39 Year Old Man Joins Army to Pay For Wife's Cancer Treatment

Abraham · Oct 19, 2009

In March, he was laid off from his job as a raw materials coordinator for a plastics company called PolyOne, where he'd worked for 20 years. His severance package had provided several months' salary, but by August the paychecks were winding down. Soon the cost of his family health coverage was going to triple, then a few months after that, nearly triple again. They needed coverage so Mom could fight her cancer.
Dad's solution: a four-year hitch in the Army.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/64677772.html

Thoughts?

If nothing else the man is a hero in my eyes. Not for serving in the army, but for making the sacrifices he must for his family.

smoothseas · Oct 19, 2009

Abraham said:
If nothing else the man is a hero in my eyes. Not for serving in the army, but for making the sacrifices he must for his family.

Absolutely. I agree.

Gretad08 · Oct 19, 2009

Horribly sad for this family. It's ashame that he'll be gone when she probably needs him for support...cancer treatment ain't easy.

What a wonderful human being to do this for his wife. I hope my husband loves me as much as he loves his wife!

Zoombie · Oct 19, 2009

What a guy!

I wish he could get those cancer treatments without leaving his wife

MGraybosch · Oct 19, 2009

Abraham said:
If nothing else the man is a hero in my eyes. Not for serving in the army, but for making the sacrifices he must for his family.

I agree, but think he should have joined the Navy instead. Less chance of losing a limb to an IED that way.

Gregg · Oct 19, 2009

I barely made it through Basic Training at age 23. I can't imagine doing it at 39. Even most pro athletes are worn out by then.

More power to him I hope it goes well.

Melisande · Oct 19, 2009

Abraham said:
If nothing else the man is a hero in my eyes. Not for serving in the army, but for making the sacrifices he must for his family.

I understand and sympathize with the man's decision to try and help his family.

BUT;

My Beloved Husband served 20 years in the Army, after having first served 3 years in the Navy. He never, ever, thought it a sacrifice for any reason. He took pride in defending his country and it's ideals. He had no other reason to join, other than being a patriot. My hubby is a Hero, having been injured while defending his beliefs and his country. Don't put him, and his peers, down by patronizing the shield these dedicated men and women provide, without ever having contemplated personal benefits first!

Cybernaught · Oct 19, 2009

An incredibly selfless thing to do. You hear so many times about husbands who abandon their ailing wives that it's nice to hear something like this for a change.

StephanieFox · Oct 19, 2009

It's too bad that this brave and loving man has to put himself in possible danger to get medical treatment for his family. I hope this works out and that his wife is cured. I also hope they don't send him away while she's going through this.

joyce · Oct 19, 2009

StephanieFox said:
It's too bad that this brave and loving man has to put himself in possible danger to get medical treatment for his family. I hope this works out and that his wife is cured. I also hope they don't send him away while she's going through this.

I agree. It's one thing to choose to be in the military because that's what you want to do, but it's totally different when it's the only place you can go to try and cure the one you love. Our health care system sucks. I hope everything works out for him and his family.

Abraham · Oct 19, 2009

Melisande said:
I understand and sympathize with the man's decision to try and help his family.

BUT;

My Beloved Husband served 20 years in the Army, after having first served 3 years in the Navy. He never, ever, thought it a sacrifice for any reason. He took pride in defending his country and it's ideals. He had no other reason to join, other than being a patriot. My hubby is a Hero, having been injured while defending his beliefs and his country. Don't put him, and his peers, down by patronizing the shield these dedicated men and women provide, without ever having contemplated personal benefits first!

I am grateful and appreciative of your husband's service. I stand by my statement though on this man's heroism being his motivation though I don't intend to weigh that against any others have joined (if that, hopefully, makes sense). Not only has he a wife with cancer, but my feelings also stem from the fact that he has teenage children, including a freshman in high school, with whom he'll be missing for four years.

Hope I haven't derailed my own thread.

39 Year Old Man Joins Army to Pay For Wife's Cancer Treatment

Abraham

smoothseas

Life sucks... Then ya die...

Gretad08

Zoombie

Dragon of the Multiverse

MGraybosch

Lunch Break Novelist

Gregg

Life is good

Melisande

Cybernaught

Decker

StephanieFox

Maybull the Bulldog

joyce

I'm really shy...

Abraham