waiver for crohn's disease

MSZ07

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5-Year Member
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Jan 9, 2008
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Has anyone ever heard of a waiver being granted for (D161.40) History of regional enteritis (Crohn's disease)? My son has a conditional appointment to the USMMA with the exception of his medical. He had this initial condition when in 7th grade. He was on medication to prevent flare ups for 2 years. He has since been flare and medication free his entire high school career. He wrestles and played varsity soccer. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
 
waiver denied

So far our request for waiver has been denied. I talked to the admin at Dodmeb and she sent me back to the admissions office at USMMA and said sorry it's out of our hands. Admissions said they would send an email asking the Dodmerb Dr or the Bumed Dr to call us.

questions:
1. Should we be proactive and try and call the Dr. at Dodmerb directly?
2. Should we skip Dodmerb and go directly to Bumed? How would we do that?
3. What type of time frame are we looking at? I hate to site and wait on the Navy to make the next move. My S is sitting on an soccer scholarship at another University. They won't hold it out there forever, if it is even still available to him. However, USMMA is his first choice.
4. Is Crohn's even waiverable? Has it ever been done before?

Thanks,
 
It is very difficult to obtain a waiver for Crohn's. One of the major concerns with Crohn's is the possibility of reoccurance.

If this is what your son wants, then I would have him request that the waiver authorities review his package again. When he requests the review I would have him also include the history of his problems, to include the treatment he was given, in his words. I would also have him state what activities he currently participates in, and how the Crohn's affects him now, if at all. Sometimes the applicants side of the story can make a difference. This letter should be sent to DoDMERB and his entire package will them be resent to the waiver authorities.

The physician at DoDMERB will not be able to assist at this point in time, everything needs to go to the waiver authorities. You can expect a re-review to take about 3 weeks from the date that DoDMERB receives the letter.

As I stated at the top, it is very difficult to receive waivers for Crohn's, and I can only remember seeing one waiver in my 5 years while at DoDMERB. I'm not stating that to scare you away, but to realize that the outcome may not be what you want it to be. I would make sure your son knows this, and let him make the decision as to whether he wants to continue on or not.

As always, I'm here to help however I can.
 
Thank you for the reply. I'm glad to hear there is a least a glimmer of hope. He has written a letter to request the waiver review. We have also contacted his pediatrician directly to get them to write a letter and send us records.

He has a very mild case and has had no complications or occurances since he was diagnosed 5 years ago. The crohn's has not effected either his performace or his limited his activities in any way and he is a varsity athlete. I just hope they see it our way.

He is moving forward with a D2 soccer scholarship for now. At worst case in 3 - 8 weeks when we get a response, he might have another difficult decision to make.

Mike Sz
 
Mike,
I read your earlier posts from 2008 about Crohn's and DODMERB. Was your son successful in receiving a waiver? I am a USAFA grad and my daughter is now applying to USNA. She was diagnosed with Crohn's when she was 10, but has been in remission for the past four years and has been healthy and active
Thanks,
David Smith
 
Mike has not been on here for over 6 years according to his last post. I would not expect an answer anytime soon from him.

My best wishes to you and your DD. My suggestion would be contact the DoDMERB help desk and ask directly.

If you are still ADAF than take her in now for an exam. If you are a flyer take her to the flight doc and they should be able to tell you if it is a DQ since her medical records are with them and her DoDMERB exam will be given by them.
 
Agree re checking with DODMERB. Gut feel is that it won't be waiverable b/c of the potential of recurrence and the debilitating nature of symptoms which, based on my limited understanding, can be exacerbated/brought on by stress. However, you won't know if you don't ask.
 
I'm looking into enlisting. I have crohns disease. Was your daughter successful with receiving a waiver?
 
DoDMERB standards and enlistment standards are different. Your recruiter would have the information if you could get a waiver for Crohn's. I had friends separated for Crohn's and denied re-enlistment. I would suspect you would not get one, but none of us are an authoritative source. Only your recruiter working with MEPS could give a final answer.
 
Everyone I knew who developed Crohn's on AD was med boarded out. Concur with above posters, follow through with the ask and get the definitive answer for military entry.
 
Why would someone with a condition as serious as Krohns expect a waiver? I can't see the military accepting the burden of lifetime medical responsibility for a pre-existing serious condition.
 
