thedrifter
07-12-03, 01:53 PM
Vietnam vet wages new battle to raise hepatitis awareness
By Donna DeFalco ddefalco@scn1.com
STAFF WRITER
http://www.SuburbanChicagoNews.com
Bob Kolling was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1969 when he was 20 and fought with the 1st Cavalry Division during the Vietnam War. Assigned as a sniper, he was on a mission near Tay Ninh when he and his partner were hit by a machine-gun ambush.
His partner lost a thumb; Kolling lost his leg.
About two years ago, Kolling became involved in a different sort of battle. The enemy was a virus, hepatitis C, that ambushed him and almost cost him his life.
It all began when the Bolingbrook man was helping a neighbor build a deck and found a few splinters in his leg. The wounds would not stop bleeding and he began running a fever. His doctor sent him to a hematologist who ran a battery of tests, but could find nothing wrong.
Kolling remembered reading an article in the national Veterans of Foreign Wars magazine about a veteran who contracted hepatitis C in Vietnam but did not know he had the virus for 30 years. He showed the article to his hematologist and asked him to run the test for the virus.
The results were positive.
"Here it is 30 years later or more, and a lot of Vietnam veterans are being diagnosed with hepatitis (C), probably from blood transfusions or the air guns from the inoculations," Kolling said.
Kolling believes he contracted the virus from a blood transfusion he received during surgery to remove his right leg just below the hip. Prior to 1992, blood was not screened for hepatitis C.
The primary symptom was extreme fatigue, as Kolling's liver and kidneys began to shut down.
"I was so bad all last year. I was weak and had no energy," he said.
Hepatitis affects the liver, and over time it can cause health problems such as cirrhosis, or scarring of the liver, and liver cancer.
On Labor Day weekend, Kolling developed bronchial pneumonia as his body retained fluid. His skin was tinged with yellow due to jaundice, another effect of the disease. As his health rapidly deteriorated, he developed end-stage liver disease. In October, doctors said he had about three weeks to live unless he received a liver transplant.
Kolling was placed on the transplant list Nov. 1. Ten days later a donor liver was found. The surgery, which was performed on Veterans Day, took a little less than five hours, and he recovered quickly.
Creating awareness
Kolling, who retired two years ago from Lucent Technologies after 35 years as a technical writer, has taken up a new mission — making veterans aware of the dangers of hepatitis C.
He's been involved with veterans issues on the local, state and national levels for many years.
As part of his activities, he founded the Veterans Assistance Office at College of DuPage in 1972 and was a founder of the Woodridge Veterans of Foreign Wars post. He co-founded the DuPage County chapter of VietNow in 1986 and served as vice president for four years. He served on the VietNow national board for two years and was elected national treasurer for five years. He was one of the organizers of the Welcome Home Parade for Vietnam veterans held in 1986 in downtown Chicago.
At the state level, he was appointed to former Attorney General Neil Hartigan's Veterans Advocacy Division. For the Illinois Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Springfield, he served as the DuPage County coordinator.
Kolling wants to encourage people to be tested for hepatitis C and to seek treatment if they test positive.
For the national VietNow convention in May in Wisconsin, he developed and distributed a brochure informing veterans about hepatitis C.
Jacqueline Dominguez, chapter director of the Chicago-based American Liver Foundation Illinois chapter, said Kolling is helping raise awareness of hepatitis C by talking to veterans groups.
"We call it the silent epidemic because most people don't realize they have any liver disease," she said.
Getting tested
Veterans and others can send for an test kit for hepatitis C from Hoffman Estates-based Home Access Health. The test is approved by the Food and Drug Administration and the results are confidential, said Richard Quattrocchi, president and co-founder of the company.
He said veterans are disproportionately affected by hepatitis C, with an estimated 4.2 million people in the United States infected. But less than 10 percent know they have it.
"It's a slow-burn disease. It can take 20 years from the time you contract it to when you need a liver transplant. Those people who are getting sick today were infected in the 1970s," Quattrocchi said.
Kolling just wants to get the word out about the virus.
"All I want to do is try to help the veteran. It's just incredible, the feeling that you get when you get a new life. I woke up from surgery and realized how lucky I was, and it's just an amazing thing."
Contact staff writer Donna DeFalco at (630) 416-5279 or ddefalco@scn1.com.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"Support Our Soldiers"
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
United We Stand
God Bless America
*****
Were it not for the brave,
there would be no Land of the Free!
