Citation Nr: 18145103
Decision Date: 10/30/18	Archive Date: 10/26/18

DOCKET NO. 16-22 356
DATE:
	October 30, 2018
ORDER
Service connection for asthma is granted.
FINDING OF FACT
The Veteran’s asthma is related to service.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
The criteria for service connection for asthma are met.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1131,  5107(b); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303(a).
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran served honorably in the United States Air Force from October 1972 to October 1998. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a July 2014 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) denying the Veteran entitlement to service connection for his asthma.
The Veteran reports that she developed asthma while in service. She reports that, because of the close proximity between the time she left service and the time she was diagnosed, she had symptoms of asthma while she was in service. She was diagnosed with asthma only 6 months after service, according to a May 1999 medical record. The Veteran also reports that her exposure to, and treatment of, an allergy to Mountain Cedar trees might have been misdiagnosed. She reports that she was actually experiencing asthma, or such exposure caused asthma.
Service connection will be granted if the evidence demonstrates that a current disability resulted from an injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by active service, even if the disability was diagnosed after service.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. As a general matter, service connection for a disability on the basis of the merits of such claim is focused upon (1) the existence of a current disability; (2) the existence of the disease or injury in service, and; (3) a relationship or nexus between the current disability and an injury or disease during service. Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F.3d 1372 (Fed. Cir. 2007).
As stated, it is reported in the May 1999 VA medical treatment records that the Veteran was diagnosed with Asthma and has continued to be treated for the disability. Thus, she has a current diagnosis. 
The Veteran is considered competent to make lay statements in which she reports her symptoms. Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F. 3d 1372, 1377 (2009). The Veteran’s lay statements regarding the development of the symptoms in service are corroborated with other supporting evidence, such as treatment for Mountain Cedar allergies per her January 1999 medical records received in December 2013. The Veteran was diagnosed six months after separation from service with asthma after presenting the very same symptoms as she reported in service. Thus, the Board finds that the Veteran’s symptoms were present in service. 
Service connection requires a nexus between the current diagnosis and the in-service event. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a) (2017). Because the same symptoms in service continued following service, and the Veteran was diagnosed with asthma six months after service with those symptoms, the Board finds that the in service symptoms are related to the current diagnosis and service connection is warranted. 



 
M. H. HAWLEY
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	Drew Kelly, Associate Counsel