Bladder Cancer and Military Service

Like RAH (previous post) I was in Air Force, but a C-5 loadmaster. When I too was diagnosed with bladder cancer, I too was asked “how long I was a smoker?” Answered “never”. Question 2 was “did you work a lot with chemicals?”, I thought for a second… I did have to empty 3-5 cans of government provided pesticide whenever we flew into or out of CONUS to prevent the spread of insects between continents, mostly over Japanese beetles. Did anyone else think of this? Currently re-filing my VA, but building “proof” or “research” to accomplish. Any additional comments appreciated. Also considering other possibilities as we would leave diesel vehicles running while we climbed underneath to put chain on to provide restraint. Past the “agent orange” dates, but there is no way to ensure cargo areas could be perfectly cleaned? Frequently told while at altitude, the increased levels of radiation was equivalent to 7 chest x-rays every hour… I was just short of 5,000 flying hours. Regards.

I served in the US Navy and Navy Reserve from 1974 until 2005. Served on a bunch of ships including several years on a nuclear powered ship. I have recently spoken to some of my sipmates from that ship and they had not heard of any other bladder cancers.

Oh and I did not smoke nor work with chemicals

Hi my son served on the USS Tennesee , a nuclear sub ( also called a boomer) in the late ninetys. He does not have b.c. He is thirtyone. Rocky

One of the reasons I am bringing up this subject is that there are 4 men being treated at Wake Forest all of whom served in the military between 1977-1994...I just found that odd...I do understand that smoking is also very popular in the military...I guess I just want a poll of sorts...If they don't know how to cure it...how can they be so sure what causes it? Sometimes you can't fix something unless you work backwards...just a thought...

I served the United States Air Force for 18 years. I retired in 1995.
I was a loadmaster on a C-141 traveling the world as a crewmember for my entire career.

When I was diagnosed with Bladder Cancer, my doctor asked the usual questions.
How long have I smoked? (never)
Have I worked around Chemicals? (no)

I did let him know that a mission I supported during my career was the carrying of nuclear weapons from base to base. I let him know that some of the weapons were tagged as “leakers”.
The doctor told me that exposure to nuclear radiation would not cause Bladder Cancer but Leukemia. (Something to look forward to).


Rick

My Dad, born in 1905, had bladder cancer when he was in his 70s. He served in the Army in N. Africa and Italy (field artillery) in World War II (actually from 1940-1945, since he was unfortunate enough to be selected in the first peace-time draft in 1940). He was a smoker, and I suspect that was a major contributing factor in his BLC. He only had one recurrence of the BLC, and at the time of his death at age 84 due to lung cancer (unrelated to his BLC), he had been clear of BLC long enough to be on annual check-ups. Since I, too, have BLC but have never smoked, I suspect there may be a hereditary component too.

Ann