Mich. Man Accepts Apology After Humiliating Pat-Down

A bladder cancer survivor from Houghton Lake, who wears a bag that collects his urine, said the head of the Transportation Security Administration called to apologize for an airport pat-down that caused the bag to spill its contents on his clothing.

Tom Sawyer, a 61-year-old retired special education teacher, said the experience left him in tears before he caught a flight to Orlando, Fla., on Nov. 7.

"When he got to my chest with the pat down, he was using his open hand to go down my chest, quite hard, and I knew that if he kept doing that when he got down to my urostomy, he'd pull it off," Sawyer told WWJ Newsradio 950. "And I said you're gonna have to be more gentle than that because you're gonna pull my urostomy off, and sure enough, off it came."

Sawyer said TSA chief John Pistole called him Monday and apologized on behalf of the TSA. Sawyer told The Detroit News that he ``very graciously'' accepted Pistole's apology.

``Here I am, just an average citizen from a small town,'' Sawyer told the Detroit Free Press. ``I told him, `I only want training for the agents on medical conditions.'''

Earlier Monday, Pistole said he was concerned about people such as Sawyer who have had uncomfortable experiences with agents. He told CBS' ``The Early Show'' that he had ``great concern over anybody who feels like they have not been treated properly or had something embarrassing'' happen.

Sawyer said that once he got through security, he changed his bag, but didn't have time to change his clothing and had to board the plane soaked in urine. ``I was embarrassed to death,'' he told the Free Press.

Sawyer was diagnosed with bladder cancer three years ago and had to have a procedure that left him with a urostomy bag to catch rerouted urine.

Claire Saxton, executive director of the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, said she's concerned Sawyer's story is indicative of a larger trend.

``TSA agents need to be trained to listen when someone tells them they have a health issue, because the one thing that Tom in his account talked about was he tried to explain and they just weren't even interested in listening,'' Saxton told The Associated Press.

``No one living with an 'ostomy' should be afraid of flying because they're afraid of being humiliated,'' she said.

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