DEAN SHOCKLEY
My name is Garlanda Shockley, Dean’s wife. I’m writing this narrative because Dean cannot write it for himself. I’m so glad to have found this missile cancer community. Dean served as a missile maintenance specialist at Malmstrom AFB from 1987-1990 and worked at many of the Malmstrom Launch Facilities. He later went on to MacDill AFB as a F-16 Avionics system specialist. After active service, Dean served in the Air National Guard. In total, he gave 10 years of his life to the USAF. In the early spring of 2022, Dean started experiencing a lot of fatigue. He said it wasn’t the normal tired feeling. We all misread his symptoms as work stress.
Diagnosis
Into the summer of 2022, I noticed that when Dean held my hand, he would squeeze my hand tightly. In July 2022, I asked him if he realized he was gripping my hand so tight. He didn’t – but it led to a deeper discussion, and he told me that he was having to think more about what he was saying in order to get his words out. He also noticed that his right hand didn’t seem to have the strength it once had. Toward the end of July 2022, we could tell his right leg was weaker and he was walking differently; his right step lagged a bit. In August, he made an appointment with our primary care physician, and she referred him to a neurologist and requested an MRI. In early September, we got the diagnosis back of glioblastoma and were shocked. Dean had always been healthy. Our first question was, “is this connected to his service at Malmstrom?” There was no information in early 2022 about missile cancer that we could access since the Torchlight Initiative had not been started yet and the media wasn’t covering the issue. A few months later, I saw an article about missile cancer and registered Dean on the Torchlight Initiative.
I want to share his (our) story so that changes can be made to help others in the future as well as help others navigate this awful journey. I want to connect with other caregivers to offer support and knowledge I have gained as a caregiver and learning how to navigate the VA and their services. I also hope that the USAF will step up and acknowledge they have caused this terrible situation for the missile community.
Dean’s glioblastoma multiforme is in his left thalamus and is inoperable. There is never remission as it is impossible to get clear tumor margins. You can shrink the tumor, but it always comes back. Treatment options are limited.
On Sept 28, 2022, Dean had a biopsy; this caused a hemorrhagic stroke and right-side hemiparesis. He had 6 weeks of radiation and daily chemotherapy. He is now on chemo 5 days per month and wears Optune on his head. Optune creates an electrical field that helps to scramble the cancer cells and decreases the amount they divide. He takes anti-seizure medication and steroids for brain swelling. Dean is considered stable; there has not been any progression or new growth. However, each MRI brings anxiety as we know this could change at any time. Dean suffers from aphasia, memory loss, and right-side paralysis. He has been completely bedridden/wheelchair-bound since May of 2023.
WHY WE ARE TELLING OUR STORY
I want the USAF to make all the necessary changes in the field to make missile maintainers, missileers and their families safer. They deserve a safe work and living environment.
The USAF should take responsibility for not accomplishing the appropriate studies when they were presented with concerns from the missile community in 2001, 2003, and 2005.
I want the USAF to take responsibility for creating and maintaining an environmentally hazardous environment that has made our men and women sick with increased discovery of cancers; this is not just a coincidence. The USAF should acknowledge the toxins in the work environment and the fact that these toxins have caused increased numbers of cancer.
The USAF should properly clean up the work ICBM work environment and make necessary changes for the future health of maintainers and the missile community.
I want the USAF to provide care for the ICBM missileer and maintenance communities. They need to provide proper compensation to those currently battling cancer, and those who have passed away due to their workplace exposures.
I am angry that my husband is battling the most aggressive of brain cancers, one of the most aggressive of all cancers. This has taken his life, our life- even though he is currently with us. He is bedridden, wheelchair bound, hemiplegic, and struggles with loss of memory and severe aphasia. He requires 24/7 care.
Dean volunteered to serve our country and the USAF put him and others at risk by failing to identify, maintain, monitor and properly handle the toxins at their missile base. The USAF needs to take all precautions with toxins and be proactive in providing a safe environment instead of denying that there is an issue that has caused these cancers. I do not want others to go through what my husband, and others, are going through.
Missile Community: don’t be afraid to contact your military leadership up through the ranks and demand that changes are made. Be aware of the dangers and how it can cause various cancers years down the road, and how to protect yourself in the toxic environment.
My husband is also battling glioblastoma. He was diagnosed in Dec. of 2021. He was a missilear at FE Warren from 1998-2000. He served a total of 9 years 7 months and 23 days. As this horrible cancer progressed, I went to the VA to sign up fir his VA benefits that he was promised only to be told that we made too much income and he qualified for nothing. I was furious but had to move on because he needs a lot of care. I have payed out of pocket for all his medical equipment and luckily I have health in through my employer to cover his medical bills which are in excess of 1 million dollars. My husband dutifully served the people of the US by standing watch for world war 3 while the rest of the country slept comfortably in their beds now he has brain cancer and the VA won’t take responsibility and presumably grant him his disability he so much deserves and needs. it is insult to injury and dishonors his service. My husband did not hesitate to put himself in harms way , why now has the VA turned their backs on these brave exceptional men?
