PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Military veterans and their families rallied on Friday outside the Bay Pines VA Medical Center to push lawmakers to help them out.

They want Congress to pass legislation that would expand benefits to veterans exposed to toxins like Agent Orange, a herbicide sprayed during the Vietnam War.

Sheila Kilpatrick was there fighting for her late husband, Lonnie, a U.S. Navy veteran who died in 2018 from cancer.

Kilpatrick says the VA didn’t diagnose him properly for years — until it was too late.

“We went elsewhere. One CT scan, and they said your husband has stage 4 cancer everywhere in his body. There was no way to save him,” Kilpatrick said.

Now she’s pushing to get legislation passed. The bill is actually named for her husband.

The Lonnie Kilpatrick Central Pacific Herbicide Relief Act, filed by Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), would expand benefits to veterans like Lonnie who were exposed to toxic herbicides while serving in places like Guam.

Marine veteran Brian Moyer, founder of Agent Orange Survivors of Guam was also at the VA on Friday. He remembers seeing toxins sprayed while he served in the U.S. territory.

“Where we did our training, those areas are sprayed,” Moyer said. “I remember smelling something that smelled like diesel fuel. We need Congress to get on board.”

Spectrum Bay News 9 asked the office of Gus. Bilirakis about the status of the bill and was told that, while the bill did not pass during the last term, it has been refiled and a hearing was recently held on it. The congressman hopes to get it passed this term.

Kilpatrick says her husband’s final words were “make it count” — and that's exactly what she's trying to do.

“These veterans who fought should not have be fighting for their lives now,” Kilpatrick said.