In 2011, my husband filed a claim with the VA in hopes of having his myelofibrosis recognized as service related disease. He believed his exposure to Agent Orange while in Vietnam caused his MPN. He died in May 2014. His claim had been denied twice. After he died, my son and I went to a hearing in June 2015 to once again have his case reviewed. On January 13, 2017, I received notice from the VA stating my husband’s illness and death were related to his service in Vietnam and his benefits were approved. This was good news and a financial benefit for me. However, the VA has denied many more cases because MPNs are not included on their ‘presumptive’ list of service-related illnesses.
There were several things we did which I believe helped our case. For example:
- We researched the cases where benefits have been approved. In each of the approved cases I found there were letters from the veteran’s doctor in support of the connection between the illness and their service. Keep it simple. It does not need to be too technical.
- We were sure to include a nexus: a statement of their job in the service and their exposure. Our letter of approval from the VA mentioned both our doctor’s letters and the nexus.
- We created an executive summary of our case, and kept it to one page and provided all back up information with it.
We hope our victory is useful to other veterans in their effort to receive benefits for their MPN.