ExpressJet Forum - View Single Post - FO Aaron Ward diagnosed with Aggressive Thyroid Cancer...

a_dub · 04-03-2008, 08:54 AM

We are doing fairly well so far.

Aaron is recovering from surgery and although his voice has been effected, it is not as bad as we feared. We were informed that his cancer was at a Stage 3 (on a scale of 1-5), which is still treatable, but more advanced than we had hoped for. Because of this, he'll have to go through beam radiation daily for 6 weeks as well as taking radioactive iodine. Hopefully treatment will be concluded in early June. Currently Aaron is radioactive and sequestered in our home because he is not allowed within six feet of other people for a few more days.

On the good side, Aaron hit his one year mark with XJ and is now eligible for FMLA time. Huge thanks to CP Mike Flood for helping us make this happen! Also, we managed to track down a local oncologist who is a former military flight surgeon and holds a current CMEL. Having someone on our team who is familiar with FAA reg's and processes has been a great help to us.

Many, many thanks to all of the people who donated to our paypal account. Hopefully each of you received our emails. The financial help has been invaluable in helping us meet all of our co-pays and non-covered costs. We were truly suprised at the generosity of the pilot group here at XJ. We appreciate all of the good thoughts, emails and phone calls that have come our way.

Kim Ward

04-03-2008, 08:54 AM	#48 (permalink)
a_dub Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 13	Updating We are doing fairly well so far. Aaron is recovering from surgery and although his voice has been effected, it is not as bad as we feared. We were informed that his cancer was at a Stage 3 (on a scale of 1-5), which is still treatable, but more advanced than we had hoped for. Because of this, he'll have to go through beam radiation daily for 6 weeks as well as taking radioactive iodine. Hopefully treatment will be concluded in early June. Currently Aaron is radioactive and sequestered in our home because he is not allowed within six feet of other people for a few more days. On the good side, Aaron hit his one year mark with XJ and is now eligible for FMLA time. Huge thanks to CP Mike Flood for helping us make this happen! Also, we managed to track down a local oncologist who is a former military flight surgeon and holds a current CMEL. Having someone on our team who is familiar with FAA reg's and processes has been a great help to us. Many, many thanks to all of the people who donated to our paypal account. Hopefully each of you received our emails. The financial help has been invaluable in helping us meet all of our co-pays and non-covered costs. We were truly suprised at the generosity of the pilot group here at XJ. We appreciate all of the good thoughts, emails and phone calls that have come our way. Kim Ward Last edited by a_dub; 04-10-2008 at 05:40 PM.