Barrie, now 43, says his health has been on a slippery decline ever since. In 1995, doctors found his abdominal pain was caused by his own antibodies attacking his stomach lining. In 1996, a surgeon removed a bone tumor from his foot. In 1997, he was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease and had bone spurs removed from his shoulder. His fourth and fifth vertebrae are thinning, exposing nerve endings and causing numbness and tingling in his right arm.
Doctors say the muscle pain is a disorder known as fibromyalgia.
The pain in his sides is chronic bronchitis. I haven't asked for help. But I need a little help. Barrie says he left Rocky Flats in 1989 for a machinist job in Craig, Colo., because he thought stress might be causing his frequent vomiting at work. About five years later, a doctor expressed surprise that Barrie had the stomach disease called chronic atrophic gastritis, usually found in the elderly.