An Air Force Reserve pilot who was prevented from serving due to a health condition is now getting his second chance to fly.

Lt. Col. Josh Nelson was disqualified from the Air Force in late 2017 after being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, CBS affiliateWCCOreported.

“Out of nowhere, with no family history or any background on it whatsoever, I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, which falls underneath the umbrella of inflammatory bowel disease,” Nelson told the outlet. “And that disease just, it beats you up. I was afraid to eat at times because I was afraid of the pain that it would cause.”

Because the condition is considered a type of inflammatory bowel disease, which ison the Air Force’s list of disqualifying medical conditions, Nelson was told he could not serve as a pilot any longer.

The news was devastating to Nelson, who had done five deployments with the Air Force over 21 years and was working as a C130 instructor pilot, according to the outlet.

“The great thing about what we do is the people who are there want to be there, we all choose to serve,” Nelson explained to WCCO. “There’s no greater honor and responsibility than, you know, being given the keys to the C130.”

Though he was grounded from flying, Nelson knew that wouldn’t be the end of his career.

Refusing to give up, he started to focus his attention on managing his condition, according to WCCO. He began taking medications and later underwent two surgeries, the outlet reported.

“An ileostomy is pretty much, I don’t have a colon anymore, so I have an appliance stuck to my abdomen,” he explained to WCCO. “It’s pretty much my small intestine that comes through my abdominal wall, and so that’s where my waste, my output comes through.”

Once he had recovered from the procedure and figured out how to best manage his condition, Nelson set his focus on returning to work, the outlet reported.

Over the next two years, he worked with Dr. Wolfgang Gaertner, his surgeon at M Health Fairview’s University of Minnesota Medical Center, to see if that goal would be possible, according to WCCO.

“There [were] a lot of steps that we had to go through,” Gaertner recalled to the outlet. “It took me a while to understand like aeronautics, and just like, differences in pressures. For example, to understand how his body would react to, you know, those physical demands.”

When it was time for him to reapply, Nelson said he made every effort to prove he was capable again.

RELATED VIDEO: Military Man Holds 8-Month-Old Son for First Time After Deployment

“The idea was to send the best package forward so when that package landed on that desk, it would be difficult for them to rule against me, mentally, physically,” Nelson explained to WCCO.

As it turned out, that’s exactly what happened — and in late 2019, Nelson finally received a waiver to get back in the cockpit and fly again, according to the outlet.

Looking back on his experience, Nelson — who believes he may be the first pilot in the country to return to flying after an ileostomy — said he’s learned quite a lot about staying persistent.

“Everyone can be resilient. Everyone can bounce back if they’re given that opportunity and that second chance,” Nelson told WCCO. “Which is what I think I truly was given, was a second chance and an opportunity to be able to return.”

source: people.com