Remember our POW/MIA's
I'll never forget!
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
By Donna DeFalco ddefalco@scn1.com
STAFF WRITER
http://www.SuburbanChicagoNews.com
Bob Kolling was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1969 when he was 20 and fought with the 1st Cavalry Division during the Vietnam War. Assigned as a sniper, he was on a mission near Tay Ninh when he and his partner were hit by a machine-gun ambush.
His partner lost a thumb; Kolling lost his leg.
About two years ago, Kolling became involved in a different sort of battle. The enemy was a virus, hepatitis C, that ambushed him and almost cost him his life.
It all began when the Bolingbrook man was helping a neighbor build a deck and found a few splinters in his leg. The wounds would not stop bleeding and he began running a fever. His doctor sent him to a hematologist who ran a battery of tests, but could find nothing wrong.
Kolling remembered reading an article in the national Veterans of Foreign Wars magazine about a veteran who contracted hepatitis C in Vietnam but did not know he had the virus for 30 years. He showed the article to his hematologist and asked him to run the test for the virus.
The results were positive.
"Here it is 30 years later or more, and a lot of Vietnam veterans are being diagnosed with hepatitis (C), probably from blood transfusions or the air guns from the inoculations," Kolling said.
Kolling believes he contracted the virus from a blood transfusion he received during surgery to remove his right leg just below the hip. Prior to 1992, blood was not screened for hepatitis C.
The primary symptom was extreme fatigue, as Kolling's liver and kidneys began to shut down.
"I was so bad all last year. I was weak and had no energy," he said.
Hepatitis affects the liver, and over time it can cause health problems such as cirrhosis, or scarring of the liver, and liver cancer.
On Labor Day weekend, Kolling developed bronchial pneumonia as his body retained fluid. His skin was tinged with yellow due to jaundice, another effect of the disease. As his health rapidly deteriorated, he developed end-stage liver disease. In October, doctors said he had about three weeks to live unless he received a liver transplant.
Kolling was placed on the transplant list Nov. 1. Ten days later a donor liver was found. The surgery, which was performed on Veterans Day, took a little less than five hours, and he recovered quickly.
Creating awareness
Kolling, who retired two years ago from Lucent Technologies after 35 years as a technical writer, has taken up a new mission — making veterans aware of the dangers of hepatitis C.
He's been involved with veterans issues on the local, state and national levels for many years.
As part of his activities, he founded the Veterans Assistance Office at College of DuPage in 1972 and was a founder of the Woodridge Veterans of Foreign Wars post. He co-founded the DuPage County chapter of VietNow in 1986 and served as vice president for four years. He served on the VietNow national board for two years and was elected national treasurer for five years. He was one of the organizers of the Welcome Home Parade for Vietnam veterans held in 1986 in downtown Chicago.
At the state level, he was appointed to former Attorney General Neil Hartigan's Veterans Advocacy Division. For the Illinois Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Springfield, he served as the DuPage County coordinator.
Kolling wants to encourage people to be tested for hepatitis C and to seek treatment if they test positive.
For the national VietNow convention in May in Wisconsin, he developed and distributed a brochure informing veterans about hepatitis C.
Jacqueline Dominguez, chapter director of the Chicago-based American Liver Foundation Illinois chapter, said Kolling is helping raise awareness of hepatitis C by talking to veterans groups.
"We call it the silent epidemic because most people don't realize they have any liver disease," she said.
Getting tested
Veterans and others can send for an test kit for hepatitis C from Hoffman Estates-based Home Access Health. The test is approved by the Food and Drug Administration and the results are confidential, said Richard Quattrocchi, president and co-founder of the company.
He said veterans are disproportionately affected by hepatitis C, with an estimated 4.2 million people in the United States infected. But less than 10 percent know they have it.
"It's a slow-burn disease. It can take 20 years from the time you contract it to when you need a liver transplant. Those people who are getting sick today were infected in the 1970s," Quattrocchi said.
Kolling just wants to get the word out about the virus.
"All I want to do is try to help the veteran. It's just incredible, the feeling that you get when you get a new life. I woke up from surgery and realized how lucky I was, and it's just an amazing thing."
Contact staff writer Donna DeFalco at (630) 416-5279 or ddefalco@scn1.com.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"Support Our Soldiers"
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
United We Stand
God Bless America
*****
Were it not for the brave,
there would be no Land of the Free!
Remember our POW/MIA's
I'll never forget!
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: