WIN IN GULF WAR SYNDROME FIGHT

[Guest guest]

BRAVE JANET'S WIN IN GULF SYNDROME FIGHT by THOMAS SMITH, Sunday

Mirror

A FORMER Scots Army medic has become the first woman to prove that

she is suffering from Gulf War Syndrome.

Former staff sergeant Janet Ellice has won a historic five year

battle against MoD chiefs, who have said the syndrome doesn't exist.

The 48-year-old's life has been ruined after a string of illnesses

plagued her following her service in the 1991 Gulf War.

After being repeatedly told her poor health isn't inked to her

military service, Janet has now received an army pension which

recognises her illness. Relieved Janet, who lives with her husband

in Dunoon, Argyll, said: " Words can't describe how happy I am -

but I shouldn't have had to battle like this.

" It was so difficult fighting to prove that I was suffering from

Gulf War Syndrome when people say they don't believe you and that

the condition doesn't even exist. "

She is the third Gulf War veteran to successfully win an Army

pension for the syndrome.

Her landmark victory comes after ex-lifeguards-man and

former medic Shaun Rusling won pensions for Gulf War Syndrome in

cases highlighted by the Sunday Mirror.

Now up to 7,000 more veterans are likely to demand that their

illnesses are recognised too.

Janet joined the Territorial Army in 1975 as a combat medical

assistant, while working as a hospital laboratory assistant.

In January 1991 she was sent on a two-week training camp in Chester

as the first Gulf War loomed.

She said: " We were pumped full of anti-nerve gas tablets. I remember

being given around 12 different vaccinations in a 48-hour period to

protect us against things like anthrax. "

Almost immediately, Janet and many other TA soldiers were suffering

neurological and bowel problems, chronic fatigue, crippling muscle

pains and sleep and eating disorders.

She still suffers today - more than 15 years later. Some days she is

so ill she can't get out of bed and suffers memory loss, extreme

mood swings and aggressive behaviour.

" The symptoms worsened when we arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, " she

said. " I was there for two months. When I got home, the symptoms

worsened. "

Campaigners claim up to 9,000 veterans are suffering from Gulf War

Syndrome. Gulf War Syndrome - never officially recognised by the

MoD - is an umbrella term used to describe a range of illnesses

suffered by veterans.

When Janet went for an Army medical in London in 2001, she was told

she was suffering similar symptoms to many other Gulf War veterans.

She then applied for an Army war pension as she has been forced to

retire from her hospital job due to ill health. Despite several

appeals, the Army rejected her claim.

Janet refused to give up and last month a Pensions' Appeal Tribunal

in Edinburgh ruled that the " injury on which the claim was based,

Gulf War Syndrome, was attributable to service " .

She is now waiting to see how much pension she will receive.