After that time, the disability benefits were abruptly and unexpectedly stopped. After placing several calls, I was finally informed that the benefits were canceled because Bruce did not have family coverage when he retired from the Navy. This was reasonable because Bruce and I did not meet and start our family for many years later. However, the effects of his time served with the Navy would prove to impact our family in long-standing and unfortunate ways. We propose that his illness is a result of the conditions he was exposed to and lack of adequate protective equipment while operating in the grinding shop on Navy ships.
Silicosis is believed to be the cause of such pain and suffering.
My husband and I were together for 22 years and married 18 of those years. I watched him go from a vibrant, athletic, hardworking and passionate man to a man so weak that he could not make it down a flight of stairs on many days. But, because of his strong work ethic and commitment to supporting his family, he continued to work, although sometimes sporadically, at the US Postal Service until the very day this illness took his life. Doctors were constantly amazed the he was even walking, nevertheless working, under the excruciating pain and fatigue that he was experiencing. But, it was important for Bruce to try to maintain a quality of life that reflected dignity to our son.