14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this week, a cancer patient got kicked off an Alaska Airlines plane on the grounds that she didn't have a doctor's note clearing her to fly.
At the time of the incident, the woman was feeling fairly weak and needed to travel back home in California, US, to meet with the medical experts handling her case.
She says that, because Alaska Airlines kicked off her flight from Hawaii to San Jose supposedly for her own good, she missed her scheduled chemotherapy treatment.
The woman insists she was OK to fly
In a Facebook post, the 51-year-old California woman, named Elizabeth Sedway, details that the incident occurred this past Tuesday, April 7.
She says that, while sitting in the handicap section of the boarding area with a surgical mask covering her face to avoid airborne germs, she was approached by an airline employee who asked her if she was feeling alright.
At first, Elizabeth Sedway told the airline employee that everything was just fine. When asked again, however, she admitted to feeling weak because she had cancer.
The woman was consulted by an airline doctor and allowed to board her flight. Minutes later, however, she was approached by an airline representative who asked her to leave the plane.
The 51-year-old cancer patient was told that, since she had cancer, she wasn't allowed to remain aboard, not unless she had a note from her doctor saying that it was OK for her to fly.
“An Alaska representative boarded the plane, and told us I could not fly without a note from a doctor stating that I was cleared to fly,” reads Elizabeth Sedway's Facebook post.
The California woman says that she's been struggling with cancer for years now, and that, although she was feeling especially weak this past Tuesday, there was no reason for Alaska Airlines to kick her off her flight.
The airline offered her a refund
Having kicked her off her April 7 flight from Hawaii to San Jose, Alaska Airlines offered to refund the woman's fare. There is no news that they also offered her an apology of sorts.
Rather than keep the money, Elizabeth Sedway says that she plans to donate it to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, a non-profit organization working to advance multiple myeloma treatments.
This condition is a form of cancer that attacks a specific type of white blood cells known as plasma cells. It is this form of cancer that the Elizabeth Sedway has been battling for years.