OPERATION PURPLE HEART : OUR MISSION

OPERATION PURPLE HEART is a real life account of soldiers that are returning from Iraq & Afghanistan with cancer. This site is for the soldiers and their families after Iraq; the hopelessness and helplessness they may sometimes feel while tucked away in a hospital somewhere across the United States. When they think, 'am I the only one?' We are responding with an answer, 'no.' And it begins with Army Captain Chaplain Fran E. Stuart.

Our report on cancer in the military follows the challenges and struggles a soldier has to undergo as they battle cancer while in the military. It is a casualty many soldiers returning from Iraq & Afghanistan are contending with, unbeknownst to the public and unacknowledged by the military. While soldiers are being exposed to a combination of the Anthrax vaccine, depleted Uranium, Burn Pits, airborne toxins and contaminated water, they face a more deadly and rapidly moving carcinogen that develops to stage IV cancers within 2 - 24 months. Most developing on the battle field.

Through these postings you will find the resources and information necessary to ease the transition from health to illness and back to health again. The resources we've discovered along the way while at Walter Reed Army Medical Center should be but aren't readily available. We hope to assist with the frustrations a civilian family may have as they enter the world of military red tape and their language: acronym's.

OPERATION PURPLE HEART puts a face on cancer in the military post deployment of Operation Iraqi Freedom & Operation Enduring Freedom, as Vietnam veteran's did twenty years later with agent orange and Desert Storm veteran's did ten years later with The Gulf War Syndrome. Only we're not waiting that long.......let the faces be seen, let the names be read, let the stories unfold and let the voices be heard now.


NAME ---- RANK ---- TOUR/TERM ---- DIAGNOSIS *Deceased in red
[to E-mail me regarding your story click on either name above, or to read some of their personal stories, visit me at The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/r-b-stuart/ ]


1. Fran E. Stuart, age 41, Army CPT. Chaplain - Kuwait 1 mth. / Iraq 11 mths. - Dysgerminoma (stage IV ovarian) 2. Charles Frenzel, age 59, Army SGT. First Class - Iraq / 8 mths. - Meningioma (non malignant brain tumor)
3. Charles E. Lewis, age ?, Army SGT. - Iraq / 12 mths. - Semanoma (stage II testicular/sperm tract)
4. Tonya Fagan, age ?, Army CPT. - Iraq / 6 mths. - Cervical cancer (stage II )
5. Frank Valentin, age 34, Army Staff SGT. - Kuwait / 24 mths. - Colon cancer (stage IV spread to lungs)
6. Gladys Lanier, age ?, Army CPT. Chaplain - Iraq / 10 mths. - Breast cancer (stage I)
7. Charles Dougherty, age ?, Army Combat Engineer - Iraq / ? mths. - Leukemia (stage ?) [WSMV News]
8. Dirk Spanton, age 50, Army Colonel - Iraq / 32 mths. - Liver cancer (stage IV spread) [AP, Bloomingotn, Ill.]
9. James H. Lauderdale, age 59, Army SGT. First Class - Kuwait / 10 wks. - Squamous Cell (mouth stage II spread to stage IV lungs, ribs, spinal column)
10. April L. Wheeler, age ?, Army SGT. - Afghanistan / 6 mths. - Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (stage ? )
11. Dustin Brim, age 22, Army SPC. - Iraq / 8 mths. - Non-Hodgekins Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma (stage IV spread)
12. Andrew Rounds, age 22, Army SPC. - Iraq / 14 mths. - Acute Myelogenous Luekemia
13. Eric Renner, age 20, Marine Specialist - U. S. Twentynine Palms Training Base / 11 mths. - Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (stage ? spread)
14. Ryan Oyster, age 27, Marine E-6 Staff SGT. - Iraq / 4 mths. - Unknown Rare Incurable Lymphatic Cancer (stage IV spread)
15. Aron Cody Blum, age 22, Marine SGT. - Iraq / 4 mths. - Rare, Agressive Aplastic Anemia [Az. Daily Star]
16. Gregory Anton, age 34, Army E - 4 - Iraq / 12 mths. - Colon Cancer (stage III)
17. Anna, age ?, Air National Guard - Iraq / 4 mths. - Non-Hodgekins Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma (stage IAE)18. Joshua Fitzwater, age 25, Air Force? SGT. - Iraq / 16 mths. - Hepatoid Adenocarcinoma (stage ?)
19. T. Bauman, age ?, Rank ? - Iraq / ? mths. - Non-Hodgekins Lymphoma (stage ? )
20. Carmelo Rodriguez, age 29, Marine SGT. - Iraq / ? mths. - Melanoma (stage IV) [CBS News]
21. Steven G. Ochs, age 32, Army Staff SGT. - Iraq-Afghanistan / 39 mths. - Acute Myeloid Leukemia (stage IV)
22. Matthew Bumpus, age 32, Army Staff SGT. - Iraq / 12 mths. - Acute Myeloid Leukemia (stage IV)
23. Christopher Sachs, age 36, Army SGT. - Iraq / 12 mths. - Acute Myeloid Leukemia (stage IV)
24. Joshua Barber, age 31, Marine / Law Enforcement - Iraq / ? mths. - Acute Myeloid Leukemia
25. Travis Bromfield, age 25, Army SPC. / Mechanic - Iraq / 6 mths. Neuroendocrine Carcinoma (stage IV)
26. Larry Roberta, age 44, Army National Guard SPC. - Iraq / 5 mths. - Lung/stomach disease [AP]
27. James Gentry, age ?, Army National Guard Lt. Col. - Iraq / ? mths. - Lung Cancer (stage IV) [AP]
28. David Moore, age 42, Army Nationa Guard 1st SGT. - Iraq / ? mths. - Lung Disease [AP]
29. Nicholas Thomas, age 21, Army National Guard SGT. - Iraq / ? mths. - Leukemia [The Oregonian]
30.



Since unexplained illnesses first began with Gulf War vet's....and it's ending horrifically with Operation Iraqi Freedom vet's. OPERATION PURPLE HEART will be incorporating DESERT STORM/SHEILD Veteran's to this site.

It appears many Desert Storm vet's have returned with Gulf War Syndrome and unexplained illnesses, and have unintentionally passed disease and illness along to their wives via sperm. The beginnings of this syndrome has now progressed from Desert Storm vet's passing on cancer and illness to their offspring post the Gulf War....and 10 years later OIF & OAF soldiers returning with cancer themselves. Below will be another list of names of soldiers with offspring diagnosed with cancer, other diseases and illnesses.

Thank you so very much for all of the suffering you've gone though for our country. I hope to make it known that it's our turn to give back to the soldiers, the veteran's, who have battled for us ill informed of the full consequences of their military dedication, while fighting in someone else's war, and continuing to fight their own battles....alone.

NAME --- RANK --- TOUR/TERM --- ONSET OF ILLNESS --- OFFSPRING (age, onset, diag.)

1. Darren Barnett, Marine E - 3 Lance Corp. - Kuwait / 6 mths. (10/1990 - 4/1991) - Gulf War Syndrome - Three offspring post-deployment: Son, born 1993 / Diag. age 5 with Nueroblastoma (brain tumor stage IV) - Daughter, born 1994 / Diag. at birth with heart murmur - Daughter, born 2001 / Diag. at birth with heart murmur

2.