Amazing News For Mds Patients!!!!!
 

Please Google The Following:
Unified Agenda 2900-ao19

It Is A Proposal By The Va That Will Give Mds A Code, Acknowledge It As A Disability Based Upon Criteria And Provide Ratings Based Upon Criteria.


Read Share This Site And Advise Va Reps , Congressional, Senatorial, To Pass This Proposal!!!

One Step In A Positive Direction For All Of Us!

Here is the article from the Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 151 / Thursday, August 6, 2015 / Proposed Rules. It starts talking about MDS on page 7.

VA proposes to add a new DC 7725
for myelodysplastic syndromes because
these conditions are relatively common
in veterans and do not have a diagnostic
code under which they can be
appropriately evaluated.

Cheers

Data

I had MDS. I had a SCT. I am a veteran. I assume I would have to prove that my service caused the MDS. How does one go about that? If I am cured then there is no disability?

I am 50% disabled due to hearing loss.

Ray

Good questions Ray. I filled out the VA forms today just out of curiosity to see how far I get before they turn me down. I was in the infantry in Vietnam 1970-71. Now have AML. I sure can't prove it was "service related".

Disability
 

Ray,
Your first hurdle would be getting the VA to admit / say your MDS was service connected. In my case I am using two rationales 1) MDS being caused by Agent Orange; 2) MDS being caused by the High Dose Rate Brachytherapy I received for prostate cancer (which was service connected).

At the present time MDS is not assumed to be caused by Agent Orange but Dr. David Steensma from the Dana Farber is supposed to be starting a study to see if Viet Nam Veterans who have MDS and were exposed to Agent Orange have a statistically high enough cancer rate to say Agent Orange caused the MDS.

Almost all VA hospitals have a Veterans' Assistance advisor to help you file a claim. My prostate cancer was presumed to have been caused by Agent Orange so getting that rating was easy. At this time you would have to prove your MDS was service connected (caused by your time in the service).

As far as what happens after you are cured I would assume it is same as any other service connected disability and you would be rated on "residuals" of the disease. In the case of treatment by stem cell transplant I can think of one thing that might be considered a residual and that would be Graft versus Host Disease. How much they would rate it would likely be determined by the severity of the GVHD.

Our best hope is the VA will conclude (someday) that MDS is presumed to have been caused by Agent Orange just like they finally did with Prostate cancer. That makes filing a claim so much easier.

Good Luck

Data

Thanks to Barbara
 

Barbara,
Thanks for posting this! This was good news and a step in the right direction!!!

Data

Update on RIN:2900-AO19
 

Hello all!
I reached out to Mr. Brian Lawrence, Chief VASRD Regulations Staff at the VBA today. Very nice man. However, he did some research on the Unified Agenda and found that it was sent back to counsel and delayed. :mad::mad::mad:

I am not giving up hope! He will notify me if he finds anything out.

Take care and stay warm...

That is AWESOME news!!