thyroid removed and the military

[jerry1250]

i post this question in the DR forum also. my 18 year old son join the marines early and was to report to boot camp in June right after he finished high school. he has had thyroid cancer and he had surgeon 100% removed his thyroid on 3 / 9 / 09. Alex will have to take thyroid medicines the rest of his life and in the next few weeks he will have to take oral radiation. i don't see how he could stand up to boot camp in June and if he does go to the marines he may not be able to always get his medicines on the front lines and he could die. i just want to get all the info that i can on this.

[jerry1250]

thanks for the reply i don't want my son to get his hopes up thats for sure. i have been getting conflicting reports on this and i don't want it to up set Alex. i just want to get this behind us and go forward.

[bluestarmom187]

Based on what I know, your son may not be able to continue with military. My thyroid problem was found by MEPS and they disqualified me even before the dx of cancer. I researched it and found that once you have a dx of thyroid cancer the military will not accept you due to the need for medicine and the need for continued follow up to insure the cancer does not re-occure. This may be a very hard thing for your son to accept, I know that it was for me. In a very rare cases...such as your son having college which would allow him to join as an officer, the military does give a medical wavier. I wish you and your son well.