Airman with leukemia recruits help from senator

[unhappycamper]

Airman with leukemia recruits help from senator
By Erik Holmes - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Dec 2, 2008 19:53:26 EST

The Air Force has decided to deny long-term health benefits and administratively separate an airman who was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia just days after beginning basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

But Airman Basic Joseph Weston is appealing the decision by the medical board that his disease was a pre-existing condition, and he has enlisted a powerful ally in his cause.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent a letter recently to Maj. Gen. Herbert Carlisle, the Air Force’s legislative liaison, asking him to look into the issue, according to Weston’s father, Jim Weston of Cadillac, Mich.

Levin’s office did not immediately provide comment on the situation.

Weston’s case was first reported in the San Antonio Express-News.

Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/12/airforce_cancer_discharge_120208/%2e