EL DORADO HILLS — Pegi Scarlett’s love story started almost 40 years ago when she met her husband John, who she called a “gentle giant.”<\/p>\n
“I just wish my daughters would be so lucky to find somebody like him,” Pegi said.<\/p>\n
Before they started their life together, John was an Army captain, deployed to Vietnam in 1969.<\/p>\n
Months later he was in a deadly helicopter crash.<\/p>\n
“His helicopter was blown up on landing by a command detonated mine. Many didn’t survive,” Pegi said.<\/p>\n
It was a brush with death, but it didn’t kill him.<\/p>\n
“We kind of joked about him being a cat with nine lives,” said Pegi.<\/p>\n
Cancer took his life.<\/p>\n
“It was a shock as to where did this come from?” said Pegi.<\/p>\n
John was diagnosed with glioblastoma, the same aggressive brain cancer that killed Pegi’s father.<\/p>\n
“I knew the outcome,” said Pegi.<\/p>\n
She also runs a cancer data management company. She’s dedicated her career to collecting information about patients like her husband.<\/p>\n
After about two and a half years, John lost his battle.<\/p>\n
But that was just the beginning of Pegi’s.<\/p>\n
She realized John’s cancer may be associated with his exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam.<\/p>\n
Pegi wasn’t alone.<\/p>\n
She found a Facebook group with hundreds of other families with similar stories.<\/p>\n
“Not only were they spraying, but their whole area or their camp was covered in Agent Orange spray,” Pegi said.<\/p>\n
The military used the herbicide to clear the dense jungle while fighting the war.<\/p>\n
The Department of Veterans Affairs acknowledges 14 diseases are a direct result of exposure to Agent Orange.<\/p>\n
Many cancers are on the list, glioblastoma is not.<\/p>\n
“With this background, I would like to offer my help,” said Pegi.<\/p>\n
Pegi is trying to change that by proving there’s a link between the brain cancer and Agent Orange.<\/p>\n
The VA continues to study the link between Agent Orange and diseases.<\/p>\n
But the department says a study released this year confirms earlier research which the VA says:
\n“did not find any evidence of an excess of brain cancer in Vietnam veterans.”<\/p>\n
A VA spokesperson added, “While we do not have sufficient scientific evidence that there is an association of GBM or other brain cancers with a potential exposure to Agent Orange, we believe it is important to ask all questions.”<\/p>\n
For Pegi and others like her, getting glioblastoma on the VA’s list would create an easy way to get benefits and recognition.<\/p>\n
“These guys have served our country, and here their families and widows are struggling just to survive,” said Pegi.<\/p>\n
It’s a fight Pegi won’t give up; for the families of heroes like John, who lose their lives to illness after risking it all on the battlefield.<\/p>\n
So far, Pegi has close to 280 cases.<\/p>\n
Pegi continues to collect information from other widows around the country.<\/p>\n
They are getting ready to present it to the VA soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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