'Everything is awesome'

AIRWAY HEIGHTS — Air Force Col. Sean McClune gave everyone the rundown on how the day was going to go when he paused to answer an important question from a very special guest Friday morning.

"What's up, man?" McClune asked Post Falls 7-year-old Isaiah Watkins.

Isaiah looked up at McClune through his glasses and quietly asked: “Do we get to keep the helmets?"

"Uh, not a helmet," McClune answered, grinning. "But we have some other stuff for you, how’s that sound?"

Isaiah, a North Idaho Christian School second-grader, did not get to leave Fairchild Air Force Base with a $20,000 flight helmet during his tour of the 384th Air Refueling Squadron headquarters. But he did get to try one on and he went home with some other cool souvenirs, including his own kid-sized flight suit, a flight scarf, squadron patches and his very own call sign — Laser.

“All aircrew guys have cool call signs," McClune told Isaiah.

Isaiah and his brothers, Corban, 10, and Ezekiel, 6, and their parents, Ken and Lisa, were invited to Fairchild for the Pilot for a Day program, coordinated with the help of Shriners Hospitals for Children in Spokane. Pilot for a Day invites disadvantaged and seriously ill children to the base to meet flight crews, tour the facilities, learn all about the planes and sit in the pilot's seat.

"I'm thinking everything is awesome," said Isaiah, who was born with a rare condition, fibular hemimelia.

Isaiah was only 9 months old when his right leg was removed. Because of the fibular hemimelia, which affects just one in every 40,000 babies, his right leg was missing its fibular bone.

“He only had three toes, so they amputated those and tucked the heel up and he still has a heel pad and everything so he can stand on it and put weight on it,” Ken said. "Nothing's ever held him back. When he was 6 months old or so, he crawled away and he was in a pond. He has no fear. He's super strong, his upper body. He does the jungle gym and he goes forever. Nothing holds him back."

Lisa said he's the happiest kid, and he even gets a kick out of showing off his prosthetic leg.

“He’s only known that," Lisa said. "It’s been pretty normal. We just wanted to make him feel like it wasn't a big deal. We don't draw attention to it, and he has the perfect attitude for it, so it's just part of everyday life. You don't think about it."

Kristin Monasmith, director of marketing and communications for Shriners Hospitals for Children in Spokane, attended Isaiah's Pilot for a Day tour. She said he has been a patient of theirs "since he was just a little guy."

"To have an opportunity for him to do something so fun like this, it means a lot to him, but it means a lot to us, too," she said. "It's going to be a really good day for him."

Maj. Brian Sikkema — call sign Lurch — is an instructor pilot and an assistant director of operations. He helped coordinate Isaiah's special day, which was the first Pilot for a Day program for the 384th Air Refueling Squadron, inspired by other squadrons on base.

"Our squad commander, Col. McClune, he saw what they did and he really enjoyed it," Sikkema said before the tour.

"We’re really excited about it," he said. "Obviously, I’ve been wanting to be a pilot from a very, very young age, and I love sharing this world with kids in general.”

Sikemma said it’s always fun to bring youngsters into the simulator and get them in the airplane.

“He’s been faced with a lot of difficulties in his life," Sikkema said, of Isaiah. "This is just a little special thing. It’s our way to give back."