enlarge David Leaming/Blethen Maine News Service

Ron Currie, who was a firefighter in Waterville for 30 years, started getting sick about a year ago. He was diagnosed with lung cancer, apparently linked to Agent Orange exposure during his Vietnam War service from 1969 to 1971.

AGENT ORANGE

Agent Orange is a herbicide that was used in Vietnam to kill plants and to remove leaves from trees that otherwise provided cover for the enemy.

The name came from the orange stripe on each 55-gallon drum in which it was stored.

Other herbicides, including Agent White and Agent Blue, were used in Vietnam.

The U.S. military used more than 19 million gallons of herbicides for defoliation and crop destruction on 6 million acres in South Vietnam between 1961 and 1971.

The ingredients produced a mixture of chemicals called TCDD, commonly known as dioxin, a carcinogen.

In 1991, Congress passed a law authorizing priority "health care services" to Vietnam veterans with conditions possibly related to Agent Orange exposure.

Source: Department of Veterans Affairs

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Waterville Fire Department

c/o The Firefighters Benevolent Association

7 College Ave.

Waterville, ME 04901

In many ways, Currie, 57, is still the strong, confident and determined man he always was.

But the career firefighter and Vietnam veteran is tired. Tired from months of cancer treatment, tired from cancer surgeries, and tired of being tired all the time.

"I have lung cancer -- it's non small cell lung carcinoma," he said.

Was he a smoker?

Yes.

Was smoking the cause of the cancer that since has spread around his body?

No, his wife said.

"Agent Orange," Barbara Currie said. "He was in Vietnam for two years, and that's what they've determined."

The Curries said they learned of the cause when he was diagnosed about a year ago.

"I was in Vietnam late '69, '70 and part of '71," Currie said. "I was on river patrol and they sprayed both sides of the river banks extensively while we were there."

He said the Department of Veterans Affairs authorized payment for all medical expenses because of the apparent Agent Orange connection.

"We finally got them to agree to pay for his treatments and anything to do with the cancer because they are the ones that determined it was the Agent Orange," Barbara Currie said.

Currie joined the military straight out of Waterville High School. After that, he was a firefighter for the city of Waterville, full- time and part-time, for 30 years.

Currie said he started getting sick a year ago, coughing up blood.

"That's when I found out," he said.

Treatments started with radiation and chemotherapy for six weeks. In November, doctors removed his left lung, where the cancer started.

"After the surgery everything looked pretty good for a while -- a couple of months -- then lymph nodes started to show cancer again," Currie said. "In January they found some more."

Currie had new cancer outbreaks in his neck, under his left arm, in his pancreas and in his liver. He has been going to the Dana- Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

"I feel weak, tired," he said. "I'm going to have surgery on the 31st of August to remove a tumor in my neck."

Barbara Currie said her husband was getting cancer treatments up until last week, but tests showed the cancer was spreading and the tumor was growing, having doubled in size since June.

The Curries said they don't know whether the surgery is going to halt the progress of the cancer. There is sure to be more treatment after surgery, they said.

"The surgeon feels comfortable taking it out and giving me some time," he said. "We'll have to wait and see. ... All of the chemotherapy is really wiping me out."

While the Department of Veterans Affairs is paying for the medical procedures because of the Agent Orange, the Curries still have lodging and meals to pay for while he is in the hospital.

"We pay for our stay there, and we pay for our gas," Barbara Currie said. "They don't pay for any of that."

That is where their friends in fire departments come in, said a former Fairfield firefighter and Currie family friend, Gary Michaud.

Firefighters will be setting up "boots" for donations for the Curries when the State Fire Convention comes to Winslow next month, he said.

"We will put a boot in separate locations and for different events all over town," Michaud said. "I'd like to get out four or five, but there will be at least one boot for sure."

Michaud and Waterville firefighter Scott Holst also said donations can be made through the Waterville Fire Department and at the Maine State Federal Credit Union on Elm Street in Waterville.

Holst said he has known Currie for 22 years.

"He's a fighter, he's not giving up," Holst said.

Michaud agreed. "He's put up quite a battle -- he's fighting hard, he really is, but his surgery is going to be quite extensive, and they're about out of money," he said....