The Rest of the Story: Annette’s Side of Things
I began pestering Annette just before Thanksgiving for some pictures of her and Monte. When I explained what I was up to, she said she didn’t mind if I used their names. I was delighted. The amount of lives you touch doing this grows rapidly. It always brings me joy to share some of these stories. You heard my side of representing Annette in my Thanksgiving post. Now, Annette gives us “the rest of the story”.
In October, 2021, Monte and I were leaving rehab after a two week stint; Monte was recovering from a stroke. The doctor said Monte could recover from that, it was the Parkinson’s that would be the challenge. What? We had never heard this before. Since that was our first indication, we were puzzled. Looking back, though, it is easy to see the signs that he’d had it for much longer. By April, sadly, he was mostly in a wheelchair. I had heard about boxing being good for Parkinson’s, and we decided to give it a try. It was while waiting for him to go through his first (and last) session that a woman overhead me. She stepped in and said Parkinson’s and Vietnam made him eligible for disability benefits from the VA. I went home that day and filed a claim with a VA caseworker. I would have done anything I thought would help Monte, my husband.
Amazingly, the VA had no record of Monte being in Vietnam! I later learned that because his orders were TDY, they often were not noted on the DD-214, or they could have just lost his records, or as a Veteran told me, it often depends on the accuracy of the typist filling out the 214.
The burden of proof fell on us, and we could not provide that proof. We had nothing. No buddy letters, no photos. So I started digging and spent countless hours on the internet looking for help. That’s when I found the connection between Scarlet fever, which he did have stateside and Parkinson’s. His neurologist, whom we liked very much, reviewed that study and decided it was not conclusive enough and therefore she could not state there was a causal relationship.
By October of 2023 I could no longer care for him and found a 6-person care facility. I was eventually put in touch with Wes.
The rest of the story you know.
I’ll never forget what what Wes said. “With all due respect, our neurologist was not a toxicologist”, hinting at the radiation aspect as well, and thus began our journey.
During the course of my research I found a Cam Ranh Bay Vietnam Veteran’s Facebook page. I joined and told our story. Incredibly, two people responded. Monte was their squad leader in 1968! Unfortunately they could not be of help. They were deployed to Germany when Monte went off to Vietnam. They both remembered him well and what a fine man he was. Monte never talked about his time in service. We weren’t married during this time. So, that was wonderful to hear. We have kept in touch ever since.
Monte and I were married for almost 40 years and he was an exemplary, God-fearing, fine man to me, to our daughter, and to the community. Always helpful to anyone who would ask, he was a consummate volunteer, and I was blessed to have him in my life for so long.
I would say that perseverance, tenacity, and patience are critical to this process. Thank you, Wes, for displaying every one of these traits. Your knowledge and skill make it possible for Monte, and subsequently me, to be given a 100% disability rating with the associated benefits, and I am forever grateful.
I couldn’t be more thankful for Annette. While I mentioned in my prior post she was “hesitant” of my approach, she always trusted me. It is a big ask. Asking someone who you have never met to trust you will do your job to the best of your ability, advocate for them without waiver. Annette trusted me, and it made the entire process better. I couldn’t be more thankful God had our paths cross.
“And now you know…the rest of story”.
Godspeed.
In Honor of Monte, and Annette, who it has been a privilege to represent:
