An Idaho Falls Vietnam Veteran thought when he came home from the war his fighting days were over.
But as KIDK Newswatch 3's Abbey Gibb tells us, he's got another fight on his hands.
67-year John Szulczewski is stuck in a bitter war with Veteran Affairs Committee over his treatment of a rare disease the government won't admit they're responsible for.
And with a life expectancy of two to three years...John is fighting for his life.

In 1960 airforce staff sergeant John Szulczewski answered his country's call and ended up in the jungles of Vietnam. He made it through that tour of duty without serious injury but when back home...he was injured on a mission so secret he can't even talk about it to this day.

"I was operated on and given a body cast for six to eight months, and when I got out. I had gained 60 pounds in weight and I was taken into a hospital for weight reduction."

The military doctors put John on what they called "diet pills" and that changed his life forever.

"Just something they give ya and you don't question."

Which is why it seemed ok that even after he lost the weight...doctors kept him on the pills, called Ambar II for three years. John has always been alcohol, tobacco, and drug free and because of that he lived a healthy normal life, until five years ago.

"It became quite noticeable that things were not right."

His strength was the first to go.

"I grew fatigued, nauseated, dizzy and things started falling apart."

That condition led him to a Utah heart specialist. In his effort to explain his problem to doctors he took pictures of his feet. He showed us those pictures and pointed out the difference in his left and right foot. But the problems didn't stop there his ankles would swell so much his shoe laces would break.

"They said I had primary pulmonary hypertension which is very very rare."

So rare in fact only one or two in a million people have it. Doctor Robert Day is a PPH specialist and says there's one main way a person like John could get PPH.

"Diet drugs or stimulants."

But the only diet pills he ever took were the ones given by the government. When John contacted Veterans Affairs to find out what was in those pills...the news was astounding. The tablets contained pure methamphetamine and phenobarbital. In essence: Three times a day for three years, John took meth.

But in that same report the government denied there was any evidence "there is no medical evidence demonstrating any link between these drugs and the development of pulminary hypertension."

But John doesn't have pulmonary hypertension...he has PRIMARY pulminary hypertension...or PPH.

"Like having pneumonia and getting treated for a cold."

For the next six months there was a paper blizzard between John and the VA about the condition and when the storm cleared...the government conceded...

"The pulmonary hypertension in this veteran is most likely caused by or a result of the Ambar Two drug which contains methamphetamine."

End of story? Not by a long shot! Because it's so rare, PPH isn't even in the government's health treatment book so they compared it to the closest thing they do recognize...PH.

"People who have severe pulminary hypertension usually have two to three years to live..."

And no matter what the government wants to call it...things aren't getting better. A week before we sat down with John...he got more bad news.

"Severe nerve damage in both my hands and I got an MRI which said I had thinned blood vessels in my brain."

So what is the government doing for John? Giving him a little more than $300 a month for what they see is a 30% disability.
***
So now John is fighting the war on two fronts:
The VA says he's 30% disabled but another government agency disagrees.
The Social Security Administration has listed him 100% disabled. And for John, the issue isn't about the disease or the meth anymore but the way his case has been handled.

If you went into court and said somebody gave your kids meth for three years, they would go to jail for the rest of your life. And all these guys are saying is, 'we gave it to but so what?'"

And this is what John has to show for his four year battle with the VA: paper with no name attached and the inability to talk face to face with a VA representative...until we called the Boise Office and started asking questions. Two hours later John was talking to an official for the first time.

The VA representative asked him to resubmit his case and now John hoping someone will care enough to respond.

"I can't believe it took one little blonde. It's great."

AG: "What are you hoping out of all of this?"

"I would like to see a specialist that can possibly treat me. I know there's no permanent treatment but something to slow this down."

AG: "What are the reasons they say you can't go see a specialist?"

"I've asked to be sent to them to diagnosis it and they just ignore the question and say I'm being repetitive."

Whether he will see the specialist is still a big question in John's mind and he's hoping doctors are wrong about his two to three year life expectancy...and that when the time comes for him to face the VA...he'll have the strength for one last fight.

"Don't just throw me in the trash like you're not responsible for it. You are, meaning the military. You did this. Do something about it."

And that's John's story...
The VA may have a different one...but repeated requests for information including permission from John was met with VA policy which says they don't comment on cases.
Ironically...Senator Larry Craig, who's part of the committee on Veteran's Affairs Committee, announced recently his group is trying to cut the red tape for veterans, to make disability ratings more clear and giving veterans greater compensation.