left or is still there. Guam also had VOC issues in their water.
Mike, I know you do not know me. but I want to tell you strangers feel your pain and this is a horrible ordeal. I will pray for you
I was stationed at NAVCAMS WPAC, Guam. Most likely our water there was contaminated as well.
I've been angry for years over how many Americans seem to be getting cancer anymore. It doesn't help the intelligence level about it when you read online articles saying things like sitting too much gives you cancer. I know in my heart it's pollution: in our food, our water, and our skies; much of it sanctioned by our government. Carcinogens abound in processed food, but they're in our so-called health and beauty products too. Paraben preservatives are now being suspected of inducing early puberty in our children, but parabens are in food, drugs, and cosmetics alike.
It's time to stop supporting the companies that are doing this to us by not buying their products anymore! And in cases like Peter's we need to demand more protections for our water supply. That is just appalling. Peter, I sincerely hope you and the others get closure and relief on this, and that the Defense Department finally comes clean about their polluting activities.
doesent each military base use some kind of toxin ?? i thought if plants could grow there it wasent that bad
I'm with you workerbee, the government and corporations have poisoned us for decades and the corporate media wants us to believe bad habits cause cancer. You can see all of the crap they are churning out and call food or "clouds" catching up with the population if you look at how unhealthy young people are.
It makes me sick that our government has let our soldiers and their families be poisoned while they were serving this country and protecting all of us. My thanks for all of your service, and your sacrifice, and my very best wishes to you.
My brother was a Marine, and was stationed at Lejeune sometime in the early-to-mid 80s. I will also direct him to this article.
My father was stationed at Camp Lejeune when I was just a baby. All of my bottles were made with this tainted water. I have had one illness after another every since I was a child. However, I do not fit into the cancer criteria so I will never be eligible for any health insurance provided by the Obama law. I would rather the Vets get the money anyway, but the point is, our family was never contacted about the tainted water and we lived in the housing area where the water was tainted. I have so much love for the USMC, but it really does break my heart to see these people who have cancer due to the water, not get a quick and just response from our country and USMC. And to those like me who have had medical issues all their lives but we do not fit into a distinct category, we will just have to go on and wonder if our illnesses are a result of the water, because they just do not want to take care of us all. What a shame.
I am so sorry for your suffering.
My husband feels the same way, when where you there and where you at Knox Trail park?
Dont say you will not be elligable for any health insurance provided by law . It ain't so . One of the basic ideas of the affordable health care was to get rid of any pre conditions so insurance companies cannot turn you down . You need to talk to the right people if your having problems getting insurance . Course the full affordable health care plan does not take effect till 2014 .
Teresa, seems the only people that careabout our military men and women, are us civillians. I was in vietnam and felt out of place when I came home after two tours.It is a shame, but that is what this country has come to, but please don't misunderstand me, I'd do it all over again if need be.
God bless you, Mike and everyone else affected by this, or anything else.
go away idiot
The United States Marine Corps OWE these men AND their families! Please I encourage everyone to read up "educate" yourself on what is going on with the Military's EPA "Super Fund" list's. One of your friends or family members could be next!
Please see the timeline on our website www.TFTPTF.com and you can see for yourself just what happened at Camp Lejeune.
I hate this for those men and their families. My heart goes out to them and they are in my prayers. However I don't think they will get much reliefe from the VA.The government will deny and stonewall them for many years to come and the VA folks are professionals in denying. They will attempt to deal with mess as they did with Agent Orange...through attrition.
I didn't go to Viet Nam, I went to Korea(1969-1970) instead, with a side trip to Okinawa for Sentry Dog School and whoppie-dern, they squirted it in both those countries too. I just had a 6 by-pass open heart surgery and catherization to stent and clear blockages in my left leg...will do the right one next month. This goes along with diabetes type II and neuropathy....all three are "presumtive" diseses from exposure to AO.
