Thomas Judge spent 93 years on the ground before he finally got to loop through the sky above East Tennessee. The Morristown resident and Army veteran, now in hospice care, took part in a stunt flying experience that gave him acrobatic maneuvers and a bird's-eye view of the region he's called home for so long.
Judge's flight was made possible through Caris Healthcare and its program called “The Three Most Important Things,” according to WVLT. The initiative is built around discovering the personal preferences, wishes and bucket-list goals of hospice patients and working to honor them whenever possible, the station reports. For Judge, that meant getting back in a cockpit and experiencing the kind of flying most people only imagine.
His hospice care team partnered with local pilot Eric Backsheider to turn that ambition into reality, per the same report. The flight itself gave Judge an exhilarating bird's-eye view along with the thrill of acrobatic maneuvers in the East Tennessee sky, the station notes. There's a small discrepancy in how the two local outlets describe where the plane took off: WVLT reports the flight departed from the Morristown Airport on Old Highway 11E, while WATE identifies the site as Morristown Regional Airport.
A Hospice Nurse's Social Media Search Led to the Pilot
According to WATE, Judge's hospice nurse, Brittany Seal, used social media to track down the pilot who would ultimately make the flight happen. She connected with LaFollette pilot Eric Backscheider, and, as the station puts it, the plans were set. Once arrangements were finalized, Judge's hospice team and Backscheider helped him into the cockpit and guided him through the experience.
Judge summed up the flight simply: it was pleasurable, he told the outlet. That kind of understated satisfaction carries extra weight given what Judge has been through this year. WATE reports that his wife, Juanita, to whom he was married for 67 years, passed away earlier in the year.
Part of a Broader Push to Grant Veterans' Final Wishes
Programs built around honoring end-of-life wishes for veterans aren't unique to Morristown. Vet's Wish describes its mission as providing compassionate end-of-life wishes that bring comfort, connection and a sense of peace to veterans and their families. Eligibility for that program is based on clinical confirmation that a veteran is at or near the end of life, with priority given to time-sensitive cases, and a healthcare provider such as a physician or hospice team typically confirms that eligibility. Self-nominations aren't accepted; requests have to come through a civic, service or healthcare entity.
Similar stories have surfaced elsewhere in recent years. A Gulf War veteran named Bruce Fugate, who was receiving hospice care and had a brain tumor, flew a plane again, according to the Des Moines Register. A hospice patient in Ohio was also scheduled to take his first-ever airplane flight as a bucket-list wish, per a February report from the Dayton Daily News. And a 2016 account from GeriPal described a veteran whose final wish involved a flight, noting he died within days of returning, happy.
For Judge, the flight offered a moment of joy amid a difficult stretch, made possible by a hospice team willing to track down a pilot and turn a bucket-list dream into a morning in the East Tennessee sky.
