He was willing to die for his country and now gets lost a mile from home

January 17, 2011 posted by Denise Nichols:

From the Fay Observer an excellent article. We are reposting this article at Veterans Today to be sure all see one of the worse case examples of what happens when these veterans have Gulf War Illness and other undiagnoseable type conditions.

The veterans of the Gulf War 1990-91 need the best not the delay and denial that thousands have experienced!

The 20 year anniversary for a large portion of them is another of many days that is hard to deal with because their war after the war has not ended.

Published: 04:58 AM, Mon Jan 17, 2011

Mystery illness upends lives of soldier, family

By Greg Barnes, Sunday editor:

The disease began to present itself about two years ago. A little memory loss, a slight hand twitch. Karin Harriss barely noticed the changes in her husband, Chris, a chief warrant officer 2 at Fort Bragg.

Karin put a basket beside the door leading to the garage so Chris could easily remember where he placed his car keys. That was the only concession, way back when, to the disease that would soon steal her husband’s Army career and his ability to do tasks as simple as walk up stairs.

After visits to about 20 different doctors, Chris still isn’t sure what is robbing him of his memory, his speech and his mobility.

Karin said doctors initially told her he suffers from conversion disorder, a physical condition caused by a stressful event. Then came a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, followed by Lyme disease, and, in October, the scariest diagnosis of all – Fahr’s syndrome.

Fahr’s is a rare disorder characterized by abnormal calcium deposits in different regions of the brain that control movement. Symptoms of the disorder may include deterioration of motor function, dementia, seizures, headache, speech problems, stiff limbs, spastic paralysis and eye impairments.

At age 35, Chris Harriss already suffers from many of those symptoms. ”It’s like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and ALS all at the same time,” his wife said. The prognosis is equally terrifying. There is no known cure or standard course of treatment for Fahr’s syndrome, a degenerative disease.

But the Harrisses – and some of their doctors – refuse to give up hope ... Read more>>