My military records fail to show Sentry Dog School or even going to Okinawa as well as failing to show weapons training on the Korean DMZ. 1969 must have been a tuff year on file clerks.
These Marines deserve better and were promised better.
So Sad.
I've read before that less than 1% of the American population is serving or has ever served in the US military. That is such a small number of people. It is such an easy amount of people for our government, you know - those guys at the top who retire after 17 years of government service like our president will do with 100% pay and medical benefits - it is such a small number of Americans that it is easy to stomp on them and forget about them. It took, what, over 40 years for the government to admit the health effects of Agent Orange? Instead of giving 100% medical to those millionaires in Congress who already have the money to pay for it themselves, it should be given to those who've served this country the hardest and have put their lives in harms way nearly every day they served and who now only get 47% of their pay when they retire.
My dad is a military veteran who served in the war in Vietnam and the "conflict" aka undeclared war in Korea. He also remembers being used as a guinea pig for nuclear testing near him, and being exposed to Agent Orange. He was from the era were when you returned from the war and had nightmares and depression you did not speak of it. I remember during the first Iraq war and possibly the second some of the amunition included uranium-tipped bullets which exposed both the troops and the non-military citizens and their children and subsquent population to be born to radiation. The military and the weapons makers and people in general don't seem to understand that old don't sh_t where you eat and don't destroy what you and your children will eat, drink and breathe and while defense manufacturers and their investors make money hand over fist people who volunteered or were drafted to defend their country and gave up so much for their country and lived to tell the tale have this disease, destruction and death visited upon themselves and their families. It is unconscionable, I live near a superfund site that has taken years and allegedly has been cleaned up. Yes, there's an attrition factor too, lets hope the vets and the ailing die if they take long enough to figure out what the problem is. There is no excuse for this. I also have siblings who served in the airforce and I now wonder which of them may be effected or have already been effected and we are just waiting to learn the details when symptoms begin to appear. As an military brat who grew up on military bases and had more vaccines than most due to traveling out of the country I wonder what my guinea pig status will someday yield and when it does how much denial and lies will follow and if they will ever protect the protectors.
I knew a wonderful man who witnessed the nuclear tests in the Pacific in WWII from aboard a Navy ship. When the island cooled off, the men walked along the beach which had turned to glass. Nobody mentioned the radiatiion levels. He died in his seventies of liver cancer and I will always wonder if there was a connection. I guess you don't want to get sick, wounded, irradiated, or poisoned in the military. From what I read, one is SOL.
Peace to you Mike, and I hope you and your family see good results from this publicity.
My in-laws where stationed in Camp Lejeune in 1966, they were their 3 months when my mother in law got pregnant with my husband....here is a list of all their health problems:
father in law--over 1,000 skin cancers removed, 7 reconstructed throat surgeries to remove pulps on his vocal cords, sleep apnea.
mother in law--major heart attack, major stroke, colon cancer, throat inflamed that cause coughing fits.
Husband--Ligaments that detached from his bone that caused surgery, extra appendix grew then burst also caused surgery, dissection of his aorta root which also caused a 12 1/2 hour surgery which then a blood clot went to his brain and permanently damaged his short term memory (on 2 Alzheimer's medication), Spinabifida (mild), server complex centralized sleep apnea that requires a bi-level machine with oxygen because his brain tells him to quite breathing, very mood with all the health issues at the age of 46.
He also agree's with what these men said my husband's entire family was not notified by the Marine Corp., he went out to the VA in our home town he was refused medical treatment and the lady behind the desk was in shock because her family was stationed there for 10 years and didn't know anything about it. He said they were very nice but advised him to speak with our local Congressmen. We just continue to wonder what is next for him will he be like the gentlemen in this newscast that breast at age 52!
Please contact us at amy@letmeinsureu.com
Amy,
We arrived at Camp Lejeune in April 1967 and I was conceived shortly afterwards. We lived at Tarawa Terrace on Haggaru Rd. Spina Bifida is a known outcome and defect for exposure to TCE and PCE while in the womb. Please see The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten website for more information.
