About 18 months ago, U.S. Air Force veteran David Brayton finally got the diagnosis he had sought for nearly two years.

But it wasn’t good news.

The 63-year-old, who served as a medic from 1972-75 during the Vietnam War, was told he had end stage idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis — meaning the cause was unknown, and the prognosis was not good.

“We said, ‘What does ‘end stage’ mean?’” recalls David’s wife, Courtney, who’s been fighting by her husband’s side for his treatment, through tests, and denials of treatment and concerns about communication from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

As was explained to Courtney Brayton in December 2015, people with her husband’s condition typically have anywhere from 3-5 years left.

Courtney said at that stage in the game, her husband had been suffering from symptoms of the disease — a dry, hacking cough; shortness of breath; and fatigue, occasionally, David would pass out — for about two years. The commonality of the symptoms made the accurate diagnosis difficult, she said.

And all of these factors meant time was running out for David Brayton in order to get the help he would need. There’s no treatment or cure for pulmonary fibrosis, she said. His only hope was a double-lung transplant.

And so began the Braytons’ voyage through the V.A.’s system.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle for the couple was the limited resources the V.A. had to perform David’s required procedure. Courtney Brayton said she was told there are only two facilities in the country that would be approved under V.A. care to cover the procedure — Seattle and Madison, Wisconsin.

A pair of calls and a message to the media representative for the West Los Angeles facility — the closest facility to the Brayton’s Saugus-area home — were not immediately returned.

Unfortunately, by the time David Brayton was approved for treatment at the Seattle facility, his health had deteriorated to the point at which he needed so much oxygen to breathe, he could not fly.

Understanding this, Courtney Brayton said she took concerns to the V.A. facility and she was assured that something would be done.

That was about a year ago, she said. In the meantime, she reached out to Congressman Steve Knight’s office in September, to see what could be done at the federal level.

“I want to commend the Braytons on their persistence on this issue,” said Knight, “their efforts here were nothing short of extraordinary.”

Knight began to reach out, but also hit an impasse initially, due to the transition and uncertainty in the department. After the administration was able to get Dr. David J. Shulkin confirmed, there was a person his office could reach out to, she said.

It was still not an easy path, and it took the efforts of Knight, as well as community pressure from a social media page and post Courtney Brayton created on behalf of her husband, to really pressure the V.A. into action, she said

The post, which can be seen here, was aided by local media outlets, blogs and other supporters of veterans who helped pressure the Veterans Administration into action, Courtney said.

“Last Monday morning, I get a call from Congressman Knight’s office,” she said, detailing a call Knight received from Undersecretary Scott Blackburn’s office, scheduling a talk for the morning of Thursday, May 4 at 9:30 a.m. (PST).

By 10:54 a.m. — it’s hardly surprising Courtney remembered the minute, considering how long they’ve worked for this — they got the news they’d been hoping for: David’s procedure had been approved for a much closer facility.

“‘It’s the 11th Hour, but i want you to know we just had our phone call and the va is approving the transplant to be done at UCLA Medical Center,’” Courtney Brayton recalled.

“Helping people is why I got into this job, and I’m glad we could be of assistance on this one. Making sure our vets have access to the quality care and services they deserve is a top priority for me and my office, and we are very pleased that the VA did the right thing.

Courtney Brayton said the next step was to wait for the date from UCLA, and then also, more long term, to work with Knight’s office to make sure David’s treatment is available to other veterans with similar needs, she said.
Making sure every V.A. facility has contracts in place with transplant centers for their respective communities is the first step, she said, wanting to “keep that momentum going.”

Knight, a former veteran, said the goal is to make sure these types of bureaucratic delays don’t leave any other veterans without care.

“The next step is working with my colleagues and the V.A.,” Knight said, “to ensure that no more veterans have to go through what David Brayton did after risking their lives for our country.”=