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Old Sat Jul 23, 2011, 11:43 AM
Bob Macfarlane Bob Macfarlane is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Soutwest Ranches, Florida
Posts: 126
What MDS is according to the World Health Organization

Many may wonder why I am so adamant about the definition of MDS. It is because; even if you convince Veterans’ Affairs (via the Board of Veterans’ Appeals) that your condition was caused by exposure to Agent Orange, the Regional Office will classify you under anemia and deny compensation. This is a delaying tactic on their part to make you wait years to get before the BVA again.

Never forget that they will “Delay You, Lie to Deny You and Wait for you to Die.”

Lie is a harsh word but that is exactly what they will do with “plausible deniability” - - - in my personal case by getting a doctor to opine that MDS is not a malignancy unless you are darn near dead. Long ago I wrote him and told him that I would find the truth and he should - - -

“Never kick a tiger in the a$$ unless you have a darn good plan about what you are going to do with the teeth.”

This week I had the pleasure of telling him

“You should never pi$$ someone off that is smarter than you.”

07/21/11_56652PIQ

Your follow-up e-mail to Dr. Harold Varmus, Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), has been forwarded to this office for reply. Although disease classification is beyond the scope of the NCI’s mission, we are including information that you may find helpful.

According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “Classification of Tumours of Haematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissues,” MDS is recognized as a clonal neoplasm, meaning cancer. This is considered to be the definitive classification used on a worldwide basis. For more information, we have attached a portion of this book for you. The complete citation for this book is as follows:

Swerdlow SH, Campo E, Harris NL, et al. (2008). WHO Classification of Tumours of Haematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissues. Lyon, France, International Agency for Research on Cancer.

More information about this topic is available in the following review article:

Vardiman JW, Thiele J, Arber DA, et al. (2009). The 2008 revision of the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of myeloid neoplasms and acute leukemia: Rationale and important changes. Blood 114(5):937-951.

Thank you for writing.


Deborah Pearson, R.N., M.P.H.
Chief, Public Inquiries Office
Cancer Information Service
National Cancer Institute

With great pleasure I copied the doctor on this:

Kudos to the NCI and WHO!

Dr. Kelly, Duke University, opined to the VA that my MDS is not malignant. Nobel Prize in Medicine to the good doctor for his discovery of a benign form of cancer. Benign not in remission because I am treated weekly. Kelly, extract your head from where the sun don't shine.

Before you try to crab away on this Kelly, my myelodysplastic syndrome we diagnosed by the Miami Veterans' Affairs Hospital. Feel free to contact Dr. Lucy Chua, my treating hematologist / oncologist, at the Miami VA Hospital and tell she doesn't know what she is doing.

Then again it might not be her that doesn't know what she is doing.

Then again I do have a copy of a letter sent to my United States Senator that states clearly "Veterans' Affairs does not consider diseases the same as the medical community." Duhhhhh?

Last edited by Bob Macfarlane : Sat Jul 23, 2011 at 11:56 AM. Reason: Formatting
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