National Guard Hears ‘Heartbreaking’ Cancer Stories

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — More than 200 people who turned out for a meeting at the 157th Air Refueling Wing heard story after story about guardsmen who died from cancer, or suffered with other health ailments after serving at the Pease Air National Guard base.
Led by Doris Brock, who lost her husband Kendall Brock, a 35-year member of the guard who died in June 2017 from bladder and prostate cancer, a group of widows and retirees have pushed the Air Force to conduct a health study because of what they believe is an unusually high number of cancers at the base.
Brodeur, who served at the base from 1975 to 1998, spent the last two years of his life going through treatment, his widow told the crowd gathered in a hangar Friday afternoon at the guard base.
But as she heard the stories, she stood up and told the crowd that doctors initially thought her husband had lung cancer.
Perreault died exactly two months after he was diagnosed, she said.
"None of the stories we will hear today are good," he said.
Brock called the stories she heard Friday "just heartbreaking."
She believes the working group and the guard must strive to move forward to form an action plan.
"I think we need that database of what they did, what years they worked, what chemicals they were exposed to and what cancers they had," she said.
___ This article is written by Jeff McMenemy from Portsmouth Herald, N.H. and was legally licensed via the Tribune Content Agency through the NewsCred publisher network.

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