Two Valley women plan health center in Vietnam

Katie Costello of Hubbard and Heather Bowser of Canfield are working to raise money to develop a health and vocational center in Pleiku, Vietnam.

That’s where Costello’s father, Tony Matola, served in Vietnam and was exposed to Agent Orange. He died last summer from lung cancer due to complications from the chemical.

Costello envisions a facility where the Vietnamese people can go for health care, to learn a trade and secure daycare for their children.

Bowser’s father, William Morris, also served in Vietnam and was exposed to the chemical. He died of a heart attack at 50 after battling several health issues.

Each man served in 1968-69.

It was just a year, but it changed the lives of both men and their families.

“I was born two months premature,” Bowser said. “I’m missing my right leg below the knee, several fingers and the big toe on my left foot.”

Neither woman’s father talked about Vietnam, and both suffered psychological effects from what happened there.

Costello’s father couldn’t watch any television shows or movies dealing with war.

A pallor cast over his face whenever a helicopter flew overhead. Same with Bowser’s dad.

Both women inherited that fear.

“It’s a learned response,” Bowser, a therapist, explained.

Bowser, a member of the Children of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance, an online family support group, has visited Vietnam four times.

She’s been welcomed.

The Vietnamese suffer from the same effects of Agent Orange as the descendants of American servicemen and women who served during that war, Bowser said.

It’s only recently that the Vietnamese government closed off an area where the chemical was sprayed and remained. Until then, villagers continued to fish there, adding to the numbers of residents harmed by the agent.

The Vietnamese don’t harbor ill will against the American public, Bowser said. They understand that soldiers were following what their government ordered them to do just as the Vietnamese soldiers were.

Neither Bowser nor Costello knows how her father would feel about the plan.

“If he were alive, he probably wouldn’t approve, but where he is now, I have to think that he understands,” Costello said.

A You Caring page for the project has been established at www.youcaring.com/pleiku-vietnam-for-people-with-effects-of-agent-orange-522145 and fundraisers are planned for the coming months. The first is set for 1 to 8 p.m. April 24 at The Yoga Room in Niles.

Tickets are US$50, and those attending can come to the Yoga Room during that time to try up to three different yoga classes, reflexology and massotherapy. The event will include an auction and a 50-50 raffle.

The goal is to raise US$20,000 by April 2017 to create the facility. That also will mark Costello’s first visit to the country. But Costello plans to continue to work on the center once it’s established.

“My father lost part of himself when he was over there, and I guess I’m going to bring it back,” Costello said.