Comment on Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals; New (21-0960a-c); 2010-14316; James Chester Corbett

I am a Vietnam veteran who was diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer in 2005 and was subsequently diagnosed with hairy cell leukemia in April 2007, but did not file a compensation claim with the VA until August of 2009 when I read that Secretary Shinseki was proposing to add the three new diseases to the Agent Orange Presumptive List. My claim is still pending 10 months later, awaiting implementation of the new regulation which could be September or October of this year or later. Anything that could speed up the process would be welcomed by me. I see my oncologist every 90 days for the hairy cell leukemia and I know he would be willing to complete the hairy cell leukemia questionnaire that the notice proposes to implement. He gives me copies of all my many blood tests over the past 3 plus years and I would think he would be willing to spend 15 minutes completing the questionnaire. I have had no complaints about the processing of my claim thus far and the VA Regional Office handling my claim (Augusta, Maine) has kept me up to date on its status. I am trying hard to be patient and reading about these three proposed questionnaires and how they could speed up the process is good news to me and I would guess good news to thousands of other veterans. I did not file a claim when diagnosed for prostate cancer in 2005 because I didn’t consider the side effects of the treatment to be disabling, but now that I have hairy cell leukemia, an incurable disease, I saw no reason not to file a claim. All veterans who have been diagnosed with one of these three diseases should file a claim.