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with no abnormal findings, Mastalerz’s doctor ordered a colonoscopy.

“I had just turned 45 and my doctor said, ‘Well, you’re at a prime age for when we do a colonoscopy,’” Mastalerz said. “So, in December 2020, I had my first colonoscopy, and the procedure was fine until I woke up and the doctor who performed the procedure said, ‘Hey, I hate to break the bad news, it’s not confirmed yet, but we found what looks like a tumor in your colon. We’re gonna do a biopsy, but I’m just letting you know right now, it’s not normal and it doesn’t look right.’ ”

Two days later, at 9 a.m., Mastalerz got a phone call from his physician. Their fears had been confirmed.

“And that’s when my world totally shifted,” Mastalerz said. “They couldn’t stage it, but he said that they found a positive, cancerous tumor in my colon. That’s when my whole life kind of stopped.”

More than 20 years of military service, over 3,600 flight hours, and multiple overseas deployments had not prepared Mastalerz for the battle he was about to face.

“I was grappling with the immediate details of what was going on,” Mastalerz said. “My initial reaction was all the range of emotions — fear, anxiety, helplessness. After telling my wife and my kids, the next phone call I made was to the medical group and I said, ‘Hey, I just got diagnosed with cancer.’ ”

Mastalerz was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer in men and women and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Mastalerz immediately thought about how his diagnosis would impact his family and potentially end his military career.

“The first thing that popped into my mind when I got diagnosed was being a husband and father,” Mastalerz said. “My son lives 30 minutes from me, but my daughter goes to college at the University of Utah, so we had to break the news to her over the phone, which was extremely difficult. With the reality of, not only the diagnosis, but so many questions that were not answered right away when they found the tumor, my mortality instantly came to mind. After processing that, within a few hours, the next thought was, ‘OK, am I going to be able to serve in the military?’ Even if I were to get healthy again, I thought that maybe, because of my diagnosis, my military career would be over and that I’d already had my last official military flight.”

His career was not immediately over. Though Mastalerz would not be able to fly, Lt. Col. Neal Byrne, 103rd Operations Group commander, left the decision up to him as to whether he would continue to serve as a squadron commander while undergoing cancer treatment.

“[Byrne] supported me, without a doubt saying, ‘We’re here for you. We’re not going to leave you.’ ”

Mastalerz confided in several members of the 103rd who were closest to him. Col. Howard Suls, former Chief of Aeromedical Services for the 103rd Medical Group, as well as Chaplain (Col.) David Larsen and others, reinforced Mastalerz’s resilience by assuring him that he would not have to fight his cancer battle without the support of his fellow airmen.

“[Suls and Larsen] both told me, ‘This isn’t the end all, be all. We’re going to get through this. We’re going to battle this and we’ll offer whatever support we can give.’ ”

Mastalerz began his uphill battle against colorectal cancer at Massachusetts General Hospital in January 2021. It was during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, so for the safety of medical patients and staff, the cancer center did not allow people to accompany their family members as they received treatment. Mastalerz’s wife would drop him off at the cancer center for his radiation and chemotherapy, then pick him up eight hours later when the sessions ended.

Still, through the hardship, Mastalerz wanted life for himself and his family to be as normal as possible. It was the best way he knew how to deal with the diagnosis.

“My daughter would call very often because she was obviously concerned that her dad was diagnosed with cancer,” Mastalerz said. “She even talked about withdrawing from school that semester. We assured her that, if there was a downturn in my treatment, we would have that conversation, but she needed to go to school and continue living her life. That’s what you want for your kids. You don’t want to impede on your children’s growth and their life.”

Mastalerz also wanted the airmen under his command to continue their lives as normal. Few airmen knew that he was battling cancer.

“I didn’t want the attention on me,” Mastalerz said. “I wanted to stay squadron commander because when I was not feeling good at home, recovering from chemo at least it gave me something normal. I booted up my laptop and went through my emails and did all that stuff when I felt good enough because I wanted a sense of normalcy, instead of just looking at four walls and watching Netflix.”

Mastalerz received eight rounds of chemotherapy, then 28 rounds of radiation therapy while taking chemotherapy pills. After a brief pause in treatment, he underwent a six-hour surgery to remove cancerous tissue and 9 inches of his large intestine.

“The first few days after each chemo treatment just felt terrible,” Mastalerz said. “I had neuropathy where my fingers were tingling. If I touched anything, it felt like needles. I was extremely sensitive to cold. If I drank anything, it had to be room temperature or warmer; anything other than that, it was like drinking ice and it would freeze my whole throat. That’s just a byproduct of one of the chemotherapies that I was undergoing.”

Mastalerz went through what many would consider a dark period, not knowing whether he would survive, much less be able to continue his career as a pilot. Now, in 2022, nearly two years after his cancer diagnosis, Mastalerz is a cancer survivor, and he has taken to the skies again.

On June 24, the weather was clear and sunny, with a high temperature of 82 degrees. On that day, surrounded by members of his aircrew who had helped him through some of his toughest days, Mastalerz piloted his first flight since his diagnosis.

“I became emotional as soon as I got airborne,” Mastalerz said. “I just felt this overwhelming joy inside that what I just encountered for the last 18 months is now behind me and I’m starting a new chapter. Being able to physically do what I once was able to do without any restrictions and having the pure enjoyment of flying again was amazing. As I was flying, I got a little misty-eyed because I missed it so much. And the crew was fantastic.”

Mastalerz gives credit to his family and fellow members of the 103rd Airlift Wing for helping him make a full recovery.

“The love and support of my kids, my wife, and, of course, my parents and my in-laws, that kept me resilient,” Mastalerz said. “The camaraderie on the military side kept me resilient. And then, just trying to do things for the greater good, made me resilient, too.”

Master Sgt. Tamara R. Dabney/U.S. Air Force Air Force Lt. Col. Richard Paul Mastalerz II (front, center), a pilot assigned to the 103rd Airlift Wing, Connecticut Air National Guard, and members of his aircrew, prepare to fly a C-130H aircraft, June 4, at Bradley Air National Guard Base, East Granby, Conn. The flight was Mastalerz’s first since being diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in 2020.