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Total speculaion here.

I would think Backlash was very close to being finished. I'm not sure if I ever knew what typical publisher's schedules are, but there's editing that needs to be done, ARCs that need to be published, and the final book that needs to be sent to the printer. 6 months out is probably fair, which is June, which isn't very far away. So I would think he was almost done with that book.

It could still be done in time. I'm sure that there have been closer calls (frankly, we know there have been on some Star Wars books, manuscripts delivered only a couple of months before publication) - but if they need to push things out a bit because he needs time to recover, they have some wiggle room. Karen Miller's Clone Wars book is done I believe - I think she's just adding some finishing touches or something. Her book wasn't due out until March 2010. So they could flip-flop that book with Allston's Backlash (which is due Jan 2010) and still have it out before Golden's FotJ #5 (due April 2010). It's not ideal, but it could be done that way. It could also have a ripple effect and push out other FotJ books and pull up other Star Wars books (to give Allston time to catch up) - but the further out we go, the less likely it's going to really be a problem.

Assuming Allston makes a full recovery (and indications seem to be positive) there's no reason I can think of that he shouldn't be able to continue with his books in FotJ - but then, only he can really make that call. I would suspect Del Rey would be far more likely to leave it up to Allston than to decide to replace him so they can keep to the schedule - they're constantly updating the schedule and it's because of things like this. Life happens sometimes and you adjust to it - Stover had problems getting out Shadows of Mindor, so they adjusted the schedule. I'd think in a 'worst' case scenerio Del Rey might shuffle the order of the authors for the last three books, putting Allston last and thereby giving him more time, but again, it's so far off, I doubt that would be the choice (and that's not taking into consideration that each author probably knows what their general plans are for each book, and that puts a whole new snag in it). Far more likely, if any change needs to be made, it'll be a delay in the schedule.

But that's just my thoughts.