Pilot’s daughter inspires cancer crusade

Everett pilot and flight instructor Richard Newman, whose 6-year-old daughter battled a rare form of cancer for nearly three years before its remission, has formed a nonprofit group in Washington state to raise research funds for Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seat

“Children’s Air Corps gives wings to kids’ hopes of beating cancer,” Newman said. “My daughter, Carli, was diagnosed with lymphoblastic lymphoma in 2004, when she was 3 years old. Because of the cancer research and skills of doctors at Children’s Hospital, her disease is in remission, and she faces a hopeful future.”

A pilot since high school and a flight instructor since his college graduation, Newman said his long involvement in aviation inspired him to turn to fellow pilots for help. So he’s reaching out to pilots from coast-to-coast to help him reach his goal of $500,000 by the end of this year. If most of the Aviation Owners &Pilots Association (AOPA) members even sent the cost of a gallon of aviation fuel, roughly $4 currently, he would more than meet his goal, he said.

“We just started in January, but already we have a group of pilots working with us and making contributions to help. We’re just beginning to spread the word,” said Newman, chief flight instructor for Northway Aviation, a Cessna dealership and flight training facility at Paine Field.

Remission for Carli’s cancer wasn’t reason enough for Newman to relax and put his own life back in order, a life strained by nearly three years of working two jobs to help pay for her treatments and being deeply involved in her fight against a cancerous tumor around her heart.

“Now’s the time I can do something about payback. When Kaitlin, who became close friends with Carli in the hospital, died of her cancer, I took Carli to her funeral. Those experiences with Carli and Kaitlin inspired me to do something to raise more research funds for fighting childhood cancers,” he said.

Newman added that Children’s Air Corps is an established nonprofit guild affiliated with the hospital. He said current treatments have only a 15 percent success rate for neuroblastoma, but the hospital is the nation’s leader in that field of cancer research.

He will be presenting his group’s information at the Washington Pilots Association annual meeting and convention at the Future of Flight aviation center at Paine Field on May 12; the Northwest Experimental Aircraft Association Fly-In and Sport Aviation Convention at Arlington Airport, July 11 through 15; and the Concrete Old Fashioned Fly-In at Concrete, July 27 through 29.

For more information, go online to www.childrensaircorps.com or call 425-422-4811. Contributions can be sent to Newman at Northway Aviation, 10108 32nd Ave. W., Bldg. C3, Suite 1B, Everett, WA 98204.