KTVN Channel 2 - Reno Tahoe News Weather, Video - Agent Orange Still Affecting Vietnam Veterans Decades Later
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"There was skin cancer; he had esophageal cancer - they had to remove part of his esophagus; stomach cancer - they had to remove part of his stomach," said Beauregard's wife Betty Lazaro. "Tumor behind his eye; tumor in his lung." During the Vietnam war U.S. forces sprayed a defoliant in the jungle called Agent Orange. Thousands like Beauregard were exposed but most didn't get sick for years. "As you get older it progresses and certain ailments develop - cancers, a lot of people have accelerated diabetes," points out Vietnam Veteran Richard Shuster. "A lot of people have respiratory problems, it takes time." They say 250,000 people have already died from exposure to Agent Orange. And they estimate another half-million men and women who served in the military will die as well. And research now shows exposure to Agent Orange is also causing birth defects in the children of Vietnam vets. "They have evidence that children born with spina bifida and stuff to the veterans who came back from Vietnam was a direct result of that exposure," said Shuster. Ken Beauregard's wife Betty says even though he fought Agent Orange related diseases for 12 years, he never regretted serving his nation,
While in the U.S. Army Ken Beauregard served three tours of duty in Vietnam. 60,000 Americans died in combat there but Beauregard made it home.
Still, it's because of his time in Vietnam that this 66-year-old died last month after battling 50 different cancers.
