Family Wins Care For Airman At Walter Reed -- Mother Suspects Either Vaccine Shots Or Service In Gulf Caused His Illness

By David Castellon

Air Force Times

August 21, 2000

Tracy Colosimo doesn't know what caused her husband's illness. She does know that the tireless efforts of the family of Senior Airman Thomas J. Colosimo to have him sent to Walter Reed Army Medical Center for treatment finally have brought success.

And she says what should have been a mercy flight Aug. 8 for her husband seemed more like the bum's rush to avoid media attention by officials at Hill Air Force Base, Utah.

Her husband may not return to Hill, and she is faced with preparing for a move without knowing when she'll see him again.

Colosimo began suffering dizziness and tunnel vision during a deployment to Kuwait in December, said his mother, Gloria Graham. His problems worsened after his return in March, to include chronic fatigue and blackouts in which he stopped breathing and had to be hospitalized.

The 28-year-old airman also has lost 50 pounds, can't tolerate direct sunlight and can do little physical activity, said his wife, Tracy Colosimo. It's a far cry from the man who was "in awesome shape" from working out five times a week.

Colosimo may have contracted his illness during his eight deployments to the Persian Gulf since 1991, Graham said. But military doctors don't know how it may have happened, as is the case with other military members who came back from the Gulf region with the mysterious illness.

Graham also believes it's possible that her son is suffering severe reactions to anthrax vaccination shots. He received his fourth shot before his Dec. 7 deployment to Kuwait.

Graham added that her son hasn't been able to work since March and spent months sitting in his base shop because co-workers didn't want to risk him passing out on the job and hurting himself. In recent weeks, his unit stopped having him come to work.

Earlier this year, Graham and her husband contacted Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., and requested he put pressure on the Air Force, an effort she says got Colosimo a waiver from his fifth anthrax vaccination.

She said Peterson also got the Air Force to send her son to Walter Reed in Washington, D.C., for the first time, from March 27 to May 10, where doctors controlled his potentially deadly respiratory arrests and diagnosed Colosimo as having Gulf War illness.

Graham said the base clinic at Hill Air Force Base didn't provide her son sufficient medical care upon his return, however, causing his blackouts to return.

"He's not getting his lab work done, he's not getting his medications adjusted," and some doctors seemed out of their element dealing with his health problems, Graham said in an Aug. 7 interview, a few hours before she learned her son would return to Walter Reed.

Health officials at Hill said they are sympathetic to the family's concerns, but the level of care always was appropriate.

"I know it's been frustrating for the family as we've gone through some of the processes for Airman Colosimo," said Dr. (Col.) James Laub, commander of the 75th Medical Group. "We were concerned right with the family."

He said Colosimo was seen by several base doctors and civilian specialists in Northern Utah, but they didn't have the benefit of working together as a team as do the Walter Reed doctors who regularly treat people diagnosed with Gulf War illness.

Colosimo's family "wanted a lot of things that competent medical people didn't agree with at the time," Laub said. "I could stand up and say while his standard of medical care was adequate, it was not as optimal as what is offered at Walter Reed."

That is why he worked to get Colosimo sent to Water Reed -- a decision that he said had nothing to do with congressional pressure from Peterson or media interest -- but it took time, Laub said.

Tracy Colosimo isn't convinced of that.

Her worries weren't relieved as she waited Aug. 8 for her husband to board the C-9 Skytrain that would take him to Washington, D.C. "He didn't have time to make arrangements. He didn't even get to say goodbye to everybody he knows," Tracy said of her husband, who had less than a day's notice that he was leaving. "We had a meeting [Aug. 7 with base medical officials], and they kind of took us by surprise and said they were flying him out today."

To make matters worse, Colosimo said, Hill officials told her she could join her husband on the medical evacuation flight, but they wouldn't pay for food or lodging upon arrival. She could not afford to pay those costs.

"It may be weeks before I can see him," she said.

Graham, who was visiting from Pennsylvania, accompanied Colosimo on the flight.

Colosimo, a nondestructive inspection journeyman with the 388th Maintenance Squadron at Hill, declined to be interviewed.

His unit's first sergeant, Senior Master Sgt. Allen Niksich, said that when Colosimo was treated at Walter Reed earlier, two Air Force charities covered his wife's expenses so she could accompany him for three weeks.

But units can't provide that sort of help and charities don't always have the resources, Niksich said. "We can do the best we can for them, but we can't necessarily do everything for the family."

Tracy Colosimo said she believes the rush to move her husband was because Hill officials were "trying to get rid of him -- washing their hands of him" -- after Graham gained national media attention by picketing Aug. 4 at an Air Force recruiting office in Jamestown, N.Y., the closest one to her home in Sugar Grove, Penn. She carried a sign reading "Air Force. Stop Abandoning Gulf War Vets."

An article about the incident has been circulated widely via the Internet by groups that oppose the military's mandatory anthrax vaccination program.

Hill officials seemed surprised at Tracy Colosimo's accusation.

After all, the family pushed hard to have Colosimo sent quickly to Walter Reed, they said.

"I admit, it seems a little 11th hour," Laub said of the move to Washington. But he began working on having Colosimo transferred to the patient squadron at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., after a medical review board decided in late July not to give the senior airman a medical discharge.

"It took longer than originally planned," Laub said, so he opted to send Colosimo to Walter Reed on a temporary duty assignment.

Laub said he could have delayed the trip a week, but after Colosimo and his family discussed the matter, "they expressed to me that while the inconvenience of the rapid transfer was there ... they would prefer to get him back there and get him on his treatment."

But Tracy Colosimo saw it differently: "His leaving today was pretty much non-negotiable. When [Thomas] said he'd think about it, they said, 'No. You don't understand. What's negotiable is whether your wife goes with you.'"

Her plight is further complicated because Hill officials are not giving her a clear idea of what happens next, she said.

"Tom's definitely not coming back here. They told us that," Tracy Colosimo said. "Then they're waiting for [a transfer] to Andrews, but it's not a hundred percent sure the orders are coming through."

For the time being, she will begin packing the couple's belongings and making other arrangements for a move she's not sure is coming, she said. "I've never done that before. This is my first military move."

But her uncertainty is unwarranted, Laub said. Thomas Colosimo definitely will transfer to Andrews, but the final orders will take at least two weeks. In the meantime, Hill's family support office will help arrange the move and members of the 388th have volunteered to help with packing and other arrangements, Niksich said.

"It will be very smooth for her," he said.