Hopefully this is the start to right so many wrongs to ALL of our men and women who have served their Country so proudly,I personally was at Camp Lejeune on and off from 78'-1984. My wife developed thyroid cancer and lost a child she was treated there but when I requested her records after I was discharged I was told they did not exist! I developed kidney,bladder,and a list of other medical issues but was told by V.A doctors it's possible but not probably it's related to Camp Lejeune!...sure left a BITTER taste in my mouth after hearing that! Semper Fi!
Ron,
We have numerous cases of unexplained thyroid cancers at Camp Lejeune. You personally should have received a health survey from ATSDR last year. Kidney, bladder cancers are directly attributed to VOC exposure. So it kidney disease. In 2011, TCE was even declared a carcinogen mainly because of its effects upon the human kidney.
Mike, Yes I received a survey and completed it. Thanks for ALL your efforts and the rest of this group to accomplish so-much!!...I have since become an advocate to other Veterans and have directed many to the TFTPTF.com website for info.keep the faith and stay strong!!!....Ron
Again Marines, you are in my prayers. This is just too sad to be happening in America.
My father was stationed @ Lejeune. My mother drank the water when she was pregnant with my sisters and I.All three of us have had many medical issues but not cancer.My parents were contacted to fill out papers describing their medical issues and also any they thought we had.My sisters and I have never been contacted to verify the info my parents gave.They were sent pages of reports and confirmation that the we were in the contaminated area but have not received anything since.My parents were government workers yet it took years for the researchers to find them to even send the questionnaire.It is a shame that the man & woman who served our country with their families can not get the care that is needed because of red tape.
I found it very telling that the USMC used the "industry" excuse that there wasn't any scientific evidence that the exposures experienced at Camp Lejeune caused the health effects being suffered by those exposed. Really?! Three (3) of the contaminants found in Camp Lejeune's drinking water are known human carcinogens and that is verified by the United States Envirnmental Protection Agency and the International Research on Cancer (IARC)...Jerry Ensminger
The USMC's public affairs provided NBC news with responses to multiple questions regarding this issue. I can assure all of you unequivocally that those responses are laced with omissions of the truth, obfuscations of the truth, half-truths, and total lies. While I am glad that NBC news drew out their statements, I am also hopeful that NBC news gives the victims of this negligence the opportunity to refute those responses with the truth. Jerry Ensminger
While any health issues from any source of contamination whether on or off a military installation is inexcusable, so are the derogatory and sexist comments of some of these affected men inexcusable! "I'm a man and shouldn't have a diagnosis of breast cancer..Hormones out of control? Crying for no reason? Need to buy an apron and start baking".....really? Big bad Marines and this is what they whine about? This is what they relate a breast to - 'women issues/roles'?
Well .. if you can't handle the heat - get out of the kitchen! For decades, women have suffered hormone imbalances and breast cancer. All to the eye-rolling laughing 'manly man' comment of 'women!' FYI, the same breast tissue in a woman is the same as in a man. Yes it's a rare diagnosis but it is probable.
Make your case, just grow up and be respectful.
I wonder how many women from Camp LeJeune have breast cancer ...
There are quite a few women who have developed BC from Camp Lejeune. I have spoken to many of them. The problem is that BC overall has become so common and almost accepted as right of passage. Sadly, most research into the causes of BC try to point the finger at women's behavior and choices as the cause...nothing about the environment.
The power of this story is there is no explanation for male breast cancer. No excuse to blame us for the disease. The BC cluster at Camp Lejeune represents an unique opportunity to finally establish that what we are doing int the environment is affecting our health.
WOW! YOU really have issues... this is not about macho men whining about having a "female disease"...
Bringing to light the MALE breast cancer is something, that because it is very rare amongst MEN, that will GET THE ATTENTION that is needed so EVERYBODY affected will find out what happened, why THEY are sick or were sick, why THEIR loved one is/was sick, why THEY or THEIR loved one is dying (or has died).
