CNN 2010-11-26

All right. Let's hope that no one else has a TSA experience like Tom Sawyer. You may remember his story that he told us yesterday. Here it is quickly, the back story.

Mr. Sawyer is a bladder cancer survivor 1 and he has to wear a urostomy bag to collect his urine. Now, a few weeks ago in Detroit, he asked for a private pat-down because of his medical device. Well, clearly, the agent didn't know, or didn't even care about Sawyer's situation.

When he got to my chest area, he used his open palm and started doing down my chest quite hard. And I knew that if he got near where my urostomy bag was, there was a possibility of pulling the seal off it. And I said, at that point, you need to go slower and you need to go softer or you're going to pull my urostomy bag off. And he goes, what's that? And I said, it doesn't matter, just go softer. And low and behold 2, he got down to where the urostomy bag was -- I happen to have one of the bags here to show you -- and pulled the seal kind of half off it. And once that happened, it was kind of like pulling the seal off -- half off of a battle of orange juice and tipping it upside down. The urine started coming out to my bag and on to my shirt and down my pants.

And it just sounds like a horrendous 3 experience, Tom. I mean --

It was embarrassing, very embarrassing. It's been three years for me so I'm used to my urostomy now. But it's not something I like to show the world.

Sure.

I think one of the biggest fears for all ostomy patients is that we'll have a leak in public, let alone at an airport.

So this was your worst nightmare.

And he didn't apologize. He didn't do anything. Well, I probably -- there are worse nightmares but it certainly was a horrible nightmare.

Yes.

And I had to walk out in the airport, try to get cleaned up.

You know, I heard that yesterday and my heart sunk and I hear it today and it brings tears to my eyes. I mean, just -- how it got choked up. You actually got to talk to him again today, John. The TSA, John Pistole, the head of TSA called him to apologize. We've heard about all these stories, but this is just absolutely unacceptable.

The TSA saw him on AMERICAN MORNING yesterday. They called us and said, how do we get in touch with this guy? The administrator 4 would like to give him a call. You can imagine what the poor guy went through because he was trying to explain to the TSA screener, I have a medical condition, you need to know about it before you pat me down knowing that the appliance was there. And the guy just didn't seem to care too much about it. But the TSA administrator John Pistole, to his credit, did care about it and telephoned Thomas yesterday. The two of them talked at length. They said they even shared some light banter 5 back and forth 6. You know, how's your day been? Oh, well not too busy. No, neither was mine. I've received a couple of phone calls. But then they got down to the nuts and bolts of it. He was very apologetic. And Thomas even suggested that maybe he had something to teach to the TSA. Let's listen to a little of what he told me this morning.

He went on to apologize to me on behalf of the TSA and then he had some -- some things to say. I had to do a little correcting. He had a part of the story mixed up which a lot of people do right now. And we did that, and then, he asked me what I thought -- because I kept talking about training. What I thought. And so, I talked to him that I really don't believe that they've been trained as well as -- to handle a medical condition as what -- various medical conditions is what many of the TSA postings have been saying. And he said he had -- was going to be talking at 3:00 yesterday afternoon to his supervisors 7 and the whole thing was going to be discussed, and there is going to be a larger meeting.And I offered to actually attend that meeting. And I would demonstrate and talk with them about the world of urostomies, colostomies, insulin pumps, et cetera and will help educate the agents if he was so moved . And he said I might take you up on that. And so, it was a congenial conversation.

So I wonder if he's going to go to that meeting. And my guess is, he sure as hell won't fly.

I don't think --

Unless he's got a private plane coming to him from the TSA.

I don't think he's going to go to that meeting. But wouldn't it be a good idea for some sensitivity training and education for TSA screeners to hear from real people out there and their real stories? You know, as opposed to just some clinical explanation of what it is, hear from somebody who's been through the pat-down and say, here is what it feels like when you're on my end of it. But, you're right. He's not planning on flying any time soon. And even if he were, he would think twice about it because he says that the screeners don't have the level of training that they need to be sensitive to people with medical conditions. And his is only one of a panoply 8 of medical conditions out there that they should be aware of.

Sure.

He didn't go so far as to say that these enhanced pat-downs should stop altogether.

Yes. It's not that he -- he's in support of security. He's just saying, know what the hell you're doing and --

He says, I'm a good American. I know that that airline security is a paramount 9 importance. But he thinks that the screeners need to dial it back a little bit until they are adequately trained.

You can tell he's got a good heart. Poor guy.

He sure does.

He's doing a great job --

The poor fellow. To go through what he went through, can you imagine? And he had to go through the airport, get on the aircraft, wasn't until the plane was actually in the air that he had a chance to change out of his clothes and put on a fresh shirt.

We'll definitely follow his story and see what happens. It would be great to see him speak to some of those agents.