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Old Wed Aug 22, 2018, 05:30 PM
Bob Macfarlane Bob Macfarlane is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Soutwest Ranches, Florida
Posts: 126
Still kicking and fighting

Phone call from 813/2018. Will believe this when I see it !!

STRANGE PHONE CALL !!

Many of you know that I have been in a battle with Veterans’ Affairs over myelodysplastic syndrome since 2005. What you might not know is that, in addition, I have done all possible to help fellow veterans and the survivors of those affected by MDS. I’ve seen many of those veterans and survivors win and get compensated over the years.

After my second Board of Veterans’ Appeals hearing, my claim was remanded to Saint Petersburg for additional information. Historically, Saint Petersburg sits on the remands using the excuse we have a huge number of claims to process and you just need to be patient.

The only way to get information is to call the VA White House Hotline (855-948-2311) --- if Saint Petersburg or any other region gave you an answer it would be 99.99% chance of being a lie. Every week or two, I will call the Hotline and see what is happening.

Today the young man took the time to research the situation. He came back on the line and said he was glad I called because he had never encountered a “like” situation. I understood him to say “a secretary” had the claim.

Wiseass that I am, I responded “How about getting it off the secretary’s desk into the hands of a manager or someone that can make a decision.”

He told me that I had misunderstood him because it had been taken away from Saint Petersburg and THE SECRETARY OF VETERANS’ AFFAIRS is handling it (assume directed it to be handled at least). Don’t know if it was just being a pain in the ass with them or the letter to President and Mrs. Trump.

I can only pray that the letter from following Drs. will make them understand that MDS is not just a mild form of anemia and should be presumptive to exposure to Agent Orange.

David Steensma, Chairman, MDS Program, Dana-Farber/Harvard

Ruben Mesa, Chair, Department Oncology & Hematology/ Mayo Clinic

Judith Karp, Professor Emerita, Oncology & Medicine/John Hopkins

Mikkael Sekeres, Director, Leukemia Program/Cleveland Clinic

Richard Stone, Director, Adult Leukemia, Dana-Farber/Harvard
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