UNFORTUNATELY to get people's attention things need to be considered OUT THERE...and for the media to want to get involved they need something that will SELL...
Sad to say but the attitude is probably something like this...why cover female breast cancer when we are BOMBARDED w/the sea of pink & "awareness" at every turn... from commercials, to sports players, to coupons, to manufacturers, to movies, & so on... there is NO shortage or attention to the stories of those w/FEMALE breast cancer, but MALE breast cancer, now THAT is DIFFERENT!!
Perhaps it would be helpful to ALL affected if people would stop seeing this story & the Camp Lejeune MALE breast cancer issue as anybody trying to brush off those who have had female breast cancer & see it as a stepping stone to bring to light EVERYBODY affected!! Whether men or women it is still devastatingly sad, & if there is any good to come of the evil perpetrated on the US Marines & their families from ANY illness/condition getting media coverage, we should ALL be SUPPORTIVE & rally TOGETHER instead of hurl insults, pout, & stomp our feet because our feelings are hurt!!
This issue of CL is truly NOT about any ONE illness, condition, or gender... it IS about a COLLECTIVE group of victims poisoned getting the word out to ALL affected, trying to get health coverage for ALL affected, & maybe even getting compensation for ALL affected... THEY may have forgotten what Semper FI means, but WE have not... and YOU should not either!!
And what good has the Pink Ribbon done us? Has it identified the cause of these cancers? Or is it just raking in dough, researching ways to TREAT cancer, and giving us no information on where it's coming from and what we can do about it?
The Pink Ribbon is a great big joke.
I don't think men roll their eyes to breast cancer in women, I don't know where you get your hostility but keep it to yourself
What is wrong with you, Woman? Have you no heart? I can't believe that anyone could not feel compassion for those men. What are you, a "man hater"? My prayers and thoughts are with those 6 strong men and all the others that have been subjected to this radical surgery through no fault of their own. They are a very special breed of men. It takes a real "man" to come out so publically in the support of so many injustices done to our families at Camp LeJeune. Thank you, Guys
no, she has a point. our society ignores it when its women but pays much more attentiion when its a man. WHY??
She has pointed out something that we all should take to heart and take note of.
as for the people the contamination effects (men or women) it is a slap in the face from our government. but its not just the government. i have seen many businesses and even just neighbors polute with not thought at all to it. (ie: motor oil, batteries, anti freeze. and the list goes on)
I ask you all to try and do your part to keep our world clean. if each of us takes responcability for our selves and keeps things clean, there would be no problem. businesses and yes even our own government should be held accountable.
to all those that this has effected, i wish you all the best. its not fair, its not right, and it should not be tolerated.
fix it man: Thank you for your post, right on the mark. I've often thought our military were used as testers, especially after reading about the A-bomb tests using service personnel in the desert, all the way to this past decade and the stories of "had to take the pills they handed us every morning."
And now to learn the water at the military bases are/were contaminated for decades and the results of tests were/are hidden? Most of us had no idea, no hint of what was going on. In our great old U.S.A.? No, don't blame the present administration who is doing what he can. Move the horrors to Congress, both parties, that have ignored, by choice, what has happened and continues to happen. WE should respect the military upper management with their yards of ribbons and brass on their shoulders? Not any more, not if they can't live up to their oath and responsibilities to our troops. They should be standing right next to all our service people.
And to think Congress is going on a "fracking" spree to contaminate further. Not enough people have fallen to severe maladies. The very few are ruling the many of us.
Sandra, I hate to break it to you but these 6 men are NOT the first men or only men to have breast cancer. But they do have a nice, very marketable connection which makes them newsworthy - they are Marines with a connection to the same location which happens to have a known contamination problem.
