Glenda's Story
My Wife of 28 Years
By Phil
I decided to start my story in a backward way, because my objective is to show you all how quickly, easily and devastating, all the chemicals, herbicides, pesticides and most common items can be on family members. Where my medical conditions, which also include the above, include a high concentration of chemicals brought home from work.
Glenda and I were married on the 4th November 1978 and it wasn't long after I had been transferred from a Ground Equipment Maintenance Squadron (repairs to runway sweepers, fire trucks, tow motors, generator sets etc) to a Stores Depot in Western Sydney, which has since been pulled down, in fact both work areas were pulled down.
I joined the Australian Air Force during the Vietnam War in 1970 and was discharged in 1973, but re-enlisted again in 1975 and finally resigned in 1987. You needed to know that time factor information.
From the moment I joined the Air Force in 1975 and moved to Villawood to the (G.E.M.S.) unit, unknowingly I began to handle poisons, as my job was that of a Supplier or Stores person. So I had to supply all the sections with whatever equipment that they needed.
I was never supplied any protective garments, breathing equipment, gloves or headwear to save me from breathing in the vapours, powders or dust etc. But being twenty-six and as a younger person feels (bullet proof), I never complained.
So in November 1978, Glenda and I were married and little did I know that I had chemicals inside me, even then. There wouldn't have been a lot, because I had to carry many heavy vehicle parts on my head often.
We moved over to No 2 Stores Depot at Regents Park, which was about six kilometres away, where I worked in the unit store for quite some time. Once again handling in small proportions of chemicals, with no protective clothing, gloves etc. I was transferred to another warehouse in 1980, where I remained until 1982.
Then came the worst move for both of our lives! We were transferred to Amberley Air Force Base, near Ipswich, West of Brisbane. Home of the F-111 bombers and heaps of chemicals, aviation fuels, vehicles fuels etc! I was in charge of the huge storage tanks of aviation fuel, which held Avtur, Avgas and FSII and was often called to handle Diesel, Hydraulic Fluids, SR51, Oils, Solvents, Detergents, Oxides, Gases, Powders and Gels etc.
Handling all the different items every day, I would arrive home and have to take my clothes off outside the house at the back landing, where Glenda would throw a pair of shorts to me, much to the pleasure of all the neighbourhood women I can only imagine ha, ha.
Glenda would then place my work clothes in the washing machine to be cleaned. My boots had to stay outside as the smell even caused my neighbours to complain, due to handling the sealant for the F-111's called SR51. We were told by Officers, when we asked "is this stuff safe to handle", that we could wash our dishes in it. I would like to get these Officers now and get them to wash their dishes in it.
The SR51 has killed nine of my close friends, another one is very sick and as we were told that over two thousand personnel handled the SR51 and there is only thirteen hundred of us left, well not being a rocket scientist, I can still imagine that up to at least seven hundred men and women have died, we don't know, nor the Government, how many of them committed suicide either.
What Glenda and I, plus all other married staff, who handled the SR51, either receiving it, storing it, cleaning the oozing contents off the drums, didn't realise, was that this sealant was made up of over sixty chemicals, all of which could cause cancers etc.
So after washing my work clothes, Glenda put a load of her clothes in the washing machine and would start the machine. What we didn't know was that the chemicals would stay in the machine, glued to the bowl just waiting for another load to contaminate, which was then transferred to our families.
In the meantime Glenda and I were continually attempting to begin a family, without any results, so began numerous trips to the Specialists to see what was going on. Finally we had to give up trying and in 1986 Glenda had to have a hysterectomy at only twenty-nine.
I had a sperm count and all was clear, so we can only put it down to a constant build-up of chemicals in the washing machine, which caused massive bleeding for Glenda and finally the end to our dreams of ever having a family.
We even attempted to adopt, but due to my age and our finances, as the salary wasn't much in those days, we were knocked back.
Glenda now has chronic psoriasis; she has also had heart fibrillations, short term memory loss, continual pain throughout her body and constant daily depression at not being able to have any children as we both love children.
Has the Government even begun to check out all the families, NO and we have been told at meetings that they are not going to start until we workers have been checked first. Well that finished on the 30th December 2004 and we are still waiting for compensation.
