Green Beret Battling Terminal Cancer Receives New Home Mortgage-Free
posted by Jacqueline Leibman | April 18, 2022 | In NewsOn April 15, WTVD reported a Fort Bragg Green Beret soldier, Master Sergeant Richard Stayskal, who is battling terminal lung cancer, was gifted a mortgage-free home.
Operation Finally Home—which provides mortgage-free homes with modifications, to wounded, ill, and injured military veterans, first responders, and their families—worked with the Moore County Builder Association to build a home for Stayskal, his wife, Megan, and two daughters.
“It’s wonderful. I mean, the kids love it,” Megan told WTVD of their new home located in Aberdeen.
Back in 2018, Stayskal was interviewed by WTVD after attempting to have the Feres Doctrine changed. The doctrine “prevents active duty military from suing the government for malpractice.”
This was brought about after Skayskal was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer—a diagnosis that was originally missed by military doctors.
After being cleared during a routine military physical—which included a CT scan—before going to dive school, he soon experienced trouble breathing. Doctors working in the emergency room at Womack Army Medical Center sent Skayskal home with a diagnosis of possible pneumonia.
His symptoms continued to worsen as he started to cough up blood. A month later, he was able to see a civilian pulmonologist who ordered a new CT scan. The pulmonologist identified a mass and ordered a biopsy.
It took six months before a diagnosis was made, in which the metastatic tumor continued to grow and spread.
Confused over how this could have been missed, Stayskal and his wife, requested copies of his medical record. On the May 2017 emergency room visit, a military doctor noted an “abnormality” that “needed attention.”
The records further state a “possible mediastinal mass” along with suggesting a “transbronchial biopsy,” which did not occur. In fact, neither Stayskal nor his wife were even aware of the findings until they searched the records.
“I was angry. I was in disbelief,” Stayskal said to WTVD.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), or Stayskal Act, was approved in December 2018 allowing “active duty service members the right to be compensated for malpractice in military facilities in cases that are unrelated to combat.”
Stayskal is currently waiting for the Department of Defense to rule on his claim which he filed under the Stayskal Act.
Until then, Stayskal continues to fight his disease: “Trying to live like normal I guess but the days are still hard. You know, I’m still missing part of my lung from surgery and everything else. I’m in pain every day, but I still travel once a month for treatment,” Stayskal told WTVD.
Photo courtesy of the Great Valley Center.
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