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Gerard Darren Matthew, served in Operation Iraqi Freedom from April to September 2003 as a part of 719th Transportation Co. It was during his deployment to Iraq that he believes he was exposed to depleted uranium.
My name is Specialist Gerard Darren Matthew an Iraqi war veteran and a sick soldier.
I am a member of the 719 Transportation Company from Harlem, New York. My unit got deployed in January 2003 and arrived in country in April. Our mission entailed driving in and around Kuwait and Iraq. Some of the problems we had were faulty equipment and radio malfunctions across the border, navigation system burnouts due to the high heat. Also truck break downs due to the heat and desert terain.
Aside from our job obligations I had some health problems while I was there. The symptoms were facial swelling, blurred vision and cronic migraines. I encountered these problems out there but I thought it was due to the high heat. But, it wasn't till I came home on emergency leave in late July. I realized there may be something more to my illnesses. I wentback to the war and continued my mission with my illnesses where I continued carrying out mission with transporting blown up equipment. Which the military called "retro items."
As time went on I was advised by my platoon sergeant to go to the dr. concerning my illnesses. The doctors then query about my illnesses and I was medevact to Germany in early September. While in Germany I was reevaluated for the same symptoms and given an abundance of medicaton to alleviate my illnesses. It was at that time that I realized something was really wrong with me becuase I began to get about 7-10 headaches a day. Which caused me to urinate on myself and get cold sweats. I was then med evacted to Walter Reed Medical Center to be reevaluated and to get an MRI. After further evaluations I was told to take continuous medications to alleviate my illnesses. As time went on I was transfered to Fort Dix New Jersey where I did follow up care with my primary care physician.
During my stay at Fort Dix I was informed by my wife that I was pregnant. But, I continued my treatments and went frequent visits to my home. It was not until March 2004 that I found out that my wife was pregnant with a child with a birth defect. Still no cure to my illnesses and frequent visits to doctors concerning my daughter.
My doctors and I were concerned that I may have been exposed to something that may have attributed tomy daughters birth defect during that whole time. There was an issue raised in reference to the 442 military police unit being exposed to depleted uranium and they were getting tested. I told the reporter from the daily news Juan Gonzalez that my child had a birth defect and she was missing 4 fingers and the illnesses and symptom s I wa s having as well. Being that I was so concerned the Daily News offered to test me for depleted uranium with my urine speciman. At the same time I was getting tested at Fort Dix for the same thing. As time went on I paid it no mind. I figured no news was good news. I got out of the active component still with the same symptoms. I never paid any mind to the results.
It was not until Sept. 20, 2004 that I started paying attention to my results. After recieving a phone call from Juan Gonzalez and a copy of the results from Germany where the test had been conducted.That I realized that I was exposed to Depleted Uranium and after further research and finding my results from Fort Dix. The military claimed they had no results or speciman on file. Yet they had my questioniare form in detail that is supposed to follow the speciman to it's testing site. After further investigation and research it is dubbed that my child had a birth defect due to the exposure of her father myself to Depleted Uranium.
The military to this day wants me to partake to a urine collection again and I feel I shouldn't because they are not acknowledging that my exposure caused my child to have a birth defect. The military gives us insurance stating they will help our families. But, what happens to my daughter when she is going to need to help for the rest of her life.
I could only hope and pray that no one has to go through what I have gone through.
Questions I ask myself is what if I die who is going to take care of my family? Since depleted uranium can cause cancer, kidney failure and alot of respitory illnesses. Please refer to the article dated Sept. 29, 2004 NY Daily News. If you are a soldier that has a child with a birth defect from the initial Gulf War or this one, please contact me.
If you enjoyed reading Gerard' s story and would like continue to read more of such stories, plese help us by contributing to Operation Truth. Click here to donate. To arrange an interview with Gerard, contact press[at]iava.org.
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