We lost many friends overnight, as soon as they found out that we couldn't have any children, which has caused us great anxiety since 1986, but nobody cares.
Yet as I can't drive anymore, Glenda, my Wife and Carer, has to drive me around, even with her bloodied hands in cotton gloves, and all the help we get is once per fortnight, Blue Care send a person around to vacuum and mop the floors, clean the toilet and shower, that's it.
We have had several Occupational Therapists come out to our house that we rent and tell us that we should be living in a disabled friendly home, due to our problems, but on our low pensions, we can't even move. But on the positive side of things, we fall to the ground well.
Glenda has tried almost thirty so called magic medications that will sort all her psoriasis out, however when you see her hands, please remember that she also has that on her elbows, knees and feet, plus at times in the corners of her eyes.
We can't afford all these magic remedies because we are just getting by on our low pensions now, so please don't suggest more medications, as we are attempting to undergo a detox at present to see if that may help. Thank you for reading Glenda's story.
Cheers,
Phil
Since being diagnosed with Diabetes type 2 in 1997, with no family history of it, I have constantly asked the Department of Veteran's Affair's, what has caused my problem, which they responded by saying that I was just over weight. I also asked them that during my Air Force Career and during the second time I enlisted, I was a Supplier or (Storesperson) for those who don't know what a Supplier is.
I explained that in the twelve years I was a Supplier, I was never issued any protective clothing, breathing apparatus, over shoe protectors, facial protection including side splash protection or even a pair of gloves, yet I handled over two hundred chemicals, including the dreaded SR51 used on the F-111 Fuel Tank Maintenance program at Amberley. I arrived at Amberley on the 20th January 1982 and was discharge from the RAAF on the 9th April 1987. When I worked at the Amberley Fuel Farm, we would go for hours without drinking water, especially when thirty road tankers would come in during exercises, so our Kidneys we not receiving the correct amount of water to function properly every day for the fifteen months I worked there!
All I was given was a piece of cleaning rag to undertake cleaning duties inside all the flammable stores and compounds, plus having Aviation fuel called Avtur or Avgas spraying directly into my face at high pressure, causing the liquid to run to the back of my eye and then spurt out from the bottom of my eyes. I have just had my first lot of cataracts done on my left eye yesterday, with my right eye requiring not only a cataract operation done, but to check why my eye ball is heavily pitted, like the surface of the moon, where my left eye is smooth.
The VRB meeting I had just recently knocked me back, which I expected, as all DVA offices in Australia have been told not to pass any claims at all. So it wasn't any good ringing those irresponsible people again. I would also like to add that Dioxins were often handled by many people in the armed forces, but especially the Equipment Musterings like Suppliers, as we had to go into the storage compounds and sheds to collect the items, which were on demand from the user sections.There were many times we would be vomiting outside warehouse, sheds, compounds due to the stench or just handling the compounds, but many of us and no doubt other services were told, to stop being a malingerer and get back to work or told not to go to medical section at all, which happened to me at RAAF Villawood, No 2 Stores Depot and Base Squadron Central Store (outstations) at Amberley QLD.
I would like to provide to you all, a number of websites to visit, which explain that handling toxic chemicals constantly, which all the F-111 people did, causes diabetes type 1 and 2. My important question to you Alan is, if you win the election, will you finally demand that an S.O.P. be created to accept personnel who have handled toxic chemicals while they were in the service or are serving now please?
In 2006 both my wife and I had hair samples checked by homeopaths and they had never even heard of many of the chemicals that were mentioned or even showed up on their database, yet we I was diagnosed in 1997 and Glenda in 2003 and we are both type 2 diabetics. Not to mention all the other F-111 personnel who handled the SR51, who are all diabetics. In the first website as part of the SHOAMP health study, it states diabetes can be caused by the SR51 alone.
I have presented facts to you all for reading purposes, so these facts including the SR-51 (from 1999), which showed a direct link, is enough to have a new S.O.P. entered stating the toxic chemicals can cause Diabetes and those of us, who have been suffering for years, should be compensated for that condition alone, backdated to when claims were first sent to DVA by each person suffering diabetes!
