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Former VA Employee Says He Contracted Legionnaire's

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A former Pittsburgh VA employee says he's also contracted Legionnaire's disease.

Ken Jordan was a greeter at the Oakland hospital last year, but says now he can only take care of himself after a severe bout with Legionnaire's disease.

Jordan was at the hospital for six months. He liked working there, but his job came to a halt when he got sick last April.

"All the doctors said that I had Legionnaire's disease … I heard that 'cause it scared me 'cause I remember Legionnaire's disease and I said, 'well, am I gonna die or what?'" Jordan said.

He says he was in a coma for two months and when he woke up, doctors treated him for pneumonia-like symptoms before diagnosing him with Legionnaire's.

"Not only can you tell mortality, but you can read the letters on the back of it and that scared me," Jordan said.

Since then, Jordan says his kidneys have failed, he has long-term damage from a ventilator and now he's on dialysis.

Jordan isn't sure how he came into contact with legionella, but he does know his life has changed forever.

"I'd like to be angry," he said. "I'd like to be angry, but it doesn't do any good."

Jordan says one of his biggest frustrations is that no one has reached out to him to see how he's doing and find out about how his life has changed since the whole experience, in light of recent investigations.

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