Congressional delegation, community pulls together to bring family home

WASILLA — This is not a happy ending, but it is a happier ending.

Forrest Edwards learned from his doctor in August that he has colon cancer. And for the next four months he kept that secret.

It wasn’t until wife Judy Edwards convinced him to go back to the doctor Dec. 7 that she learned his secret.

Forrest is a typical man who doesn’t like doctors, tests and will only rarely admit when he’s in pain.

Judy said her first hint that something was seriously wrong came when he agreed to see the doctor. In the end, it was the doctor who revealed Forrest’s secret.

“That CAT scan looks worse than it did in August,” the doctor said.

Judy said at first she was furious that her partner had this secret from her.

“You just have to deal with it,” she said of wrapping her mind around Forrest’s colon cancer diagnosis.

But the doctors at Mat-Su Regional decided it would be better to send him to Portland for surgery. So Dec. 17, Judy and Forrest Edwards flew down to Oregon and Dec. 20 he had surgery, which saved his life, but couldn’t remove the tumor obstructing his bowel.

Instead, doctors were forced to remove the bowel, Judy said.

Doctors told the Edwards family that Forrest’s cancer was terminal, but that chemotherapy might extend the time they had with him. However, first Forrest would need to grow stronger in order to survive the treatments.

“The goal was to get strong enough to come home and get chemo,” Judy said.

Since Forrest was too weak for chemo, their next goal was to get back home to see the 5-year-old son Eric, who they had been apart from for three weeks.

But when they tried to leave Oregon, the insurance company said they’d have to fly home on a commercial aircraft, that they would not pay for the sort of medical transport that had carried them there.

Commercial travel wasn’t really an option, Forrest’s doctors said. He was just too weak.

So they waited. First in their Oregon hotel room and then in the hospital after Forrest was readmitted with complications.

“We don’t have a lot of time left and we didn’t want to spend it in a hotel away from family,” Judy said.

That’s about the time Alaska’s Congressional delegation and the Edwards’ own caring community got involved.

While their older daughter Jennifer Fryer worked the phones from her home in Colorado urging everyone who’d listen — from the top brass at the insurance company to both Alaska senators — Judy meanwhile posted a note on the Frontiersman Facebook page asking for help bringing her husband home.

The Frontiersman often receives requests for help, and sometimes those pleas for aid are passed on to staff members in Alaska’s congressional offices who may be better able to assist.

Such was the case when Judy left a note on Monday, Jan. 7.

“I’m trying to bring my dying husband, who is a Vietnam veteran and retired Air Force member, back home to Alaska. We are currently in Portland at the university hospital for medical treatment,” she wrote. “He has metastatic colon cancer. They did surgery, but were unable to remove it. Tricare paid for an air ambulance here but will not pay for return home. He is not strong enough to fly commercial and we would like to be with our 5-year-old son, who we left behind on Dec. 17. We have six grown children and Eric came to us at 8 months of age. He has cerebral palsy and other medical issues and is a huge blessing to us. We were not together for Christmas and his dad is not likely to make it till next Christmas. We need help.”

It seemed like a miracle, Judy said, when a few hours later the family received word that the insurance provider had relented and would fly them home on an air ambulance.

Judy said she isn’t sure exactly what caused the change of heart, but she said they are thrilled to be home and surrounded by their seven children and 13 grandchildren.

Amy Miller, press secretary for Sen. Mark Begich, said staff members routinely help Alaskans with a wide range of issues.

“I don’t think people realize they can call and ask for help and get it,” she said.

Matthew Felling, communications director for Sen. Lisa Murkowski, said the real hero of this story is the Edwards’ tenacious daughter.

“Their daughter is the hero here,” he said.

Felling, too, encouraged Alaskans to pick up the phone and ask for help when they run into trouble.

“You’re one phone call away from someone who can do something,” he said. “We work with more branches of government on a daily basis than most Alaskans have ever heard of.”

Judy said she may never know exactly what produced the change of heart that delivered them home to Alaska.

“I just appreciate all the help,” she said. “It’s been quite a journey.”

Forrest is eating a little bit better now that he’s home, which is a blessing.

For the Edwards family, this story only ends one way. But that doesn’t have to be true for other families, they say.

“I would like people to be encouraged to get checked,” Judy said. “It really can save lives.”

Contact managing editor Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com.