[Stephanie Hamm]

We lost our adopted son, Garrett, in 1997, to complications from a bone marrow transplant he underwent when his marrow became too fibrous for the conventional treatments of that time. He was being seen by military doctors and by Dr. Neal Young at NIH - where he underwent one round of ATG in December 1995. After a horrible year in 1996 Dr. Young told him that the only option for him was a transplant. We found his biological Father - who was a half-match - and went ahead with the transplant. Garrett developed an Aspergillus fungal infection and died 2 months into the transplant procedure.

Garrett was born in 1968 near Bangkok, Thailand, to a younf Thai woman (17 or 18 years old at the time) and was fathered by an Air Force member who had served on and off in Thailand from 1966 to 1971. He was not a crew member of the fleet that delivered Agent Orange - but in that environment his exposure may have been from other situations.

Garrett was brought to the United States in 1972 - at the age of 4 and travelled the US for 2 years in search of his biological father. He became a beloved part of our family at the age of 8.

My question is - Garrett's biological son, Dillon, who is 16 this month, is now exhibiting traits of Marfans Syndrome. I have read through the VA site and although they are considering a lot of conditions as connected with exposure to Agent Orange, Marfans is one of those conditions specifically called out as not being one of them.

We are not looking for health care from the VA - BUT - we want all the information we can get because Dillon's family is meeting with a geneticist on August 23rd at a hospital here in Texas.

I will read all of the links you have provided here - and understand that the VA is looking at a lot of links - but am also looking at short cuts for the information gathering process.

Thank you!