MS diagnosis may be too late to help veteran of first Gulf War

For more than a decade, Gulf War veteran Harry White has suffered from aches, fatigue and a disturbing loss of muscle control.

Last December, after another workplace accident, he finally saw a doctor who attached a name to his ailments: multiple sclerosis, or MS, a debilitating neurological disease that research suggests may sometimes be linked to military service.

"My pride kept me from searching out what was wrong — until I kept getting hurt on the job," said White, 35, who works as a truck driver at Western State Hospital. "All these years, there were always these questions. Now I have an answer."

But the answer comes too late to ensure him of a Veterans Administration (VA) disability rating that would offer him compensation for the disease. The VA automatically grants a disability rating — and compensation payments — to any soldier who contracts the disease within seven years of an honorable discharge. For White, who left the service in 1992, that deadline has passed, and it's uncertain when or if he will ever obtain that compensation.

As the nation focuses on the veterans of the second Iraq conflict, the struggles continue for those who fought in the first Gulf War that ended in 1991. Of the nearly 700,000 veterans of that conflict, more than 125,000 have complained of illnesses in the aftermath of a war where many soldiers faced exposure to oil-field smoke, pesticides, trace levels of nerve gas and other toxic agents.

White and several other Gulf War veterans joined in a discussion Tuesday in Seattle with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, who has submitted legislation that would automatically grant all veterans with MS disability benefits, no matter how long it takes to diagnose the illness.

MS involves scarring and erosion of the sheathing around nerves. Its early symptoms may be mistaken for other illnesses or even dismissed as the results of stress. But it can evolve into a disabling disease, and there is no cure.

"This is a disease that can be ... difficult to diagnose, and we have to be extra careful that we don't exclude people from benefits," said Murray, whose father was diagnosed with MS when the senator was 15.

Murray acknowledged that it will be difficult to gain passage for her legislation, since it could expand VA disability payments at a time Congress and the Bush administration seek to clamp down on federal spending.

The VA has yet to take a position on the bill, an agency spokesman said.

So far, the number of Gulf War veterans who have gained VA disability ratings for MS is small. It accounts for 511 of the more than 190,000 Gulf War veterans who have been rated for service-related injuries and illnesses.

But hundreds of other veterans may have symptoms that haven't been diagnosed, and others may have only recently found out from their doctors.

The bill has been championed by two Seattle-area Gulf War veterans, Julie Mock and Elizabeth Burris, who spoke at Tuesday's discussion.

Mock, who serves as president of National Gulf War Resource Center, and Burris were diagnosed with MS after wartime exposure to low levels of nerve agents during U.S. efforts to destroy an Iraqi ammunition depot.

Mock and Burris learned of their disease after the expiration of the seven-year limit. But both had enough documentation of their post-discharge problems to persuade the VA to grant them disability.

"The process is always a very time-consuming, exhausting and expensive ordeal for vets," said Burris, who has assisted other veterans who have MS whose diagnosis fell beyond the seven-year limit. "More often than not, the VA will initially deny the claim."

As for White, his MS was never diagnosed by VA doctors. Only after his workplace injury did a civilian doctor identify his disease. He says he is working with the VA to obtain medical care.

As for trying to get a disability rating, that fight has yet to begin. And he hopes to win.

"I don't blame the service," White said. "I volunteered to go. But we were exposed to a lot of things over there."

Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com