Disabled veteran continues to seek answers from VA after years of neurological complications

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KVIA) -- The family of a young veteran suffering from major health complications is desperate for help after they say the VA has left them seeking answers.

Heather Gariepy once had a promising military career, but was cut short eight years ago after she developed neurological disorders that have yet to be fully diagnosed.

She’s now fully medically disabled at 32 years old, and her family says they’re just trying to do anything at this point to improve her quality of life.

“She was healthy, you can see she was strong," said Rob Gariepy, Heather's father while showing ABC-7 old family photos.

He says she was a successful Pashto linguist in the U.S. Air Force for six years, until something triggered her health issues, which he believes was a series of anthrax vaccines that she received before a deployment. This has not been confirmed by doctors.

After years of declining health, Gariepy now suffers from up to 30 functional seizures a day from any kind of sensory changes.

These, along with severe migraines and gastrointestinal issues, keep her bedridden.

Her family quit their jobs to provide her 24-hour, round-the-clock care, and even built her a sound-proofed and sensory-friendly casita to live in.

When ABC-7 met Heather Monday, she was in so much pain that she couldn’t even talk - and had to answer on a writing pad.

After being asked how the last eight years have been for her, she proceeded to write one singular word, "hell," before having a seizure.

Because of her condition, Rob Gariepy says it’s nearly impossible for Heather to travel to any doctors, and says "bureaucracy" within the VA has made it very difficult to get the in-patient care she desperately needs.

“Locally I know the VA doesn’t have in-patient, and then on the national level...it’s so hard to work through the local level. We’ve been trying for three years locally, and a lot of people told us we moved to the wrong location, which to me isn’t a good answer," said Gariepy.

The Gariepy family even got Representative Gabe Vasquez involved to hopefully speed things along, whom they say has been very helpful.

"They appointed a home healthcare team for her, they started doing a lot of her appointments over video, which we've been begging for for years," said Gariepy.

In the meantime, they’re looking to improve her quality of life with a service dog - which can call for help in the event where Heather can’t, such as when her body locks up from a seizure.

However, Gariepy says it won’t be easy, as the VA won’t pay for the type of dog training that heather’s condition requires.

“Right now, she has an opportunity for a lady to come from Arizona. She’s gonna actually live here on the property in a motor home and actually take the dog with heather through the paces, make that dog specifically designed just for heather, so she’s coming to heather because heather can’t go to her, she’s been denied [by the VA] because she couldn’t go do the training with the other service dogs," he said.

Despite having problems with the VA's system, Gariepy emphasized how hardworking Heather's doctors have been when it comes to trying to improve her quality of life.

"Those doctors bend over backwards, her entire team has been amazing," he added.

ABC-7 reached out to the El Paso VA for comment on Heather’s situation, and in a statement, a spokesman said "out of respect for the privacy of the Veterans we serve, we do not speak to the healthcare cases of individual patients without their consent. However, the El Paso VA Health Care System has been working closely with this Veteran and her caregivers on the best health care options available."

The family is asking for $50,000 in donations for Heather's service dog training, of which nearly $18,000 has already been raised.

You can find the link to donate to the family's Go-Fund-Me here.