Death in Family
Save Vietnam Veteran's Wife from Losing Her Special Home
Lo VE
Hello, My name is Tucker.
My father was diagnosed with lymphoma in the beginning of 2011. The VA immediately got him set up with monthly chemo sessions, check ups, and everything he needed. He did chemo sessions for six months and then the lymphoma was deemed to be in remission. He was slowly recovering and getting back to his old self again. However, about a week before he passed away, he was experiencing a lot of pain in his sides and couldn't sit up. Then the yellow appeared in his eyes and he was kind of loopy. My mother took him to the hospital and at first they were not sure what was causing everything. He was transferred to a larger hospital and they discovered that his liver and then his kidneys were failing.
They believe the kidney/liver failure was due to HEP B. My father was a disabled Vietnam Veteran. In Vietnam, he lost his right arm and leg due to his personnel carrier going over a landmine. He had to have numerous blood transfusions done and during the Vietnam era, they did not test blood like they do today, so from that he got HEP B. Unfortunately, it laid dormant in his system and was reactivated by a chemical in the chemotherapy and then attacked his liver/kidneys. So, in the end, Vietnam still took his life.
Knowing he was older and the main source of income to the family, he had life insurance equalling 125,000. This would allow my mom to pay down the house, take care of whatever expenses and still have some to invest, etc. However, the insurance company claimed (and showed us) that he signed off on several documents that had his birthday being ten years younger than what he was. We believe this was an error on their part as even his driver's license and ss card have his actual birthdate on it. However, they only gave her 40,000 of the original 125,000. This just isn't enough to pay a chunk on the house so that it can get refinanced (which would lower the payments) and take care of other expenses.
Like I said in my video, my father had our house built for us as a surprise ten years ago. Before that we lived in a small apartment and my sister and I shared a bedroom. The apartment was crowded and my father wanted us to have a house. We got out of school one day and instead of going to our apartment he took us to our new home. It was amazing. We all had our own bedrooms and they were furnished and decorated with our favorite things and colors. My room was yellow and had a dinosaur/jurassic theme as I loved (and still do) dinosuars. My sister's room was purple with penguin decorations. The whole house was decorated and it was perfect. Every time I come home to visit on leave, as soon as I walk in the door, everything is so much better. It's home and I want to keep it that way.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. And thank you in advance for any contribution, even if it is just sharing this story with others.
