Camp Lejeune and cancer study
 

https://clnr.hqi.usmc.mil/clwater/

Florida Man Has Breast Cancer

By ROBIN WILLIAMS ADAMS


Published: Sunday, September 16, 2007 at 2:22 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, September 16, 2007 at 12:00 a.m.
WINTER HAVEN | Margaret Partain gave her husband a hug six months ago that probably saved his life.

It definitely opened the door to a host of unanswered questions.
The answers may come from an ongoing study of contaminated water at a Marine Corps base in North Carolina, where Mike Partain was born almost 40 years ago.
During the hug, Margaret Partain felt a small lump on the right side of her husband's chest.
He had a mammogram, figuring it would show the lump was a harmless cyst. But the radiologist ordered further testing. A biopsy produced a diagnosis as frightening as it was unexpected:
Partain, 39, has breast cancer.
The American Cancer Society predicts 2,030 cases will be diagnosed in men this year. That's miniscule compared with 178,480 expected in women, although just as life threatening.
Partain's doctors expected to discover he had mutated BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, he said, which increase the risk of breast cancer.
But he didn't have that abnormality, making his breast cancer all the more unusual.
"Statistically I shouldn't have this," said Partain, who lived in Polk County most of his life before moving to Tallahassee last year.
"I want answers. I want to know what happened."
Partain had a mastectomy May 4 in Tallahassee, where he is a claims adjuster for State Farm Insurance.
He will get chemotherapy there through Nov. 19 and follow-up care at Shands Medical Center at the University of Florida.
"I was asking myself why and how," Partain said during an interview at his parents' Winter Haven home. "There's no history in my family. I don't drink or smoke."
A possible answer came in June when national news coverage highlighted an extensive investigation into water supplies at Camp Lejeune, the sprawling Marine base in Jacksonville, N.C.
Government health experts say water at the base was contaminated for a 30-year period starting in 1957.
Ongoing investigations aim to determine whether Camp Lejeune's water was responsible for a higher rate of birth defects and cancer in children conceived and born there during that period. Federal officials are considering whether tougher restrictions are needed on two solvents - TCE, trichloroethylene, and PERC, tetrachloroethylene - that tainted the water supply.
The focus is on children diagnosed before age 20, Partain said. But adults who have unusual cancers, as he has, also are starting to question whether their illnesses are linked to contaminated water.
Chemicals from a dry cleaner adjacent to Camp Lejeune and from industrial activities at the base are being blamed for the contamination.
A criminal investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department in 2005 said federal rules limiting TCE and PERC in drinking water weren't in effect until 1989 and 1992, after the reported contamination occurred.
The water at Camp Lejeune meets current federal standards. The investigation didn't find legal violations or conspiracy.
But that doesn't change the anger and frustration felt by families whose children became ill, some of them dying.
At least 850 former residents have filed suit against the military. Partain isn't among them, but he has done research and contacted U.S. representatives' offices.
"I'm waiting to see what the Marines do," he said. "It upsets me they didn't do what they were supposed to do and notify families."
The Marine Corps hasn't told his parents, Warren and Lisette Partain, about the potential risk, he said.
Warren Partain learned through a June article in The Ledger and reports on CNN. He called his son.
"He said the wells were contaminated for 30 years," Mike Partain said. "It literally took the breath out of me. I started shaking."
Partain's mother was at Camp Lejeune throughout her pregnancy. He was born there on Jan. 30, 1968, and lived there until his father went to Vietnam in May 1968.
"There's no doubt in my mind this happened to me in embryo," he said.
As someone without BRCA mutation, his risk of male breast cancer was less than 1 percent, according to information given him by the genetic lab that tested him for that abnormality.
Partain said he noticed in 2005 he didn't have as much energy as before, but exams ordered by his Winter Haven doctor didn't find a cause. In January, he said, he started losing muscle mass.
If he had known about the possible impact of contaminated water, he could have taken more action, Partain said.
Partain also has dealt since birth with a diamond-shaped red spot on the back of his head and recurring rashes on his arms and upper body. He said he has seborrheic dermatitis, which makes him extremely sensitive to chemicals on his skin.
He thinks now that too could be related to the contaminated water.
Two Tallahassee-area families have called him since an article about him ran in the Tallahassee Democrat. One had a daughter, conceived at Camp Lejeune in 1975, who got a brain cancer. A woman who was pregnant there in the early 1970s said a son born there had a skin rash similar to his, he said.
"There needs to be notification to everyone who was there," Partain said. "I want to see them doing a lifetime study."
[ Robin Williams Adams can be reached at robin.adams@theledger.com or 863-802-7558. Read her blog at robinsrx.theledger.com. ]"

wow...I will always wonder about the aerial pesticides sprayed from planes every summer where I grew up in suburban Boston...

I wonder about the mosquito "fogger" trucks that would drive by my house almost every night in Houston when I was growing up.

