Last week we featured the story of Joseph Weston, an airman at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. Diagnosed in June with ALL just weeks after he began basic training, Airmen Weston is now facing an administrative discharge from the military. Administrative discharge disqualifies him from receiving a disability pension, and he will not receive the three years of chemotherapy that would be covered by the Veteran's Administration if his ALL had not been labelled as a pre-existing condition by the Air Force's medical board. Up until the 23rd of November, he was also housed in a holdover unit along with recruits who had failed drug tests.

After Weston's story was featured in a San Antonio paper, he was moved to Fisher House, a facility for airmen undergoing medical treatment. Weston was also assigned a mentor to help him get to and from appointments and treatment and to serve as a liason to Weston's family. I hope to hear in the next few months that the Air Force has decided to give Airman Weston an honorable discharge, and the medical benefits he has so far been denied.

Air Force recruit Joseph Weston was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) just a few weeks after he entered basic training. Usually, a soldier diagnosed with a life-threatening illness like ALL would be given an honorable medical discharge and would be entitled to medical and disability benefits. With such a serious illness, a soldier would be classified as 100% disabled and would be entitled to receive a monthly pension from the federal government. Joseph Weston won't receive any of these benefits, and will be denied even an honorable discharge.

Instead, the Air Force is administratively discharging Weston, claiming that his leukemia had developed before he entered boot camp. However, blood tests taken the day Weston entered training did not show that he had leukemia, and his leukemia was not diagnosed until a few weeks after he started basic training. Until Weston's case is completely resolved, he has to stay in the medical holding squadron, the same unit where recruits are placed who have failed drug tests and are being discharged. It could be as long as six months before the situation is resolved and Weston can go home.

Traditionally, leukemia patients who are in the hospital for their first round of chemotherapy are kept on a special diet, called a neutropenic diet, to prevent infection. A neutropenic diet only includes foods that have been cooked, and no raw fruits and vegetables are allowed, as they may be contaminated with bacteria that could potentially cause a serious infection for patients whose immune systems are already weak.

However, a new study suggests that a diet that includes raw fruits and vegetables may not increase the risk of major infections during initial chemotherapy treatment. The patients in this study were given antifungal and antibiotic drugs to fight infection, and one group was kept on the neutropenic diet while the other group was allowed to have some fresh fruits and vegetables. 29% of patients in the raw-diet group developed a major infection during the study, and 32% of patients on the neutropenic, or cooked, diet developed an infection. While a neutropenic diet is still the standard for leukemia patients in the hospital, perhaps this study will allow some patients to enjoy the health benefits of fresh fruit and vegetables during treatment.

A study conducted by the Eastern Oncology Cooperative Group and funded by the National Cancer Institute showed that initial chemotherapy with Cerubidine (daunorubicin) at higher doses increases survival time for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. Although the results are only a preliminary analysis, they were revealed to allow the public to benefit from the positive results of the trial.

Ask your health care team if higher-dose daunorubicin chemotherapy is an option for you or your loved one. The purpose of studies like this are to improve treatment for everyone who leukemia, and it's important to make sure that this study's positive results benefit you or your loved one who has AML.