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Abbie Bennett Profile picture
@AbbieRBennett
Sep 16, 2020 • 8 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
If you'll let me, I'd like to interrupt your TLs for a moment to talk to you about Pat Duva, a 29-year-old Marine veteran who is dying of a rare brain cancer, and whose family asked me to help share his story.
connectingvets.radio.com/articles/29-ye… @USMC
Pat is a history nerd and wanted to be a teacher. You'd want him on your trivia team. He from Jersey and fancies himself a pizza connoisseur. He turned down full college scholarships to become a Marine after watching the 9/11 terrorist attacks firsthand.
connectingvets.radio.com/articles/29-ye…
"Pat always said, 'I went into the Marine Corps a healthy 18-year-old and I came out with all of these issues,'" his sister told me. "He felt in his heart that if he never joined, he would not have had the cancer. But he would not have changed anything." connectingvets.radio.com/articles/29-ye…
A VA hospital delayed his cancer diagnosis by months, his family says, dismissing his complaints of back pain, headaches and double vision.
"Chronic back pain is common in veterans," he was told, then sent home.
connectingvets.radio.com/articles/29-ye…
Pat is now in hospice and end-of-life care at home. He can't see, eat, drink and can barely speak except to tell his family he loves them in the little time remaining to him.
Here's the GoFundMe started by his family: gofundme.com/f/patrick039s-…
Pat's family wants his story to reach his brothers and sisters in arms to help prevent what happened to him and his family.
"If that happens, Pat will live forever, he's larger than life and he will never be forgotten," his sister Brianne said.
connectingvets.radio.com/articles/29-ye…
cc: @kate_germano @colinjones @JimLaPorta @shanelier
@KirstieEnnis @SGillums @AmyMcGrathKY @PaulSzoldra @jchenelly @nixonron @iAmTheWarax @travis_horr @MotherOfDoggons
To be very clear, Pat and his family are by no means alone in this fight.
My Toxic Inferno series of stories chronicles other veterans who have died, or suffered because of their exposures.
The series starts with this story: connectingvets.radio.com/articles/toxic…
@H7Foundation

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More from @AbbieRBennett

Abbie Bennett Profile picture
Mar 17, 2021
March 17 @DeptVetAffairs #COVID19 update:
- Active cases and hospitalizations hit lowest levels since mid-Oct. 2020 this week.
- 499 patient deaths so far this month, VA could reach 11,000 total patient deaths this week
- 2 more staff deaths (4 this month)
radio.com/connectingvets…
@DeptVetAffairs The good news is that VA's active cases, hospitalizations & deaths are overall down significantly compared to recent months, and more VA facilities are opening up vaccine eligibility to all enrolled vets.
Lawmakers want to expand vax even further:
radio.com/connectingvets…
@DeptVetAffairs As of today, VA has administered more than 3.38 total vaccine doses to veterans so far.
VA has also:
- Provided vaccines to more than 1.35 million people total
- Fully vax'd more than 1.09 million veterans
- Fully vaccinated nearly 250,000 VA staff and 11,000 federal workers
Read 4 tweets
Abbie Bennett Profile picture
Feb 26, 2021
These announcements are likely to become more and more common with @DeptVetAffairs expected to receive 600,000 more doses next week. Make sure to keep an eye on your local VA to see when appointments might open up for your group.
radio.com/connectingvets…
@DeptVetAffairs The Amarillo, Texas VAMC just announced its opening Moderna vaccinations to veterans of all ages through a walk-in vaccination clinic starting tomorrow morning. Image
@DeptVetAffairs The Indianapolis VA Medical Center (@VAIndianapolis) is opening COVID-19 vaccination appointments to all enrolled veterans 18 and older this week. Image
Read 43 tweets
Abbie Bennett Profile picture
Jan 14, 2021
Senior defense official on call with reporters today: "We clearly recognize the threat from domestic extremists, particularly those who espouse white supremacist or white nationalist ideologies."
"...Private studies express between 2001 and today right-wing extremists are responsible for more deaths in this country than any other extremist group," senior DoD official says.
Some groups are actively trying to recruit DoD personnel to their cause or encouraging their members to join the military and DoD, senior DoD official says.
Read 4 tweets
Abbie Bennett Profile picture
Dec 11, 2020
Really sitting with this tonight and I think what sticks out more than anything is that VA didn’t take any action against the man (a VA contractor) with a history of abusing women (VA staff) but focused seemingly all it’s attention on discrediting the victim.
I know this isn’t a revelation to anyone, really. But it’s disturbing that it appears there wasn’t much concern that a man with a track record of sexual harassment potentially escalated to violence against a woman in a hospital in broad daylight around witnesses and cops.
There was so little concern, that VA police didn’t run his background check until 2 days after they ran one on the alleged victim and shared it with VA senior leaders.
But it follows some of the things these veterans and VA staffers told me: radio.com/connectingvets…
Read 6 tweets
Abbie Bennett Profile picture
Dec 10, 2020
New: @VetAffairsOIG found in a nearly yearlong review that Secretary Wilkie and his staff disparaged and sought to discredit a veteran and Congressional advisor who reported a sexual assault at the D.C. VA hospital.

radio.com/connectingvets…
@VetAffairsOIG The @VetAffairsOIG was unable to substantiate that SecVA Wilkie investigated, or asked his staff to investigate the veteran, but did find evidence he and his staff made comments that attempted to discredit her, accusing her of a history of complaints.
radio.com/connectingvets…
@VetAffairsOIG Though earlier reports suggested @VetAffairsOIG told federal prosecutors its review may have found criminal conduct, OIG spokesman tells me that's not the case. radio.com/connectingvets…
Read 21 tweets
Abbie Bennett Profile picture
Dec 9, 2020
Inbox: GAO finds, unsurprisingly, that Gulf War Illness claims are "complex and hard for VA to process."

Those claims are also denied at a higher rate than many others.

VA is in the final stages of officially defining the condition, hopefully in 2021.

gao.gov/assets/720/711…
The good news is there's some incredibly encouraging researching being done by VA experts that could pave the way for a cure: radio.com/connectingvets…
Vets who have Gulf War Illness should be cautious during the pandemic. They may be at elevated risk for complications.
radio.com/connectingvets…
Read 4 tweets

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