I’m a wife, mother, daughter, and sister who has Young-Onset Parkinson’s disease. I’m also a Chino Hills, CA local, and I care about my community and its history. I want to prevent others from experiencing what my family has.
My family is a map of the toxic legacy of our military bases. My father served for 20 years in the Air Force, stationed at various bases throughout California including Norton and McClellan, both of which are now known sites of TCE (trichloroethylene) contamination. TCE exposure is associated with many health risks, including Parkinson’s and various forms of cancer, and research suggests early-life exposure can increase the risk of getting an autoimmune disease in adulthood. My family is an example of how this plays out for real people.
In 2020, I was diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson’s at age 40. In 2023, I was hit with Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC). And on top of all of that, I also suffered two miscarriages and a blood clot in my right lung—and that was before I even turned 43.
This is a documented cluster. My mother Catherine died of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), my sister Kim has an autoimmune disease, and my nephew Austin, the son of a 22-year Army veteran (my brother Chris), died at 15-years-old fighting a very rare type of brain tumor. We were all exposed to TCE (trichloroethylene) and other solvents for decades, and these were the outcomes.
That’s why I spoke out at the Parkinson’s Policy Forum in Washington, DC last month to demand members of Congress ban TCE and Paraquat (another chemical linked to Parkinson’s) immediately and ensure the National Parkinson’s Project uses its 2026 funding to investigate these military environmental clusters.
Our veterans and their loved ones shouldn’t have to pay for a lifetime of service with a lifetime of disease. Cleaning up the groundwater at affected sites isn’t enough. It doesn’t help the many people already suffering with permanent health impacts, and it doesn’t ensure this never happens again. Over 1.2 million Americans have Parkinson’s, and it’s the fastest growing neurological condition in the world. And that’s just one of the health risks associated with chemical exposure to TCE and Paraquat.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule banning the use of TCE in December of 2024, with the intent for it take effect January 16, 2025. However, it’s been a year, and the date of effect for the ban keeps being pushed back. Which means people like me and my family keep being exposed to toxic substances that have been banned or heavily restricted in most of Europe since 2016.
Continuing to ask our service members to use TCE to maintain machinery is not worth the risk to their and their families’ health. It opens the door to more accidental contaminations, more health impacts, and more suffering from Parkinson’s and diseases like it. Our community demands action now.
Parkinson’s doesn’t wait. Neither should policy!
