Who is Lew?

For those of you who don't know the wonderful Lew Stanford, let me introduce him. He is my dear friend from Bellingham Washington. We flew together. He was my pilot, I was one of his nurses. He flew me around in helicopters. He is funny and smart and really cares about people. We could be in the thick of it (sick patient, bad weather, everything going wrong) and he would say something funny and real. This is different than real funny - you knew things were still going bad but you somehow felt better about it. For my non medical friends who will be reading this there is an incredibly close bond formed when you work 24 hour shifts together. Even closer when you work at the Bellingham base. For so many reasons but especially because the crew quarters were and are the size of a closet.

Lew and Rose got married at my house, we even share an anniversary! When I was commuting to Bellingham from Tacoma, Lew would generously offer up his house so I would have a place a stay in between shifts. He has a way of making you feel at ease. He doesn't know a stranger, everyone is instantly his friend.

Lew was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in March. He has since gone through radiation and is currently going through chemo. Lew is a fighter and if anyone can beat this I know he can!