va's treatment of these veterans is absolutely unacceptable. >> and here he is joining me now tim josephs with me in washington. tim, just listening to your story and hearing in the piece that the va told you, sorry, we'll make a decision in four years. tell me about a phone call you just recently got. >> i just got a call this morning that my benefits have been increased 50% from 40% to 80% disability rating. and i'd sure like to thank everyone here at cnn for their work. without your help and intervention, i'd still be in line with 100,000 other vets sort of lost. >> it's incredible. i mean, hats off to sanjay and his entire medical team for maybe playing a role, but we're so happy for you that you're finally going to get some help. i understand, tim, you're supposed to have brain surgery, deep brain stimulation to treat your parkinson's. you've been waiting a while for that. do we have a date yet? >> well, i was scheduled for mid-july. and it's sort of on hold now. several new drugs have come out to treat. so, the doctors want to research that venue first. as there's some risk involved

tim josephs joined the army when he was just 18 years of age. human guinea pig. he says it made him sick, and ever since he's been running into a brick wall trying to get some kind of help. sanjay tells us how his whole story started. >> reporter: tim josephs was just 18 years old when he joined the u.s. army. it was the height of the vietnam war. >> most of my friends were drafted. and i felt a duty to serve. >> reporter: but shortly after enlisting, josephs was chosen to participate in a two-month

tim josephs joined the army when he was just 18. fresh faced.g. he says it made him sick, and ever since he's been running into a brick wall trying to get some kind of help. sanjay tells us how his whole story started. >> reporter: tim josephs was just 18 years old when he joined the u.s. army. it was the height of the vietnam war. >> most of my friends were drafted. and i felt a duty to serve. >> reporter: but shortly after enlisting josephs washo