The News-Gazette, Champaign, Illinois, August 2001

By ERNST LAMOTHE JR.

(Published Online July 29, 2001)

RANTOUL - Danne Buchanan of Rantoul walks with a noticeable limp, suffers from constant fatigue, his eyes are highly sensitive to sunlight and his body twitches. That is a far cry from the man who five years ago could run 20 miles with 60 pounds of military gear on his back. Buchanan is showing the effects of osteoporosis and Lyme disease he says he contracted in the Marine Corps in 1994.

The disease, which claims muscle and joint pain, energy loss and fevers as some of its symptoms, is spread by bites from deer ticks.

The day he was infected with Lyme started out normally.

He was out patrolling on a training mission at Fort Bragg, N.C., and Buchanan, 34, didn't notice it until he got home the next day. He saw the bite and removed the tick from his arm with tweezers. Several days later, he felt sick.

"I didn't think anything of the bite at first, but I started coming down with flu-like symptoms and something didn't feel right," Buchanan said.

The bite started as a small red circle, then spread outward, becoming white in the center and spanning five inches. He was admitted to a naval hospital and stayed for 20 days while doctors gave him antibiotics. The upper east coast is known for bouts of Lyme, but North Carolina displays only moderate cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

After the pain remained, Buchanan asked for further treatment. Instead of getting support from the military he always wanted to join, he said, the Marines turned their back on him.

"They said life could be made very difficult on me if I kept asking for any more medication," he said. "I felt like I was betrayed." Military officials did not return calls seeking comment.

Buchanan took his case to the Department of Veterans Affairs last November, seeking a chance for full disability for Lyme and degenerative arthritis to his knees, an ailment also caused from military action, according to Buchanan. The response fell well short of his expectations.

In May, the VA Ratings Board sent a letter to Buchanan assigning him a 10 percent service-connected disability rate or $101 a month.

But intravenous medicine alone for six weeks cost double that amount. Ten percent means the board agreed there was painful or limited motion of a major or group of minor joints, according to VA reports. It's the most common level of disability for veterans, with more than 853,000 people. VA reports state a 20 percent evaluation was not warranted because Buchanan didn't have two or more major or minor incapacitating joints.

The percentage given for each case is set by law depending on the injury, not the extent of the person's disability. Nationally, Lyme accounts for 114 out of 2.3 million veterans' cases, according to the VA public affairs office. Any adjustments to the rates are based on whether there are loss of limbs, veterans who need constant assistance eating and bathing or service-related injuries that render employment impossible.

Buchanan said the amount the VA gave him hardly covers the $15,000 in medical costs for more than five different medications he has taken since leaving the military. He tries to take care of the bills a little at a time, but some remain unpaid. Carl Henderson, spokesmen for the VA in Chicago, said two steps are involved in determining the disability payment. First, the organization examines the individual's service records to determine if the injury was a result of active duty. Then the ex-soldier undergoes examination by VA doctors on the extent of the injury. Though Henderson wouldn't talk directly about Buchanan's case, he said the system is as objective as possible. Henderson said the evaluation never takes liability - whether the soldier caused the illness - into account and only focuses on giving veterans benefits for service-related injuries.

Through outpatient treatment reports, his service medical records from May 20, 1994, to Feb. 2, 1999, and VA examinations, Buchanan received the 10 percent compensation for Lyme, but the department rejected his arguments of adjustment disorder and arthritis. The military claims the knee injury is not service-related, according to the ratings board.

"How many 34-year-old people complain about having osteoporosis?" Buchanan said. "How can you not see the daily weight I carried on my back in the Marines and not connect it to my bad knees?"

The department allows every veteran to request an appeal within a year of receiving the original decision by writing a letter to the appellate board. The board takes up to 205 days to reassess the appeal, according to the VA public affairs office in Washington, D.C.

Buchanan didn't appeal because he said he didn't want to go through the same process that took more than six months and possibly be disappointed again. After he received an honorable discharge on Feb. 5, 1999, Buchanan set his sights on being a cop as another way to serve his country. However, the Las Vegas police department saw his military records and he was denied a job, Buchanan said. A sudden halt for a man who thought he would be in the military for 30 years. Hungry to live out his life's dream of defending his country after reading books about soldiers' bravery in war, he began his military career in the Marine Corps on April 9, 1991. Two years later, he joined reconnaissance school.

Like the Army Rangers or the Navy Seals, Recon is voluntary and each cadet can drop out at any time. Buchanan successfully completed the nine-week course, which included a "hell week" of running six miles a day and not sleeping until "they break you," he said. Buchanan said he used his strong wide-framed body on training missions to his advantage over smaller but quicker soldiers.

"For a guy my size it was great to make it through the program because the next biggest guy to me was 190 pounds," said Buchanan, who weighed 260 pounds after graduating.

He received Good Conduct Medals and awards as a sergeant for his technical work as a leader for the Marines. But now, there are obvious signs that his ailments have taken a toll on the former commanding officer.

The 6-foot 5-inch, 300-pound man, who used to carry those 190-pound soldiers on his back during Recon missions, struggles to pick up his 5-year-old daughter Danielle, and on some days walks with a cane. More severe cases of chronic neurologic problems have placed those afflicted with Lyme into wheelchairs, according to Dr. Joyce Beitel of Carle Clinic. The summer months have become more of a painful annoyance than restful pleasure. He wears protective sunglasses to shield his eyes.

Buchanan tried not to let these obstacles stop him.

He drove trucks for Creek Carrier in Lincoln, Neb., for a couple of years, a job made more difficult because he had to drive hours without taking medication that might make him drowsy. Buchanan missed numerous days of work due to doctor appointments and sickness. He went from earning $1,000 a week to $250 because he worked so few hours.

Buchanan's next step was looking to the government for help. He went to U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Urbana, with his hopes hinging on at least getting 20 percent of disability, which would qualify him for educational funding to receive training for a new job. That would pay for him to go to school and choose another career. Matt Bisbee, press secretary for Johnson, said the office is looking into his complaint. Buchanan said waiting is the hardest part. But few things have been easy the last seven years.

"I just want a chance to prove to people how Lyme can just tear at your life, and move toward fully supporting my family," he said.

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