Mike Partain has been posting updates for some time on the Komen site about this for anyone interested. I'm pleased to see he's finally being heard:)

I was unaware of the contamination at Camp Lajeune. Thank you for posting this, Robin.

There was another article on Mr Partain this past Sunday,here in Tampa...
Related Links
Camp Lejeune vets suffer from drinking water contamination (May 31)

"Mike Partain is a walking, breathing anomaly.

After he was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2007, the Tallahassee resident learned just how rare the cancer is in men — fewer than 2,000 new cases each year.

Men who get it are often over 70 with a family history of breast cancer. Partain, then 39 with no family history, felt like the unluckiest guy in the world.

Then Partain got a call from a second anomaly like himself, a breast cancer survivor in his 40s with stunning news.

Both men lived at Camp Lejeune, N.C., during what some scientists call the worst public drinking-water contamination in the nation's history.

So began Partain's single-minded quest to find other men with breast cancer and ties to the Marine Corps base. His success has startled scientists: He has found nine others.

And the St. Petersburg Times located a Lejeune breast cancer survivor not on Partain's list.

Only one of the men was over 70 when diagnosed.

Scientists studying Camp Lejeune water tainted with carcinogens for 30 years ending in 1987 — water consumed by up to 1 million people — say it is extraordinarily difficult to link pollutants to an illness.

But Partain, working alone and without government help, has grabbed their attention.

"This needs to be looked into very seriously," said Dr. Devra Davis, an epidemiologist preparing a case report on the men. "We all owe a debt to Mike and others who have stepped forward."

Partain is sure many more cases await discovery.

Two upcoming federal studies will look at the incidence of all disease among base residents. Potentially, there are billions of dollars in health claims by 1,500 people who say the water sickened them that may ride on the results.

So far, nearly 10,000 Floridians with Camp Lejeune ties have signed up for a health survey, the highest total for any state except North Carolina.

Partain, an insurance claims investigator born at Lejeune in 1968, sees his work as proof the water caused illness.

"I'm missing half my chest," Partain, 41, said of the mastectomy that removed his right breast. "That didn't happen by a fluke of God. I was poisoned."

•••

Partain, son of a Marine officer, was conceived at Camp Lejeune and lived there for several months after his birth.

In early 2007, Partain's wife felt a lump on his right breast as they hugged before bed.

At first, Partain dismissed it. Men didn't get breast cancer. He told his wife to give it two weeks, and if the lump didn't go away, he would visit a doctor.

It didn't disappear.

Partain's doctor ordered a mammogram, an ultrasound and finally a biopsy as Partain got progressively more nervous.

On April 25, 2007, the doctor told him he had breast cancer and scheduled a mastectomy.

"I wanted to argue with the doctor," Partain said. "How in the hell did I get breast cancer? Where did that come from?"

A man has a 1-in-1,000 lifetime chance of getting the disease. About 1,900 cases are forecast for 2009, says the American Cancer Society. By comparison, nearly 200,000 women will be diagnosed with the disease.

Like many cancers, the causes are not well understood, said Dr. John Kiluk, a breast cancer specialist at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.

"And that's one of the frustrations" about the disease, he said.

Some scientists, however, have noted suspicious increases in male breast cancer at other sites polluted with the same compounds found at Camp Lejeune.

One is a Woburn, Mass., toxic site made famous in the book and movie, A Civil Action.

Partain said he was in the dark about the cause of his cancer until a frantic call from his father in June 2007 telling him to turn on CNN.

Partain saw a report about Camp Lejeune's water, his first inkling of the problem.

For decades, drinking water at Camp Lejeune was contaminated with cancer-causing industrial solvents dumped by the Marines and a dry-cleaning business, investigators say.

To Partain, it was a revelation.

He began making use of the bully pulpit his rare cancer gave him. A man with breast cancer is news. Reporters called.

On Sept. 16, 2007, after a story in a Lakeland paper, Alabama minister Kris Thomas called Partain.

Thomas said he was diagnosed with breast cancer in his 40s despite no family history for the disease. His father was a Marine, and Thomas' family lived in the same neighborhood as Partain's.

For a few months, they lived there at the same time.

"It's like trying to decipher a murder," said Thomas, 50. "What do we have in common? It was Camp Lejeune. What are the odds of that?"

It was a watershed moment for Partain.

"I knew I wasn't alone," he said. "And that meant everything in the world. I couldn't be explained away as a fluke."

Then a Tallahassee newspaper wrote another story. Bill Smith, who teaches marketing at Florida State University, saw it.

Smith was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1994, when he was about 60. He was a Marine at Lejeune in the late 1950s.

Partain found his third anomaly at his church after he gave a talk about the environment, mentioning Camp Lejeune. A woman approached him crying. Her stepfather died of breast cancer. He was a Lejeune Marine.

Partain didn't stop there.

He posted notes on cancer bulletin boards on the Internet. He did Web searches. He joined a breast cancer support group — its only male member.

He found case after case. His last discovery came in December 2008. Scientists took notice.

