A 48-year-old former Rocky Flats engineer battling a normally fatal brain cancer learned Monday that he has won his four- year quest for help from a federal program for sick nuclear weapons workers.

The program has come under heavy criticism by members of Congress for first delaying and then denying help to tens of thousands of sick atomic bomb makers. Many workers have been unable to prove that their illnesses were caused by radiation or toxic chemicals on the job because records are missing or inaccurate.

Harry Charles Wolf, who has a 6-inch scar on his head, stepped forward to become a spokesman for the sick workers. He told a public hearing on the program in May that he routinely supervised demolition of one of the world's most dangerous buildings at Rocky Flats.

Wolf's claim for aid was denied originally. On Monday, he learned that his appeal had been approved.

He was rated as 100 percent disabled and thus qualified for $250,000 of compensation. He also is eligible for reimbursement of his medical bills, which have reached $600,000.

The attorney on his appeal, Bill Brady, of Denver, called Wolf with the news Monday. "The first thing out of his mouth was, 'Gee, I hope it makes it easier for other people,' " Brady said.

Wolf's wife, Kathy, another former Rocky Flats engineer, said they were "in shock" after struggling to deal with the program's complex paperwork since shortly after her husband's diagnosis in 2003.

"It's like, OK, pinch me, this can't be right," she said.

The news came just two weeks after Wolf found out that his tumor, now on its second appearance, had shrunk 90 percent under a new chemotherapy.

The Department of Labor originally denied Wolf's claim, after it paid $900 to an Ohio cardiologist named Suthil M. Sethi for a three-hour review of his medical records. Sethi said there was no connection between radiation and brain tumors.

Wolf appealed, and his Littleton-based neuro-oncologist, Dr. Edward Arenson, testified that there is no question that Wolf's malignant tumor was caused by his exposure to radiation and toxic chemicals on the job.

Arenson also said in his testimony that Wolf is likely to die from his type of brain tumor. Glioblastoma kills most of its victims within one year.

Dr. James Ruttenber, an epidemiologist at the University of Colorado, testified that "there appears to be something associated with plutonium processing" that results in an unusually large number of brain cancers among workers at Rocky Flats.

The Department of Labor sent Wolf's appeal to a different medical consultant for review. This time, Dr. William Milliken, a Fort Collins specialist in occupational medicine, advised that Wolf's exposure to PCBs and carbon tetrachloride on the job were at least 50 percent likely to have caused his cancer, thus meeting the requirement for compensation.

imsea@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5438