I wanted to take a minute and update and thank everyone. Jolly continues to heal from surgery and adjust to life with his ileostomy. It’s been a real challenge to learn what foods he can tolerate and also stay hydrated as ileostomies put you at a significantly higher risk of dehydration. He is able to walk around a few times a day for about 5 minutes but it’s a slow process as he regains strength. He’s significantly underweight but as we find foods he is able to tolerate we’re hopeful he will start to gain weight and muscle back again. 

This Thursday he has a follow up to remove his staples- 22 of them ironically enough. He’s nervous but excited to talk with the surgeon and see how the healing process is going from his perspective. 

He tentatively has an appointment scheduled for tomorrow with a new primary care doctor at the VA but the total trip will be almost 2 hours and he isn’t able to travel that far right now so we’re trying to get him approved for community care here in town soon. 

There’s been a lot of questions as to how he got here so here’s a synopsis of the last 8 years… in 2016 he deployed on the USS Boxer. During that deployment there was a catastrophic failure and the ship took in toxic chemicals into its potable water supply. For over four months the Marines and Sailors on that ship had to bathe, drink, and be exposed to those toxins even though the ship’s command was fully aware of what was happening. Immediately upon returning home from deployment he had routine bloodwork done. They found very high white blood cell counts. Over the next 8 months he would have 3 trips to the ER for severe abdominal and testicular pain and over 2 dozen blood draws showing these elevations in his white cell counts. Finally in spring 2017 while still on active duty they did a bone marrow biopsy to try to find out what was going on. It came back inconclusive. A few months later he was discharged from the military with zero answers as to what was happening with his health. For years he was in and out of doctors, urgent care and ers when he would have these severe bouts of abdominal pain coupled with testicular pain but each time came with a different diagnosis- maybe it’s a kidney stone, maybe it’s a hernia, maybe it’s nothing. Finally in summer of 2020 after nearly a year of experiencing all the same symptoms as before but also severe rectal bleeding they did a colonoscopy. The follow up was brief and virtual because of Covid. The gastroenterologist told us it was diverticulitis but he Jolly young and it was nothing to worry about. Since then he’s been progressively getting worse and worse. In May of this year another CT showed the diverticulitis was flaring again severely. The VA prescribed a short course of antibiotics but again no answers or way forward. In July another colonoscopy but this time it was “fine”. He had an appointment with a nutritionist with the VA in August because he has struggled to gain weight and was rapidly losing strength- she told him to eat more butter, cheese and fried foods. What a joke!!! In November we made it to our new home in Virginia and 3 days later I was rushing him to the ER. This time the diverticulitis had gotten so severe it ruptured decimating his sigmoid colon resulting in surgery and ileostomy. 

We would never be here if he was adequately treated and not continually misdiagnosed. The VHA and the VBA continue to deny and downplay the seriousness of his illness and the obvious service connection. Their willful neglect has been a severe detriment to both his physical and mental wellbeing and our family has no doubt contributed greatly to his current suffering. 

In the week since I first posted this petition FOUR other Marines on that deployment have reached out expressing similar sentiments about their own health experiences and lack of care by the VA. Jolly is not the only one experiencing severe health issues due to this deployment and the continued neglect by the Department of Defense and VA to acknowledge the harm done are compounding the pain and suffering these veterans must endure. 

Together we can advocate for change, for accountability, for oversight and for justice. Jolly and every Marine and Sailor who served on that ship deserve our voices so it’s time to scream from the rooftops and demand something be done NOW!