"It perked our interest," said Frank Bove, a federal epidemiologist studying Camp Lejeune water.

But Bove said it may be impossible for science to prove the water caused the breast cancers.

Still, a good circumstantial case might eventually move the Marines to provide compensation to those who are ill.

The stakes are enormous.

The Marines Corps, accused of keeping tainted wells open and failing to warn anyone of the danger, declined to comment on Partain's work.

Partain won't stop looking.

"If it hadn't been for my wife, I'd be dead right now. That's wrong. The Marines knew I was exposed and didn't tell me. That's wrong. There are people out there dead or dying who still don't know. That's wrong."

William R. Levesque can be reached at levesque@sptimes.com or (813) 269-5306.




Were you at Camp Lejeune?

Anyone who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune in 1987 or before can register with the Marine Corps for a health study. To register or to get more information, visit https://clnr.hqi.usmc.mil/clwater/ or call toll-free (877) 261-9782.

Also, a private Web site, http://www.tftptf.com/, which is unaffiliated with the Marines, offers a wide variety of information.
Male breast cancer and Camp Lejeune: Pollution or coincidence?
By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Sunday, June 28, 2009


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In Taiwan - where I was born and lived the first half of my life - there's a certain town where many residents contracted 'blackened-foot disease' and became amputees. Locals believed that it was caused by some unhappy 'spirit' residing in the area.

Government officials from the Health Department spent some time digging up the truth. It was then discovered that the water from the wells that supplied the town had a high percentage of certain poisonous mineral. Residents were encouraged to relocate and the 'blackened-foot disease' gradually 'vanished'.

I posted on this a couple of years back. My sister was born on base and I was there from 6 mo old to 3 yrs old. They called my mom back in 1984 with a "survey" about our family's current health, but were very vague. My sister's teeth crumbled in her mouth as a child. We both have always had very frail teeth and oral problems. Dentists always think we have eating disorders because the enamel is non-existent. My dad was there for 8 years and suffered from 30 to 51, when he died with tons of unusual medical problems that can be directly linked to the contamination. So, when I, being very low risk, was diagnosed with breast cancer, I was shocked...until my mother reminded me of the contamination on base. I have researched and drove to base for a conference on the subject 2 yrs ago, then I started writing letters on the bill they were to run through the senate, only to have it pushed to the backburner. Reading the stories about the number of babies that died on base was eye-opening. Anyway, www.watersurvivors.com has alot of great links and info on the subject. Unfortunately, I don't believe anything will ever be The saddest part of it is that you don't have to go there to be poisoned. It's happening everyday in any given city or town in the U.S.

Previous post
Lu Ann,

That is certainly no coincidence! It reminds me of a show I watched where childhood cancers were 500x the US rate along power lines somewhere down in Texas. It is frightening to contemplate what we are being exposed to everyday!

I just learned over the last several months that the water where I spent the first 3 years of my life was toxic. My dad was a marine and we lived on base at Camp Lejeune, NC. A dry cleaner was dumping chemicals, which then found its way to the water supply for several housing areas. This went on from the 1950's through the early 1980's, affecting up to one million civilians and servicemen/women. The chemicals are proven to cause birth defects and several different cancers, including breast. My sister and I both have reproductive problems, mine starting as early as 13 with cysts on my ovaries and fibroid tumors. We both have literally no enamel on our teeth and her baby teeth crumbled in her mouth as they broke through the gum. I've had 3 miscarriages. Our children are all healthy, thank God! I don't know that this caused my breast cancer and I also understand it is very easy for me to lay blame somewhere, anywhere, as to why things like this happen to people. It may just be the plan laid out for me. I may never know, but in an odd sort of way, it eases my mind to know that it could have been someone else's fault and the blame doesn't lie with anything I may have done or didn't do.

If any of you lived on or near the base during these years, check out the site. Right now, since this has been made public, thousands of people are bombarding the lawyers office with calls and posting on the website, blaming everything from depression to ADD to anxiety on the water they drank and bathed in. These 2 sites should get any interested parties started.

www.watersurvivors.com

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/lejeune/tce_pce.html

Re: Camp Lejeune and cancer study
 

Oh, that sounds like my sister-in-laws teeth. It is like she had hardly any enamel. She was stationed at Camp Lejuene when she married my brother. For years she has suffered from chronic health problems then developed Stage IV lymphoma.

Re: Camp Lejeune and cancer study
 

Thanks for this info. My husband was at Camp Lejeune in the 1970's, and we knew nothing about this.

Re: Camp Lejeune and cancer study
 

This has been investigated for the past few years. Had sons and daughters who lived there for many years.

Re: Camp Lejeune and cancer study
 

Always glad to be a source of reputable information

Re: Camp Lejeune and cancer study
 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540...4479&#33232900

Though you all might want to see this...
Hugs,Marcia

Re: Camp Lejeune and cancer study
 

another updated on the Camp Lejeune issue...67 men have been diagnosed with BC among other cancers... http://www.baynews9.com/article/news...-in-Tampa.html