SPRINGDALE — To the eye, Harold W. “Bud” Planchon of Fayetteville lacks hair and his skin seems a little dry. Inside, three-fourths of his liver and about 4 feet worth of intestine are gone.
The former Springdale firefighter has cancer.
“I was cooking for the guys one night and didn’t feel good,” he said. “Three weeks earlier, I’d had my annual physical exam and was pronounced fine.”
That night in 2009, he called the EMTs he worked with and said he needed their help. They took him to the hospital where he spent the first of many nights.
Planchon speaks loudly and clearly, sits without stooping and carries on long, elaborate descriptions of his condition and history without seeming tired or ever at a loss. To look at him and converse with him, you would never know that his vital signs disappeared three times during one operation, and he’s careful to set appointments for days when he doesn’t have chemotherapy.
He stuck with the Fire Department as long as he could, but by 2011 his career was over.
“I’d been a firefighter all my adult life, with the exception of service in the military,” he said.
Yet he still has fight in him.
Planchon, 50, wants the state to declare his cancer is related to his work. It’s not for his benefit, he said. He’s beyond that.
“After I was diagnosed with this, I was told it would be a year or a year and a half,” Planchon said of his life expectancy. “I’ve been here three years, but you never know.”
At stake are greater benefits for his wife, two stepsons and a 13-year-old daughter if his condition is determined to result from service in the line of duty. Besides greater benefits, his daughter would be entitled to have her college tuition paid by the state.
Also, his case would set a precedent for future firefighters if he wins, Planchon said.
The type of cancer Planchon has — adenocarcinoma, a type of colon cancer — is recognized by law as work-related for firefighters in 33 states. Those include every state bordering Arkansas except Mississippi. The breathing of fumes from diesel engines and from burning chemicals increases risk of colon cancer, these states agree. This work-related status entitles affected firefighters to greater health and pension benefits in those states.
Arkansas law does not recognize any link between firefighting and this type of cancer.
Recognition by other states is better proof of the clout and persistence of firefighters’ groups than of a proven medical link, said Don Zimmerman, executive director of the Arkansas Municipal League. The league is a lobby for cities, and cities bear much of the cost for fire and police pensions. The league opposes efforts to establish such a link through state law, Zimmerman said.
The Arkansas Local Police and Fire Retirement System, which manages most fire and police pensions in the state, also has not recognized any such link, the board’s attorney said.
Zimmerman pointed to a review done by the National League of Cities in 2009 that said the studies linking cancer and firefighting were not conclusive and the laws passed by the various states were inconsistent with each other. For instance, some states cover leukemia and some do not.
If these risks don’t exist, why do Arkansas cities, including Springdale, install ventilation equipment in fire stations to remove diesel fumes, asked Ed Jaros, president of the Arkansas Professional Fire Fighters Association. Cities across the state are taking measures to mitigate risks, then arguing those risks don’t exist when firemfighters try to bring up cancer coverage in the Legislature, he said.
The Legislature should at least discuss the issue, Jaros said.
“I’ve been actively lobbying for this since 1997,” he said. “Before I was AAFF president, I was our legislative chair. I tried to find a sponsor every year. Last year, Jimmy Jeffress managed to get a bill filed. It had a discussion before the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee. That’s as far as the issue ever got.”
Planchon said he testified for the bill.
“Yes Or No”
Planchon was diagnosed with cancer on March 10, 2009, and applied for work-related disability pension benefits in 2011. Although entitled to pension benefits for his health conditions, his family would qualify for survivors benefits in the event of his death if his condition were found to be work related.
His request was denied by pension administrators last month. He is appealing that decision to the pension fund’s board on Dec. 6.
It shouldn’t take a year for anyone — healthy or not — to get an answer on a pension claim, Planchon said.
“It should be a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no,’” he said.
Planchon contends the delay between his application for benefits and the denial was stalling — that pension administrators made a decision on his claim only after the delay made news accounts.
The only reason his case is still active is because he has beaten the odds and lived, he said. Had he died, he would not have been able to press his claim. An appeal to circuit court, for instance, is not allowed until the pension board makes a ruling that can be appealed, he said.
Richard L. Ramsay, attorney for the pension board, said the burden of proof of any link falls on Planchon, and that board is extending him every opportunity to present proof. He agreed to talk about Planchon’s case, but cautioned there was not much detail he could discuss about a matter with a pending hearing before the seven-member board. The governor appoints board members.
“This is not a normal case,” Ramsay said. “In a normal case, if you look at an X-ray taken before a fireman fell from a ladder and see that his back is straight, then look at an X-ray taken after the accident and see that his back is crooked, you can see a causal connection. You can say that the fall from the ladder probably caused the problem.”
Cancer is not the same, and Arkansas law clearly places the burden of proof on the person making the claim, Ramsay said. The pension board has not found in favor of any claim in which direct, clear evidence of cause and effect is lacking, he said.
The pension board is asking Planchon to prove a negative, that there is no other possible cause of the cancer, Dr. Daniel S. Bradford of the Highlands Oncology Group of Fayetteville said in an April 16 letter to the pension administrators. Bradford is Planchon’s cancer doctor.
“Let me state this clearly: This data shows that firefighters have a 21 (percent) to 36 percent increased incidence of colon cancer compared to a general healthy working population, with the only obvious difference being their occupational exposure history,” Bradford wrote in the letter.
“This data” refers to medical studies sent to pension administrators in the case.
There are no other known cancer risk factors for this cancer in Planchon’s case, Bradford’s letter states, such as a family history or smoking.
“While no one can absolutely state that Mr. Planchon’s workplace exposures to carcinogens directly caused his colon cancer, the compelling date on this association cannot and should not be ignored,” the letter stated.
Costs In Dispute
One of the frustrating aspects about the issue is how little the cancer coverage would cost, relatively speaking, Jaros said. He cited a March 8, 2011, letter written to him by Richard M. Duffy, assistant to the president of the International Association of Fire Fighters. Duffy has been one of the leaders in the group’s efforts to get states to approve coverage.
California, which has more firefighters than any other state, had 45 cases in the first three years after that state approved cancer coverage, Duffy’s letter stated. “This is 0.07 percent of the active firefighting work force,” the letter stated. “The average claim for total cancer benefits was $14,075.”
Oklahoma averages four claims a year, amounting to less than one-third of 1 percent of pension system costs, Duffy said. Nevada averages less than one claim a year. Other states post consistent figures.
“In Arkansas, there are 1,756 active career firefighters,” a figure that includes recently retired firefighters who would be eligible for a cancer benefit, Duffy’s letter stated. “Using the assumption that Arkansas has a rate that does not exceed the average of the above states’ cancer related disabilities — 0.034 percent of the active firefighting work force — the expected number of initial cancer claims for Arkansas would be one career firefighter.”
The recent history of Pennsylvania does not present the same picture, Zimmerman said. A recently passed law there opened the door to lawsuits claiming millions, he said. The costs of these lawsuits, even if cities prevail in them, are an added expense, he said.
The costs of cancer have to be borne by someone, Planchon said. Now they are being borne by cancer victims and their families.
“I don’t think I’ll be the last firefighter diagnosed with this,” he said. “It’s time for cities to protect their firefighters and live up to the promises they’ve made to them, to take care of them and their families if something happens to them.
“I’m doing this for my children and for the survivors of firefighters who face cancer in the future,” he said. “It’s not right to have incurable, terminal cancer and wake up more concerned about finances than your health.”