DA candidate's life colored by Agent Orange

Thousands of Vietnam vets have contracted cancer for their country, but only one is running for district attorney.

On the campaign trail, Robert Brewer, 67, has been advised to talk about his decorated tour as an Army Ranger in Vietnam.

What’s more complicated to bring up, at least as an up-tempo talking point, is that Brewer was grievously wounded 27 years after leaving the battlefield. His purple heart, you might say, came late.

The growth on the back of his head was first spotted by Blue Fogg, a legendary downtown barber. Then an opposing attorney walked by Brewer in court and said, “What the hell is that on your head?”

Brewer was lucky. He had never been hit by the Viet Cong. In 1997, however, a malignant mine, planted by U.S. planes, exploded on his skull.

After a battery of tests, he received chemo on Fridays, recuperating over the weekend at the family’s Julian cabin before returning to work as the managing partner of a law firm. He would lose all his hair and turn yellow.

During his second round of chemo, his oncologist, Dr. William Stanton, asked him to tell the story of his life. When Brewer got to Vietnam, Stanton revealed that he’d served in a large field hospital near Saigon.

Suddenly, this rare manifestation of non-Hodgkin lymphoma made sense.

Had Brewer fought in zones defoliated by Agent Orange? All the time, Brewer answered. Despite the “stench of death,” it’s where troops felt safe.

“Now I know where you got it,” Stanton said.

While Brewer was training Vietnamese airborne forces, a fragment of Agent Orange had entered his head and lain dormant for 27 years, Stanton surmised. And then, bam!

Brewer was lucky again. The tumor had not metastasized. After chemo and radiation treatments, his hair grew back. His normal complexion returned. He was a survivor and grateful cheerleader for the American Cancer Society.

About a year ago, Brewer decided he wanted to run against incumbent DA Bonnie Dumanis. He went to Stanton and asked him what he thought.

This was the doctor who at one point had said that, if he were in Brewer’s surgical gown, “I’d put my affairs in order.”

Beaming with pleasure, Stanton said Brewer was good to run — and pledged a donation.

This is going to be a tough DA race, the kind of meat-grinder we’ve seen every decade or so. Once the San Diego oxygen-sucking mayoral sprint is over, attention will shift to the countywide cage fight.

For one candidate, his youthful role in the losing fight against the VC may get a spotlight, but his defeat of the Big Orange C, and the humility it naturally brought, strikes me as a greater talking point.

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Final Huge Batch of Clambake Pictures....

I realize that most of you won't care about these pics, but posting them for our buddies who attended the festivities!

Tracing Sickness Back to Vietnam War

I'm one of those people who reads obituaries. I zone in on ages and wonder what caused the death of those who are in their 50s or 60s. Since my brother died of prostate cancer in his 50s as a result of his exposure to Agent Orange in the Vietnam War, I'm particularly interested in whether the person died of cancer and, if so, was it due to exposure to Agent Orange.

Hopefully, this letter will reach the families of those whose deaths were due to illnesses that resulted from exposure to Agent Orange. There is an "In Memory Honor Roll" that contains the names of Vietnam veterans whose deaths were due to this exposure.

On April 18, 2011, I attended a ceremony in Washington, D.C. in which my brother, Gregory Patrick Russell, was inducted, along with 92 others, into the "In Memory Honor Roll." To be an honoree, one must have served in the military in Vietnam. The veteran must have died of a disease or committed suicide that was traceable to the time spent there and his or her death does not meet the Department of Defense's criteria for being added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial ("The Wall"). There are more than 2,100 people on the honor roll and 58,000-plus names etched into the black granite wall.

Greg's disease was prostate cancer that was traced to exposure to Agent Orange. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in Bennington, Vt. He served in Vietnam in 1970-1971. Greg never complained and enjoyed life to the fullest even though his disease spread and riddled his body with sores and pain. He lost the battle on Thanksgiving Day, 2010, when his body could no longer overcome pneumonia and kidney problems.

If you have a loved one who was in Vietnam and died due to complications from exposure to Agent Orange or other causes attributed to being in Vietnam, fill out an application to have him or her added to the "In Memory Honor Roll." The ceremony gave my siblings, my sister-in-law and me yet another chance to grieve the life of this remarkable man and allowed us to meet other families who lost their loved ones, too. A description of the program and the application are on this website: http://www.vvmf.org/InMemoryProgram

I thank all the veterans for their service to our country and salute them this Veterans Day and every day.

Eileen Russell Zanarini

Milford

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Clambake/Hayride/Bonfire/Fireworks....DEAR FRIENDS & BIG FUN!

We had a BLAST yesterday.  For years, Dom and I would have a clambake this time of year.  Then, when he was diagnosed with cancer, we blew it off.  Well, we're Baaaaack!

Shooting guns, shooting pool, clams, beer, hayride, bonfire and fireworks.  It was a grand time!

Many thanks to Trisha at Crescent City Seafood Market for wonderful service and 200 perfect clams!