Kapolei soldier’s
death questioned

Michael Lastimado’s kin wonder
if he died from radiation in Iraq

CORRECTION Saturday, October 9, 2004 » Fort Hood is in Killeen, Texas. A Page A1 article Monday incorrectly said it is in El Paso. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at corrections@starbulletin.com.

Family members of a 25-year-old Kapolei soldier who died recently -- less than half a year after being diagnosed with a rare cancer -- are questioning whether his disease may have been caused by exposure to radiation while on duty in Iraq.

Michael Lastimado, a combat Army medic, died Sept. 8 at Tripler Army Medical Center. In April he had been diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, which usually strikes children and appears rarely in adults. Studies have linked rhabdomyosarcoma to radiation exposure in some cases, but it is not clear how much exposure triggers the disease.

Lastimado had been in Iraq for about five months -- from March to August 2003 -- with the Army's Texas-based 566th Area Support Medical Command. While there, he received the prized Combat Medic Award.

Family members said they might hire a lawyer to look into Lastimado's death, as the Army has said it would not pursue an investigation into the case.

Lastimado started feeling sick early this year while still at Fort Hood in El Paso, Texas, and was put on cancer treatment in April after going to an emergency room with severe pain, according to family members. He came back to the islands in June and was receiving chemotherapy at Tripler before his death.

"He has to have been exposed to something," said his sister, Rosemarie Dradi. "He did mention a lot of burning and fumes he was around."

Lastimado's mother, Rosaline, said her son was a bodybuilder who did not smoke and watched what he ate.

"He was pretty healthy," she said. "I honestly think it (his service in Iraq) triggered his cancer."

Dr. Robert Sheffler, Lastimado's physician and the chief of oncology at Tripler, said there is no indication that Lastimado's cancer was brought on by something he encountered in Iraq.

He also said that he knows of no other soldiers who have had the disease after returning from Iraq. But without more research, he said, he could not rule out the possibility that Lastimado's disease was brought on by his service overseas.

"It's very difficult to look back" and see what "the inciting event" could be, Sheffler said. "He may have had a small tumor for a number of years. ... The first abnormality may have occurred 10 years ago."

Sheffler also said he did not think Lastimado would have stayed long enough in any particular area of Iraq to get an exposure significant enough to cause cancer.

Sgt. Juan Gonzalez, Lastimado's friend who was in Honolulu last week for the medic's funeral, said Lastimado was in the middle of several firefights while in Iraq and spent time in Nasiriyah, Karbala and at Baghdad International Airport. He could not say how long Lastimado was in each location.

He also said he did not believe the medic could have been exposed to any significant cancer-causing agents while overseas.

"Everybody might have their speculations," said Gonzalez, who served alongside Lastimado in some areas of Iraq. "I'm thinking, Why did it have to happen?"