I have never seen one given. Everyone who developed it while in service were med boarded out, denied re-enlistment or non-commissioned from a SA.
 
Why would someone with a condition as serious as Krohns expect a waiver? I can't see the military accepting the burden of lifetime medical responsibility for a pre-existing serious condition.
Are you in the military?
 
Why would someone with a condition as serious as Krohns expect a waiver? I can't see the military accepting the burden of lifetime medical responsibility for a pre-existing serious condition.
Have you ever wanted to serve your country so badly you don't care about your disease. And this burden of a lifetime was diagnosed 3 years ago. Growing up it was always a dream of mine and I had it taken away. Don't just judge something. I'm in complete remission and living a normal healthy life.
 
Have you ever wanted to serve your country so badly you don't care about your disease. And this burden of a lifetime was diagnosed 3 years ago. Growing up it was always a dream of mine and I had it taken away. Don't just judge something. I'm in complete remission and living a normal healthy life.

It is admirable you want to serve.

The military doesn't make medical DQ decisions on a whim. It's a utilitarian decision, the good of the many outweigh the good of the few. Unit readiness, especially in combat, where every healthy body may be critical to a tactical outcome, means the military wants its people to be free of chronic conditions, disease or those with potential to re-occur and take a healthy unit member off the line. Diverting time, resources and healthy personnel to rescue, replace, tend to, or work without a team member due to injury is challenging enough, impacting unit readiness and end strength. The military is minimizing the chances for unit members to fall ill for predictable reasons. The stress of military life exacerbates all kinds of conditions. It's all about the unit, not the one.

This is hard to hear at the start of your adult life. If enlisting is what you want, you can always try. Being flexible when facing closed doors is a life skill. You will use it again and again.

There are other ways to serve. The Red Cross. Peace Corps (though they may have medical DQ guidelines, given where they serve, for the same reasons). Federal and state civil service (disaster response, intelligence work, among many). Healthcare professions. Social services. Teach for America.

Posters here are relating what they have observed, with no agenda. If you want the answer for your particular situation, when you are of age to enlist, you will be able to find out the answer.
 
To chime in on Maplerock's comment, when the military brings someone on board, it also takes on the obligation of healthcare during their time in service, and through Dept of Veterans Affairs benefits for service and combat-related conditions, and retired DOD service member benefits, the potential cost of a lifetime of care. The military must also be aware of taxpayer dollars. Again, utilitarian.
 
Kayla16, your desire to serve is admirable. We are giving you reality based upon our years around service. None of us are an authoritative source on this but we are preparing you for the most likely scenario of disappointment. I have a family full of folks with Crohn's. I am lucky to so far be safe from it. I have had numerous close friends and family members battle this to include a boyfriend who I watched deal with multi surgeries due to this (he was non-commisonable from usna as he was diagnosed with it while there). As someone with Crohn's you full well know that stress and diet are huge contributing factors to this disease. Two items that you have very little control of at a SA and in military service. Capt MJ nailed it when it comes to the military's obligation to provide healthy service members. On every deployment I was on we had some service member who somehow passed MEPS and were sent home for diseases they had for a lifetime and hid. The stress, lack of sleep, diet changes all brought it out and they were sent home and discharged. The amount of time, effort, energy we spent to get folks coordinating to get home from a war zone in these situations was tremendous. There are lot of ways to serve your country outside the military.
 
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I agree with everyone that has posted above.

This is not a personal attack. This is reality. It is not just about you it is about everyone else that serves.

Here is the key word that you said....REMISSION. Remission is not cured, it can come back without notice. It is not like Poison Ivy where you can avoid it, it is a life long condition, where stress impacts your condition. Stress like being deployed to the Green Zone for 6 months at a time.

In essence, you are basically saying that my desire to serve should outweigh the needs of the military mission. You are not thinking about the military 1st.

I agree with others, there are a ton of ways to serve this great nation where your medical condition does not impact the mission. I would add in one more option...defense companies, such as Rand, Raytheon, L3Comm, Booze Allen Hamilton, SAIC, etc., on top of companies like Lockheed, Boeing, Pratt and Whitney.
 
Most of us are quoting DoDMERB and military officer medical documentation. You mentioned enlisting which has a different set of requirements. There is a great deal of redundancy between the two. MEPS and your recruiter will be the authoritative sources in your case.
 
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