Thursday, July 31, 2014
Harold Cheek sits on his front porch at his home in Auburn on Thursday, July 31, 2014. Cheek, a Vietnam-era Army veteran, was diagnosed with cancer in May but hadn’t been receiving proper treatment from the VA until a letter-writing campaign by his son Shane. “I know there’s no cure for what I have,” said Cheek. “But hopefully this medication will work so I can spend a few more years with my granddaughter so she can remember who I am.”
Harold Cheek served his country in the United States Army during the Vietnam War era and because of this he is eligible to receive health care through the V.A. hospital system. The Dacula native who now lives in a one bedroom apartment in Auburn was sitting on his front porch talking on the phone when I arrived to take his portrait. He was speaking to one of his local politicians. Harold was diagnosed with cancer in May but has somehow fallen through the cracks of the veterans affairs hospital system until his 39 year old son Shane started a letter writing campaign on behalf of his father. Shane sent letters to congressmen, senators, the American Cancer Society, the American Caner Institute and other local politicians telling them of his father’s troubles. You see Harold was diagnosed but no plan of treatment was put into place. He had fallen through the cracks which highlights, on a local level, the growing problems of the Department of Veterans Affairs which oversees the hospitals for veterans across the country. Because of the letter campaign by his son and the reaction he received from those letters Harold was lifted out of limbo and a treatment plan was started. To learn more about Harold and other veterans from the Atlanta area Click Here.