My initial comment was directed toward the disrespectful comments of one of those men and the group laughter when he commented that with his hormone therapy he was crying for no good reason and considered getting an apron and cooking - very sexist remarks - and, yes, related to a very specific female characteristic. When we look at men, we don't see 'breasts,' we see pecs and no one relates an apron, cooking or crying for no reason to a chest muscle.
Disrespect in this manner should be beneath a Marine in my view.
I'm a retired military field medic so I DO know a little bit (only 21 years worth so maybe not enough...) about service and sacrifice as well as what our families also sacrifice. Don't be confused in that regard.
I just ask for respect and maturity-because, dude, you represent ALL 6 services of us when you speak like that!! (For those reading who don't know, remember the Coast Guard and United States Public Health Service (USPHS))
One reason the government won't be able to say with 100% accuracy, "right now," that the contamination at Camp LeJeune was the specific cause is because there are so many other teratogens that can cause breast cancer.
"yeah but..."
Consider for a moment the growth hormones and estrogen pumped into cows and chickens for quick growth - specifically in the breast area. These have been identified as causing early development in some unlucky children - called precocious puberty. Now, if ingesting a lot of chicken breast can cause that in kids, what can those manipulated meats cause in men? Women? Have you noticed how many 'fit' men are developing man boobs? Yeah, that's a hormone imbalance. It's just not an easy, direct solution - no matter how much we want it to be.
Consider another factor of second, third, etc., generations of inherited health problems related to a medication. The women in my family suffer multiple reproductive system problems due to the distribution of a medicine called DES (diethylstilbestrol) to pregnant women from 1938 to 1971. (). The generation who took DES all had ovarian or uterine cancer and all died before 50 years old. The second generation has a mixed set of problems and the third generation is proving to have major difficulties with conception or carrying to term. Super fun when the doctor's office holding the medical records to prove this connection burns down...
I could go on and on with examples but the point is, it's going to take some time to research this to determine if there is a direct link to the contamination at Camp LeJeune. Shoot, it took 33 years for the FDA to pull DES. Our research is better now so hopefully an answer will come quicker. But it's not television..it won't be solved in an hour or two!
It's a great story. It's emotional. It includes our servicemembers in a time when our servicemembers are expected to do the impossible on many fronts. Let's just have some levity and not jump on the band wagon.
I think that one of the reasons this is so emotional (but not being said) is that these Marines are being felled by a mere disease which is more commonly associated with women - it's sort of a pathetic way to go in the view of a some Marines. So I understand the desire to want to denigrate the disease to the kitchen .. but this is disrespectful and beneath a 'real man' as you stated.
Gosh, if we paid attention, drinking water all over the place is or was or could be contaminated with some awful stuff. Look at the recent news story on the 6 leaking Hanford nuclear tanks near Yakima, WA. Pretty sure that's going to affect a one or two people ..
In my home, the tap water has tasted awful since I moved in and I triple filter it. There was a dry cleaner two blocks away until recently. Interesting how my water is tasting better since it's closer.
I support the issue. I feel for what these men are experiencing. I know several women who have done all the 'right' things to be healthy yet receive that mind blowing, life altering diagnosis of cancer-we have celebrity examples of this. I understand. Disease is not an enemy you can easily fight and it's weakening and not a 'manly' disease.
That doesn't excuse being disrespectful and making sexist remarks because a man has a 'woman's' issue.
I just want to add that a lot of people are posting being at Camp LeJeune in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, .. but the lawyers are going to argue the connection because, well, where have you been since then and what have you been exposed to since then and somewhere else?
I could claim a connection to my health issues because I drank the water for 2 weeks in the late 80s. Except - everywhere I was stationed or deployed to has reported contamination so that's a bit of homework to figure the cause.
I'm beginning to wonder if the wells were connected to the civilian sector now...
I hope this turns out well for all involved.
My son was stationed at Camp Lejeune lived in Tarawa Terrace. His daughter was a baby and her bottles were made with the water. After reading many articles in our local Jacksonville paper and on line it seems that even thought she has many unexplained illnesses she needs to connect them with the water contamination before she would get any answers, or help how can you prove that her problems come from this water that she was given 29 years ago?
