Hello Jim,

My husband was awarded 100% VA disability in 2005 for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, Agent Orange Exposure caused in Vietnam.

He was just re-evaluated and we received a letter today stating they want to reduce his benefit from 100% to 10% because his cancer is in remission.

According to his VA doctor, his cancer will return, but they can't predict when.

Mark was a film editor for 30 years. When he got cancer he stopped working overnight. He has not worked since he got sick eight years ago. He suffers from memory loss, insomnia, and extreme fatigue. Not to mention the anxiety he suffers from living with a terminal disease.
Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma is not curable.

There is no way he can return to his former profession and, at the age of 67, I don't understand how the VA can just drop his disability when he can't go out and get a job.

Do you have advice about how we should proceed. Should we request a hearing? Hire a VA representative?

Any direction is most appreciated. Thank you for your support and good work.

Reply:

I understand how frustrating this is. However, VA is operating within the law. The law says that when a veteran is ill with a cancer that is service connected, the veteran will receive a 100% disability benefit.
Once the cancer is "cured", meaning that there are no detectable traces of any cancer activity, the veteran can no longer be rated for having a cancer. Although that's a bit hard to live with, it makes some sense.

Once there is a remission or a cure, the veteran is then rated on what VA calls "residuals". The residual effects of treatment and how disabling those residual effects are will be the basis for the new rating. It sounds as if he has been evaluated and that the examiner determined that his residual effects aren't impacting his life all that much.

All too often, the veteran doesn't understand that he should express all of the residual effects of the treatments he received. During the perfunctory exam the veteran will answer a couple of soft questions and he'll be sent on his way. If the records show that he is free of cancer, then the benefit will be reduced as low as the rater can make it.

If you disagree with this new rating, you must timely appeal it. To appeal is a fairly simple process in this case. In a nutshell, he will write a letter to the VA regional office and make the statement that he is appealing the new rating and then tell them why. There are no forms and no reason to seek a representative for this appeal.

In the letter he must offer a brief description of the disabling conditions that he relates to the treatment of the disease. I'll assume he had chemotherapy and that he may have had a plastic port implanted into his arm of chest. He can seek benefits for scarring or any pain and irritation from that port.
He can seek benefits for PTSD. A major, life threatening illness is often the cause of PTSD and depression. He should talk about the fatigue he has as well as any cognitive problems that he may have suffered from chemotherapy. Some of my friends who have had a number of chemotherapy sessions for their non-Hodgkins lymphoma suffer from what is loosely referred to as "chemo-brain". They have memory loss and trouble thinking through problems that weren't difficult for them prior to the treatments.

There are no other options than to appeal. To appeal requires that you do so in a timely fashion. The sooner, the better. I explain much more about how to appeal here http://www.vawatchdog.org/how-to-appeal.html