Nico Leonardo was training to become a pilot when a pain in his hip stopped him cold. What doctors first suspected was a simple hip flexor tear turned out to be Ewing sarcoma, a rare bone cancer, and the Pope High School graduate and Auburn University student spent the following months in a hospital bed rather than a cockpit. He rang the end-of-treatment bell on May 11, 2026, and is now working to get back into the air.
Leonardo was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma in September 2025, according to CBS News Atlanta. He underwent 14 rounds of chemotherapy and leg surgery to remove the tumor, and for a short period during treatment he could not walk. He also battled low energy throughout the process, but the outlet reports he maintained a positive attitude and even managed to fly during his treatments, drawing on the same drive that carried him toward his childhood dream of becoming a pilot — a dream he traces to his grandfather, who performed aerobatics and air shows.
Ewing sarcoma is a genuinely rare diagnosis. It accounts for only about 1% of pediatric cancer and roughly 200 new diagnoses nationwide each year, per the same report. The American Cancer Society identifies it as the second most common primary bone cancer in children and young adults, typically arising in the pelvic bones, chest wall, spine, or long bones of the legs — a biological quirk that explains why early symptoms are so often mistaken for athletic injuries, as happened with Leonardo.
Treatment That Hasn't Changed Much in Decades
The cancer is treated with five chemotherapy drugs, and per CBS News Atlanta, the newest of those drugs is 38 years old while the oldest was approved before the United States landed on the moon in 1969. Researchers identified the genetic driver of Ewing sarcoma 40 years ago but have still not been able to target it directly, meaning treatment protocols have remained largely static even as other cancers have seen more modern therapies emerge. A standard course requires hospital admissions every other week for about nine months, combined with surgery or radiation to remove or treat the tumor. The National Cancer Institute’s Ewing Sarcoma Treatment (PDQ) says standard Ewing sarcoma treatment options include multidrug chemotherapy, surgery and radiation therapy.
Leonardo was treated at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, one of the largest cancer centers in the nation. The center treats more than 500 new cancer patients and more than 2,000 unique sickle cell disease patients every year, and it also runs the largest sickle cell disease program in the country. Beyond chemotherapy, the hospital provides child life support, school teachers, family talk therapy, and music therapy, and Dr. Claire Stokes, a pediatric oncologist there, works with the broader team to improve the lives of pediatric patients moving through treatment.
National survival data underscores just how much age matters with this disease. The National Cancer Institute's clinical guidelines, published in November 2024, put the five-year relative survival rate for Ewing sarcoma at 69% for adolescents aged 15 to 19, compared with 80% to 85% for children under 15 — a gap that reflects how the cancer behaves differently as patients age out of pediatric protocols. According to the National Cancer Institute, in 2013–2019 the five-year survival rate for Ewing sarcoma was greater than 80% for children ages 1–14, compared with 69% for adolescents. The National Cancer Institute’s Ewing Sarcoma Treatment (PDQ) reports that five-year event-free survival varied from 57% to 79% across protocols, with the better outcome seen in the most recent protocol.
A Familiar Fight at Pope High School
Leonardo's story lands with particular weight at Pope High School, which has spent two decades raising money for Ewing sarcoma research. Former Greyhound football player Matt Hobby died of the same disease in 2006, and his final wish sparked the “4 Quarters 4 Research” campaign that has since raised more than $450,000 locally and millions nationally for the Atlanta-based Rally Foundation, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. Last September, the school formally named its stadium after Hobby, and Leonardo's recovery has given the same community a fresh, living connection to that decades-old cause, as East Cobb News reported in late August.
Now enrolled at Auburn University, Leonardo received help from a flight instructor as he worked to keep his aviation ambitions alive even during treatment. Auburn's Professional Flight program requires students to hold an FAA First-Class Medical Certificate, and graduates who maintain that certification can qualify for the FAA Restricted Airline Transport Pilot certificate after 1,000 flight hours rather than the standard 1,500, according to program guidelines published by the university.
The FAA Hurdle Still Ahead
Returning to the cockpit is not simply a matter of feeling well again. Federal Aviation Administration regulations under 14 CFR Part 67, along with the agency's AME Guide updated in August 2026, classify a diagnosis of active cancer or a history of intravenous chemotherapy as an initially disqualifying condition for airmen. Clearing that hurdle requires an official FAA Authorization for Special Issuance medical certificate, which demands extensive documentation from treating oncologists confirming complete disease remission before a pilot can resume flight training or hold commercial flight privileges. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, its Special Issuance process addresses selected medical conditions that are initially disqualifying and applies criteria outlined in the agency’s Aerospace Medical Disposition Guide.
It remains unclear exactly when Leonardo will receive that formal FAA re-certification, a step that will determine when he can resume logging solo flight hours toward his Restricted Airline Transport Pilot requirements. For now, his story stands as one more chapter in a broader public conversation about pediatric bone cancer, one that Hoodline has previously covered in the context of rare cancer clusters raising alarm in other residential communities.