I am so sorry to read what Dean has gone through my prayers are with him and your family. Sadly he is not the only USAF ICBM veteran that is fighting horrible deceases, The Air Force has known for decades about these toxic materials and yet they keep denying it.
My story :
I am a USAF veteran, MOS 31630
EMT Team member stationed at Malmstrom AFB from December of 1976 through December of 1978.
I have been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer in 2008 (prostate removed) which rendered me impotent (ED). In 2020 I was diagnosed with Kidney Cancer (cancerous tumor & 5% of my left kidney removed) in the spring of 2021 I was diagnosed with Menier’s Decease Vertigo & tintinitus secondary effect of kidney cancer).
In the spring of 2024 I was diagnosed with Secondary Polycythemia (a rare blood decease) indicated by low blood oxygen levels and High Hemoglobin count. My Doctors have also detected (via chest x-ray & CT scan) mild pleural thickening in both of my lungs.
I am in the middle of a higher level review with the VA now. I was initially denied Disability benefits on: Prostate Cancer, ED & Kidney Cancer despite the fact that the VA concedes in the performance of my duties in the USAF:
I was exposed to TERA
I was exposed to Radiation
I do have 3 disabilities
The VA argues that everything they conceded to are not “service related”
Despite the fact they conceded I was exposed to those toxins in the USAF.
Most if not all of the toxins I was exposed to were outlawed in the late 1970s / early 1980s. The Air Force began “studying” this issue as far back as the 1990s, then again in 2001 & 2005 & 2023. Bottom line the USAF and most likely the VA has known about this problem for DECADES.
Will the USAF & the VA ever admit that the hundreds and hundreds of officers and Airman were exposed to very dangerous materials & toxins ?
It’s too late for the veterans that have already succumb to the multitude of deceases & Cancers but the USAF & the VA can still do “the right thing” for the past and present veterans that are being forced to jump through endless hoops trying to prove and make a connection to these toxins, and their deceases / cancers.
John Lott
I have emailed the USAF PENTAGON
PUBLIC AFFAIRS three times….
ALL I GET IS AN AUTOMATED RESPONSE……
DONT CALL US WE’LL CALL YOU
Gotta keep kicking the door.
My husband passed away June 1, 2024 of leukemia and t-MDS (treatment/chemical induced myelodysplastic syndrome). He was a missileer from 1986-1988. Starting from the beginning: Dave was diagnosed with CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia) in 2018. He had just gotten over pneumonia and was having night sweats. He was sure his pneumonia had returned because of the sweats. He went to the dr and she found his lungs to be normal without pneumonia or other lung issues, so this prompted her to get labs. Labs showed his white count was 10x the normal high level. He was referred to oncology and had his bone marrow biopsy and started chemo. On month 5 of chemo, his counts dropped very low, so he never did end up having his 6th cycle. He ended up needing to have 45 units of blood to recover from his bone marrow failure. He was off work for a year and a half for this process. Once his counts came up, he had a year and a half of phlebotomies (draw out and dump 300cc of blood each time) to bring down the excessively high ferritin (iron stores) levels. By the time he finished that his remission was over! His 3rd bone marrow in 2023 (January) showed a bad mutation that signified a bad outcome for his cancer. This didn’t show up in his previous 2 biopsies. Had it shown in the first one, he should have opted for a different treatment plan than traditional chemo. He was expecting a long remission but ended up very short. By December of 2023 he developed severe hemolytic anemia and was hospitalized for 2 weeks. He was placed on high dose steroids and rituxan and started venetoclax to treat his leukemia. . He rallied and regained some strength miraculously and was able to get strong enough to play some pickleball in February 2024. March was the decline. His counts dropped so venetoclax was stopped. His counts continued to fall until he was hospitalized in the beginning of April. His platelets were the most severe but he required endless numbers of platelet and blood transfusions in the hospital. He lost his middle mass so quickly during this time. Another bone marrow biopsy was performed and we received the dreaded news that he likely developed treatment induced myelodysplastic syndrome. Initially we still held hope that he’d be strong enough to be treated for the t-MDS, but he was deteriorating too much daily, and treatment was not an option. Finally at the end of April he was discharged home, not because he was better, rather because he wasn’t going to get better. He had outpatient blood and platelet transfusions 3 days per week through most of May while getting our affairs in order. He became wheelchair bound and had his last transfusions on 5/28/2024. He started hospice on 5/29, celebrated our sons 33rd birthday on 5/30, and by 6/1/2024, he was gone. Dave was only 62. He had so many dreams of traveling and time with our granddaughter and future grandchildren. All of his dreams ended abruptly on that day.