Semper Fi: Always Faithful | Blog

Inspiration for Semper Fi: Always Faithful

2011-04-15T00:00:00Z

Originally published in the Huffington Post.

Serendipity is often the starting point for documentary films and this was certainly the case with my film Semper Fi: Always Faithful. Nearly four years ago, my Co-Director Tony Hardmon and I were researching a documentary film about an innovative public health program when we met the sister of a man named Jerry Ensminger. She told us that her brother was in the process of exposing water contamination at a Marine Corps Base and she was looking for filmmakers to document it. We were skeptical but she laid out this incredible story of intrigue, heartbreak and betrayal. It piqued our interest enough that we showed up in Washington, DC two weeks later and met a gruff retired Marine on the mission of his life.

Jerry Ensminger (Janey)

2011-12-07T03:23:09Z

It was late spring 1983 and my then six year old daughter Janey was diagnosed with Strep throat, the doctor prescribed antibiotics as a treatment. The only problem was that the antibiotics didn’t seem to work, Janey’s strep throat persisted for nearly a month and a half and each time we took her back to the Naval hospital the doctors would prescribe a different antibiotic. On a very hot Sunday afternoon in July 1983 Janey developed a very high fever, the standard fever reducing analgesics weren’t working, so I took off Janey’s shirt to place cold compresses on her torso. It was then that I noticed little blemishes under her skin which resembled small hickies and they were all over her torso. This was a new and frightening development and I immediately put Janey in the car and took her to the base hospital’s urgent care clinic.

Mike Partain

2011-12-07T03:28:49Z

For the first thirty-nine years of my life Camp Lejeune was nothing more to me than a faded name printed on my birth certificate. We are a Marine family. My father is a Naval Academy Graduate and served in the Marine Corps as an officer. My grandfather retired in 1961 as a major in the Marine Corps.

This all changed in April of 2007 after my wife gave me a hug before bed one night. As she did, her hand came across a curious bump situated above my right nipple. There was no pain but if felt very odd. At first, I dismissed the bump as a cyst that would go away, but after a few weeks it persisted. My wife then insisted that I go see our family doctor. As I sat in the waiting room waiting for my doctor I was not worried. The idea of cancer never entered my mind. Why should it? I do not drink, I do not smoke, nor have I ever abused drugs. I thought I was a healthy 39-year-old man. Doctor Perry came into the room and looked me over. He advised that he wanted me to have a mammogram. I paused and asked him to repeat his request as a tinge of fear spread down my spine. He told me that he was unsure what the bump was and it had best be safe to have it checked. I felt reassured and made the appointment for the following week.

Jim Fontella

2011-12-07T03:33:01Z

My name is Jim Fontella. I'm a former Marine and I am one of the seventy-three men diagnosed with male breast cancer after being exposed to the contaminated drinking water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (MCBCL). I was stationed at Lejeune from February of 1966 through April of 1967. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998 at the age of 52. A year and a half later, the cancer spread to my cervical spine, destroying my C2 vertebrae and breaking it in two places. My oncologist said that my future was grim, informing me that most people only live one to two years after the cancer metastasizes. In December of 2008 Mike Partain contacted me and told me that I was the eighth person he found that was stationed on the base and had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Even though we were only 8, I still felt this was unusual.

Gerald & Jo Cottom

2011-12-07T03:34:53Z

Between September, 1969 and February, 1972, Gerald was in the Marine Corps, stationed at Camp Lejeune. My son Bryan and I also lived at Camp Lejeune in base housing, and our daughter Melissa was conceived there in 1972.

In January of 2008, Gerald was diagnosed with stage IV renal cell carcinoma of the right kidney with mets to the bone. In January and February of 2008 he received 18 radiation treatments to the sacral area to relieve bone pain, and in March 2008 he had a right nephrectomy to remove a very large tumor and the kidney. Later that year he had to have a pacemaker placed due to heart bradycardia that was possibly caused by the side affects of chemotherapy. He was on chemo for three years, until April 2011 when we were told that the cancer had continued to spread. It was now in his liver and lungs, and another round of treatment was necessary to try to slow the growth. In August 2011, Gerald became very ill and with further testing it was found that he had gallstones and his gallbladder had to be removed. Many complications followed that surgery with breathing issues caused by the lung cancer and fluid build-up due to only having one kidney. Gerald died on September 8, 2011 from complications of his renal cell carcinoma.

David Bedworth

2011-12-07T03:28:49Z

In the fall of 2005, I went to see an oncologist in St. Petersburg, Florida. I was recovering from prostate cancer surgery and had just been diagnosed with a grade II brain tumor in my right frontal lobe. As both cancers were primary, I asked the oncologist if it was common for people to be diagnosed with two primary cancers in such a short period of time. He said that it was rare, but possible if the underlying cause of the disease was related to environmental or genetic factors.

Peter Devereaux

2011-12-07T03:28:49Z

My name is Peter Devereaux. I live in North Andover, Massachusetts and I am currently 48 years old. I am one of the 73 men from Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in North Carolina with male breast cancer. This is one of the bases I served at while I was a United States Marine. So many men, women, and children have suffered unnecessarily due to the water contamination that they knew of and did nothing about. My breast cancer journey started on January 11, 2008. I woke up in the morning with a good-sized lump in my chest. At that point in my life I had no idea men could get breast cancer. I contacted my doctor and we set up the same test women usually get—a mammogram and an ultrasound followed by a core biopsy. The doctor called me to let me know that I had breast cancer. It was the first time I knew I had breasts. He called it invasive ductal carcinoma. He said it was an aggressive form of breast cancer.