Young cancer patient is Pilot for a Day

Doug was the quarterback for Niles Little Red
Dragons’ 115-pound
division until diagnosed with leukemia.

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

VIENNA — “Sweet,” said 13-year-old Doug McGuire of Niles, when he received a set of dog tags as part of being an honorary Air Force Reserve second lieutenant and Pilot for a Day at the 910th Airlift Wing.

“I’m going to put that next to my [football] trophies,” Doug said after receiving a model of a C-130 — with his name over the door — from David C. Deibel, vice president of the Youngstown Air Force Reserve Community Council. The C-130 is a transport plane flown by the 910th.

Asked to smile while posing for a picture, Doug said: “I didn’t know you smile in the Air Force.”

The purpose of the Pilot for a Day program, co-sponsored by the base community council, is to reach out to the community by providing a tour and orientation to children who live with a chronic or life-threatening disease or illness.

Doug, who has played football since he was 5, was the starting quarterback for the Niles Little Red Dragons’ 115-pound division until he was diagnosed with leukemia, a form of cancer, on April 18.

Not only is he not able to play football for three years, he has not been able to go to his school, Niles Middle School, the first half of the year. He has kept up with his eighth-grade class by being tutored at home, and hopes to return to the regular classroom in January.

Despite the setback of illness, Doug hasn’t given up his dream of playing football in high school and eventually for Ohio State University or Notre Dame University, said his mother, Cindy McGuire. He wants to get through the treatment and start playing football again in the 10th grade, his stepfather, Lawrence “Jeep” McTheny, said.

When Doug first found out he had cancer, he was depressed and kind of hid out, McTheny said.

“They took my life away,” said Doug, a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, when he was told he couldn’t play football.

Then, his football coach, Dave Rosini, asked him to help coach the Little Red Dragons and now he is back with his friends and very positive about beating cancer, his mother said.

“He’s got the biggest heart and doesn’t quit. He’ll give 110 percent,” McTheny said.

Doug was due to receive chemotherapy today. If he is not able to go Halloween trick-or-treating himself, his friends have said they will take along a bag and collect candy for him, his parents said.

DeAnne Bunevich, a child life specialist at Akron Children’s Hospital at St. Elizabeth Health Center, where Doug is being treated, said he has touched the staff with his personality and perseverance.

Among his experiences as honorary second lieutenant and Pilot for a Day, Doug was chauffeured to the 910th headquarters building in a humvee military vehicle, where he was outfitted with a genuine flight suit with his name on it, was sworn in by 910th and base commander, Col. Karl McGregor, got a ride in a C-130 as it taxied on the tarmac, and found out he can see in the dark when wearing a pair of $8,000 night-vision goggles.

“This is awesome,” he said about the whole experience.

alcorn@vindy.com