The Inspiration of the 932nd Airlift Wing

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Charity Lamprecht
  • 932nd Airlift Wing
Scott AFB, Ill. --  Tech Sgt. . John Trodglen is back, just like he said he would be.

He has returned from his battle with cancer, back to the Unit, back to his "second family." With his return he brings an inspirational story of courage and tenacity. He starts from the beginning...

In January of 2004, Trodglen noticed a bump in the gum on the right side of his face and went to the dentist to see what it was. He was then sent to an oral surgeon who did a biopsy on the bump.

The diagnosis was leiomyosarcoma-a very rare form of soft-tissue cancer. Trodglen flew to Houston Texas to stay at MD Anderson and was seen by countless doctors, fellows and residents.

There he underwent a round of chemotherapy and was sent home to continue two more rounds of chemotherapy at Missouri Baptist.

"Most people do not want to eat after chemotherapy but I was hungry all the time," Trodglen laughs.

Other than his hair falling out, chemotherapy went fine. In September he went back to Houston to undergo twelve and a half hours of surgery. The surgeons removed his teeth on the upper right side of his mouth, removed his cheekbone, and then removed the tumor.

All of these extractions were completed in less than five hours. The hardest, and longest, part of the ordeal was the reconstructive surgery performed by a meticulous plastic surgeon.

The surgeon removed part of Trodglen's mandible to replace the cheekbone. A flap of skin from Trodglen's wrist and two grafts of skin from his right thigh were removed to use for facial tissue.

Blood vessels from the jawline were rerouted to the skin flap to keep it alive. Afterwards, it took the plastic surgeon, physician's assistant and a fellow four hours to stitch Trodglen back together.

After an estimated 3,600 stitches Tech Sgt. Trodglen was sent to the Intensive Care Unit where he was sedated for twenty-four hours. "When I woke up my first thought was about my family and the next thought was about my second family, my Air Force Reserve family," Trodglen recalls with tears in his eyes.

In December 2005, Trodglen went back home to Belleville with his wife Christine and their two children, Jonathan and Lauren. In January Trodglen went back to work with the city in the sanitation department-a job he had held prior.

Since May of 2004 he has been working on returning to the Reserves. Stacks of paperwork, copies of everything and a myriad of signatures later, he returned to the Unit in March of 2006.

Trodglen now works in Medical Logistics and recently reenlisted for another six years of service!

He passed an important anniversary recently. He has now been cancer-free for two years.

"I said I would be back, and I'm back," Trodglen smiles.

Note: Senior Airman Charity Lamprecht is a Unit Public Affairs Representative