“So there will certainly be an influx in the cases that are being, you know, kind of being gone through by the VA, and they’re anticipated to hire a lot of new staff to help deal with this,” Pettijohn said. “But as veterans are aware, it’s a hurry up and wait game a lot of the time. So if you have one of the conditions that has a presumptive link, then you need to hurry up and make that claim.”

Audrey Williams-Pride moved to Camp Lejeune in the 1980s when her husband served there. She had no idea the water they used for drinking and bathing was contaminated.

The federal government has acknowledged the toxic water, on the base for decades, caused everything from cancer to Parkinson’s disease.