Does anyone find it odd that it took the USMC, with all the resources and power of the federal government, 4.5 years to figure our that the contamination reported in October 1980 was determined to be the wells? The Corps says it took them four years to determine which wells were contaminated. What they failed to reveal was that despite repeated warnings from independent laboratories that there was a problem, despite Mike Hargett's warning in 1982 that the well fields were the source of the contamination in 1982, and sadly despite their own potable water standards (NaVMed P 5010-5) dating back to 1963......No one thought to test the wells at Hadnot Point or Tarawa Terrace until December 1984?
Really?
Jerry and I would gladly love to sit down to discuss the Marine Corps claims to their innocence with a neutral moderator. Maybe NBC could provide the forum? Our claims are backed not by speculation...but by the USMC's own documents. For this reason, the USMC will not appear on camera with us or with the media. Their story fails to hold water.....
I also was stationed at Camp Lejeune and found this under Super fund sites. It noted about the wells at MCAS Cherry Point NC were found to be contaminated in the late 70's and it didn't take them anytime at all to address the problem. It also stated the person in charge with the safety of the water was aware of the effects it could have on humans, so he acted. Of course I'd already left the base prior to this. The only thing they left out was contacting me, I stumbled across this in 2012. David Miller.
Sir,
Has the VA or DAV got involved with any cancer claims concerning the MCAS Cherry Point contamination victims? I had stage 4b Esophagus cancer and was denied and then amended the claim for the Camp Lejeune water contamination, again denied.
Yet my DD214 shows my time at MCAS Cherry Point. Has anyone received anything from the VA on this subect?? Marines from 1969 - 1973 and another 23 years with DoD. Respectfully Submitted
What I find odd is that the contamination reported in 1980 wasn't dealt with in um, 1980 or 1982.
Actually they were first warned in October 1980, then repeatedly through out 1981. They went so far as to test the Rifle Range wells (which only served a few hundred to 1,000 people) in March 1981, all the while ignoring these warnings on what is called "Main Side" where the base hospital, some base housing and barracks are located. These warnings repeated again in 1982 by yet another independent lab until 1982 when Mike Hargett, owner of the lab, told base officials that the wells fields for Hadnot Point (Main Side) and Tarawa Terrace were the source of the contamination. Incredibly, NOTHING was done until late 1984 when the base finally began testing individual wells for these systems. Then and only then, did they begin closing wells on the Hadnot Point and Tarawa Terrace Systems.
Why did it take the USMC 4 years to finally test the wells? Why did the USMC test wells on one part of the base in 1981 and fail to do so on Hadnot Point despite specific warnings that SOLVENTS! were in the water?
Now that we have the documents, Congress needs to re-open the investigation into what happened at Camp Lejuene and involve the community this time, instead of relying on the good graces of the USMC to tell us the truth!
they're just holding out till everybody dies off
I am a female but we lived there in 61-62. I was diagnosed since 62 with kidney disease, cervical cancer, and recently BREAST Cancer. With no family history of any of these diseases! I only found out about Camp Lejeune when I was going thru breast cancer. I have not checked into the health care that Obama signed so I will.
Such a shame that the Corp is trying to pass this off. What clusters and dreaded outcomes are already recognized.
BE ASHAMED MARINE CORP AND THE GOVERNMENT FOR YOUR ATTITUDE ON THIS. This is people LIVES we are talking about .
It was great seeing all on the show to help get the word out to those who had not yet known of this horror. I believe the government's policy is to maintain continuous readiness to protect her boarders at all cost. If they had come forward to admit the water contamination, they would have possibly risked that very readiness by fearing soldiers leaving the base for safer housing. Why else would they have known about the toxic water and not say anything to us? For an organization who stands for truth, honor, readiness for war in all ways to include soldiers being in top physical condition and allow us to be poisoned while training can only say one thing. We were disposable! What a shame this great nation is capable of such betrayal to it's very own committed soldiers. It's time for full disability and health care to all who were there during the contamination, that are still suffering the water's effects! DW
Yes..how many women? In my family it is a mother and three sisters. I drank that poison for almost nine years.
