BROOKINGS  — There’s an irony in American military combat service for some men and women who served during the Vietnam War and the Gulf Wars: they came home visibly unscathed. But they were carrying unknown wounds inside that would surface years and sometimes decades later. Those wounds in many instances were caused by secondary “weapons” — e.g., Agent Orange — from America’s own arsenal. 

One of those “walking wounded” veterans is Brookings resident Gerald “Jerry” Raabe, 78: Born in Milbank and growing up in Wilmot, he attended South Dakota State University, graduating in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in Rural Sociology. Shortly thereafter came his draft notice. However, he enlisted in the Army as “a CO (conscientious objector) for political reasons.” He would be trained and deploy to Vietnam in early 1969 and serve for 13 months as a “medical corpsman.” He received multiple awards and decorations, including the Bronze Star medal for “heroism in ground combat.” Raabe returned to CONUS and was honorably discharged. He was through with Vietnam and the war — but the war was not through with him.

Using GI Bill dollars, he returned to SDSU in 1971 and graduated in 1972 with a master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling. He found his vocation as a vocational rehabilitation counselor and for 40 years worked with the Federal/State Vocational  Rehabilitation program assisting people with disabilities return to employment. He retired in 2012.

Raabe had worked as a VR supervisor for offices in Brookings, Huron, Watertown, Mitchell, and Aberdeen. He was a recipient of the Governor’s Distinguished Service Award.

He and his wife Deb have been married for 47 years and have three grown children and three grandchildren.

Slow start, worsens over time

There are plenty of sites online that address “Parkinson’s disease” and give the average person more than enough information needed to understand what it is and how it progresses. The Mayo Clinic website calls PD “a movement disorder of the nervous system that worsens over time. The nervous system is a network of cells that controls many parts of the body, including movement.”

“I think most people, including myself, don’t realize they have it,” Raabe, who was diagnosed in April 2018, explained. “Mine started with cramping with the middle toes on my left foot. Then I started having knee problems, knee stiffness, which I thought was due to an injury or meniscus tear. I’m convinced now that it was due to the Parkinson’s.”

Raabe explained that for him PD primarily affects mostly his left side. “I was actually diagnosed by a physician assistant at the VA (Veterans Administration), my primary care provider. When I retired in 2012, I started going to the VA for physicals (exams) yearly. They sent me for additional tests to see a neurologist and (he) told me I had Parkinson’s; and then they took a look at my military history and determined that I had been exposed to Agent Orange. They took additional tests to verify that.”

He questioned their diagnosis, because in checking his family history and background. he found no evidence on either of his parents’ sides of anyone having had PD. So his genetic history was negative.

However, since he had a son living in Rochester, Minnesota, Raabe visited the Mayo Clinic there and got a second opinion from a neurologist and motion specialist; he confirmed the PD diagnosis.

Now Raabe wants to get the word out to other veterans that “they may have Parkinson’s and not even know it.” Military veterans who served in Vietnam where Agent Orange and other defoliants were widely used and those who served in the Gulf Wars, where “pit burnings” were common, should especially consider getting screened.

Progressive, but slow it down

“I’m hoping to publicize some of the common symptoms of Parkinson’s that will help others that might have it,” Raabe said. “I’ve come to the conclusion that the earlier you diagnose this and start dealing with it and determine how you can slow the progression the better.”

Exposure to Agent Orange is considered a “presumptive condition” and a service-related disability that qualifies a veteran for many aspects of medical care via the Veterans Administration. Raabe said he takes advantage “of all the VA has to offer.” He was given a 70 percent disability rating.

At present, he’s in a “6 to 8 weeks (small-group) program for cognitive behavioral therapy to learn how to deal with your anxiety and depression if that starts coming on. … Those are things you’ll eventually have to deal with when you have Parkinson’s.”

In simple, personal straightforward language he described Parkinson’s: “It’s a progressive terminal disease that eventually becomes more severe. You can definitely slow the progression down, especially with exercise.

“I’m lucky in the sense that … I started exercising when I was about 35 and continued that when I worked. Then when I got Parkinson’s I was referred to the Avera rehab program.” “Brookings Health System’s Rehabilitative Services offers the LSVT BIG and the LSVT LOUD therapy programs for patients with Parkinson’s disease.” The programs “offer comprehensive rehabilitative services for PD patients focused on speech, physical and occupational therapy.”

“It involves big movements to help with your balance. There was a physical therapist, an occupational therapist and a speech therapist that provided four weeks where you met with them four or five days week to practice these exercises,” Raabe said. “The idea was that when you were done, you would continue the exercises.”

All the health care professionals he worked with told him “if you want to slow down the progression of the disease, exercise, exercise, exercise.”

He has continued — for the past five years: “It’s to help you with your movement, your balance. What happens with Parkinson’s is you start moving slower and you start moving smaller and smaller.”

His own fight

“What I’ve learned is you almost have to do everything with intent,” Raabe said, describing his actions in his own personal battle with PD. “I have to think about walking if I want to walk normally. Because if I don’t, I’m dragging my left foot, I’m not swinging my arms. That’s one of the classic symptoms doctors look for.”

“Since I’ve gotten Parkinson’s I realize that there are a lot of other people in our surrounding community that also have it, ” he added, noting that April is Parkinson’s awareness month.

“It’s important to accept and recognize that you have Parkinson’s,” Raabe continued. “It’s easy to deny it; and the longer you do that (and) not accept that there are things that you need to do to improve your quality of life, you’ll struggle. Awareness is big because then you can do these BIG and LOUD exercises. You can take Carbidopa/Levodopa, which is the main medicine that helps you produce more dopamine. The problem is the brain’s not producing dopamine, so your movements become smaller, your joints stiffen, your muscles don’t work. I practice these BIG and LOUD exercises every day and I have for at least the past five years.

“My main purpose is to create awareness so that people can realize that you can do all right with Parkinson’s for a long time. My doctor told me if you’re going to have a progressive brain disease, Parkinson’s is one of the better ones to have, over alzheimers, huntington’s (disease) or even MS (multiple sclerosis).”

Finally, Raabe stressed again that “exercise is essential to slow down the progression of Parkinson’s.”

His regimen includes walking, weight training, and aerobics: “You have to do everything with intent. I can’t walk normally unless I think about it and practice doing it. And I can’t speak loudly unless I practice speaking loudly.”

There is a Parkinson’s disease support group in the Brookings area: it meets at 1:30 p.m. the first Thursday of each month in the First Bank & Trust basement conference room.

Contact John Kubal at jkubal@brookiingsregister.com.