Tommy Lopez, a North Bergen resident, has been fighting to receive 100 percent disability benefits from the government for the last year.
The military discharged Lopez, 28, around 2001 for Neuro Behcet’s Disease, a disorder that makes his immune system hyperactive and causes his body to attack itself.
Since that time, he has been diagnosed with several other disorders, including an inflammation of his spinal chord last year.
Lopez receives chemotherapy from the Veterans Medical Center in East Orange, and the military pays his medical expenses.
He says he can’t work because the chemotherapy makes him feel tired and weak.
But the disability check he gets as a veteran is $1,000 a month, which he says is not enough to cover his expenses.
He said he wants full disability benefits, but only receives 50 to 60 percent.
He lives with his mother, who gets an $800 Social Security check. He said that with his sister’s help, “we can pay for stuff.”
Origins of disorder
Lopez was serving in the Marines in Japan in the late 1990s and was not involved in combat, when his immune system first began to overreact, he said.
After being discharged, Lopez worked in security at the Deutsche Bank near the fallen World Trade Center towers.
Afterward, he signed up as a security contractor with Dyncorp International, and then with Blackwater USA.
Blackwater is the controversial firm that has been in the news as a U.S. State Department contractor, providing security in Iraq and security training to law enforcement agencies.
“The government won’t give, won’t budge.”
– Tommy Lopez
________
“I did everything right,” said Lopez last week. “I was a good Marine. I was a good employee of Blackwater.”
He added, “There’s no cure. I’m a tough guy, but now it’s for the rest of my life. [I need] chemo for the rest of my life.”
Blackwater footing bill for now
Although Blackwater’s policies are often questioned in the media, Lopez said that the firm has been his main support.
In 2007, Blackwater’s doctors diagnosed Lopez with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and began giving him $2,300 every two weeks. Lopez used to earn $20,000 per month with the firm.
He spent two years with Dyncorp and another two years with Blackwater. He said that when the military awarded the security contract to Blackwater, many Dyncorp employees joined. He said that the companies are very similar.
“The best guys that I’ve worked with were with Blackwater,” said Lopez.
He said that Blackwater only chooses you if you’re good enough, while the training the Army gives in comparison is a “blanket teaching,” where you are trained for one field but thrown into another.
Lopez is concerned because Blackwater will not support Lopez forever. He said that the checks will stop once they clear him of PTSD.
Lopez said that Blackwater has offered him a job if he recovers.
“I want to be able to work,” said Lopez. “I was going to be a cop. I took the [North Bergen Police Academy] test and I passed. Everything was going to be good.”
He said that he wants to work, but due to his immune system and the medication he is on, he can barely lift his head.
Has brain lesions
Lopez was also diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis in 2007, while working for Blackwater in Iraq. The disorder caused inflammation in his spinal cord that has left him feeling weak, numb, and unable to move his left leg.
Lopez believes this disorder stems from his four years spent in Japan with the Marine Corps. He said that since 2007, his health has been getting worse, and recently an MRI showed that he has brain lesions.
“I want the military to own up,” said Lopez. “It started in the Marine Corps, and the Marine Corps should pony up.”
Although Lopez wasn’t in combat in Japan while in the Marine Corps, he said he served in a conflict for three months in East Timor, Indonesia.
He worked – along with many other military forces from other countries – as security during this time.
“They were cutting people head’s off and putting them on pegs,” said Lopez.
Regarding his benefits, he said, “It’s pretty crappy when I put my life on the line for four years.
Now I’m hurt and I’m trying to get help, and they can’t provide me with the adequate help that I need.”
Working on his behalf
Lopez said that the Military Order of the Purple Heart, along with the Jersey City Vet Center, have been trying to help him receive 100 percent disability benefits.
David Cathcart, the team leader of the Jersey City Vet Center, said that he could not comment. “I wish I could,” said Cathcart. “I’m not allowed.”
Lopez said that when he went to the VA Medical Center in East Orange to get evaluated for a pension, he was told that the decision was not up to the evaluator.
“The government won’t give, won’t budge,” said Lopez.
His experiences have changed his perceptions of the military.
“If I knew they would act so petty and low-class I would have never gone,” he said. “[To] anybody I ever loved, I’d tell you straight up, please don’t join the military.”
Comments on this story can be sent to TriciaT@hudsonreporter.com