My late husband was at Lejeune in the early 80's and was diagnosed with Grade 3 astrocytoma, brain cancer, at age 27 while on active duty and in the best physical condition of his life (having just gone through rigorous flight school physicals after a career with special forces). No one could believe he was ill. His body was so healthy it took five years to die when the initial prognosis was a few months. When I read about the water contamination issue a few years ago, it finally all made sense.
It's not fair that my children had to grow up without a daddy, and it's not fair Marine families must bear the brunt of all the sacrifice. It seems the media wants to always take a strange angle on this (the male breast cancer angle here) but at this point, any story is better than no story. The whole thing is a huge tragedy. Thanks to Mr. Ensminger and Mr. Partain and the others for continuing their noble crusade on behalf of us all. There is a place in heaven for them, just not for another 50 years, I hope!
We were at Lejeune in 1973 and 1974, lived at Tarawa Terrace and I worked at the hospital on base and conceived my daughter. She was diagnosed with Grade 2 Astrocytoma at 33.
So sorry your children had to grow up without a Dad and so thankful to Jerry Esminger, Mike Partain and NBC for getting this information out to the public.
Good evening everyone..
I was reading tthortons comment and as I watched the show last night I'm glad they brought everything else to the surface. However, It is not just breast cancer. My father was at camp lejeune from 57-61. He passed away in 84 from a grade 4 glioblastoma (brain cancer). While on base my mother had 2 miscarriages. When I was 32 in 2005 I was diagnosed with a mixed glioma of the brain. Had to have it removed in 2007. Received radiation and oral chemo for18 months. So, I had two brothers and a father that are not with us today because of this contamination. I would love
to see this on the news.
NBC thank you so much for airing the article on the water contamination. We are a family that has been affected by it. My husband was diagnosed in 2008 with Kidney Cancer Stage IV and he heard about this contamination on the radio. He was stationed there from 1969 to 1972 and we had never been notified. In 2011 he passed away due to his disease but his deepest concern was what was going to happen to his family. Myself and our children were all exposed to this also and even tho we are aware of the situation now we know that the Marines have not stepped up to assist us if a problem occurs. Getting this out to the public and making more people aware hopefully will make the Marine Corp step up. My son is the same age as Mike Partain and has had some issues with health that may have been caused from this contamination and fortunately it was not Cancer but we still have no course to follow and both my children and I live with this fear everyday and we know the problems of getting any assistance from the Marines. My husband was a very proud Marine and it deeply hurt him that it took a year before they admitted his disease was caused from this contamination. He went to his grave scared for what would happen to his family that had been placed in this danger and didn't know what was going to be ahead for us. I have notified many of our friends that were stationed there at the same time as we all were raising children that played many hours in that water and bathed and drank it not knowing that it was contaminated. Please continue to get this issue out to the public and maybe some lives will be saved.
I was at Camp Lejeune from Jan. 85 - Aug. 88, lived in French Creek and worked down in the industrial area as a mechanic. About 8 years ago I started having problems with head and facial pain with nausea, the doctors I was seeing (several) could not help me and one just gave up in disbelief. I have developed thyroid cysts, depression, anxiety, rheumatoid arthritis, muscle and tendon pain, just widespread pain all over, and I am currently seeing a VA psychologist, counselor, rheumatologist, pain management, PCP, and I am managing my pain with a plethora of drugs. No one in either side of my family have had any history of these problems. Why can't they just admit they are at fault. I would never had drank or bathed in that water had they made it known to us at the time, and I would most likely be living a normal life today rather than waking up every morning wishing I hadn't woke up. My life sucks, I am sorry but I don't know how else to put it. Semper Fi. brother and sisters!