A local Vietnam veteran says contaminated water at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, ruined his life.
Alex Morales says the government knew about the contamination but kept quiet for years.
Morales says he was stationed at Camp Lajeune in 1970. But in 2005, he says his life took a turn for the worse when his health started to dwindle.
He blames the base's contaminated water, as his kidneys now operate at only 36 percent.
"My frustration is, they never did told me," said Alex Morales. "Now I'm going through it, I've been suffering for six years now and it's going little by little and I'm tired."
Morales says he's been seen by more than 100 doctors and prescribed countless amounts of prescriptions.
"What I'm going through right now is my kidney's are down to 36 percent, they went down pretty fast," said Morales. "My liver is like I've been an alocholic all my life or maybe done drugs all my life."
Two years ago, Morales was diagnosed with Vasculitis.
"There's no cure for Vasculitis," Morales said. "The only way to put it in the dorment stage is using chemotherapy becuase it's similar to cancer."
Morales says after days of research, he believes the direct link to his illness is contaminated water.
"I drank the water, showered, just like everyone else," Morales continued.
In 1970, Morales says he was stationed at Camp Lejeune, where he lived next to a water treatment facility.
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, from the 1950's through the 1980's, people living at the camp were potentially exposed to contaminated water from nearby wells.
"They didn't send anything out," said Morales. "If they were to send something out to me, I would have known right now what to tell my doctor and maybe I would have had a chance."
Under a law signed last year, veterans and family members who served an active duty at Camp Lajeune for 30 days or more, may be eligible for medical care through Veterans Affairs for 15 health conditions, inclding multiple types of cancer.
"The more this issue gets coverage and more people become aware of it, I suspect we will see more people," said Dick Taylor with the Kern County Veterans Service Department.
Taylor says so far, the department has seen about a dozen local cases surrounding contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
The contaminated wells were shut down in 1985.
Studies are currently being conducted to determine the causes of death among people who lived in Camp Lejeune.
Results are expected sometime this year.
