Stories from our Precious Cargo: Patients & Passengers

To all of the pilots and staff at Angel Flight NE -

Payton and I wish to thank you all on behalf of our family.  What you gave us was so much more than a flight to medical care. It gave Payton something to smile about and brighten up her world. With all of the blood work, needles and biopsy's she has been through in the last two years, not to mention the countless number of doctor visits we make all through the year, it really gave her something special.  I feel like part of her childhood has been taken from her with her illness, and I'm so glad this brought smiles to her world, and gave her something to talk about for a very long time!  She couldn't wait to attend school this Monday morning and tell her class mates and teachers about her special ride.  We have to be so cautious of illnesses and fevers with her condition and she misses many events due to her illness so this ride really made up for lots of those missed events. She thought she was one special little girl, and at 5 years old to see her realize that and be thankful is a wonderful feeling as a mother.  This would have been typically a long 8-9 hour car ride so your assistance is a dream come true.  We cannot thank you all enough from the bottom of our hearts. I was overwhelmed with the generosity you all have shown us. It was something to really take in, that in this day and age there are still genuine caring individuals out there that do such amazing things.  I don't think I can put into words just how thankful we all are, and just how humbled it made us feel knowing that you all volunteer to do this. This is an amazing thing, of which, we are so very thankful to be able to be a part of.

~ Amy, mother of Payton

I want to thank Angel Flight NE and in particular the flight coordinators for stepping up to the plate on a very shory notice to coordinate a mission to Hopkinsville Ky. for the father that lost a son in Afghanistan so that he can attend todays Remembrance Cermonies at Fort Campbell. The father said that you all were helping him return home via the Angel Flight network and he is so grateful for this.

Five other soldiers in his same company were killed by small arms fire and those families will also be in attendence. I have spoken with families that have gone to these ceremonies in previous months and they tell me one of the best things about them is the chance to bond and spend time with these families.

I was trying to arrange for a commercial flight yesterday out of Providence for this father and we were informed that this was not going to work out. Because of this, we reached out to you and your very positive response was you would do everything you could to do this, and you did.

The flight AFNE Volunteer Pilot, Melissa, provided at the last minute in her Socata TBM 700 was a dream come true for Frank and all of us too. 20,000 ft at close to 300 miles per hour from Westerly to Hopkinsville was an Angel Flight I have never seen before in the five plus years I have been involved with them. I called her and expressed my personal deep appreciation for her flying this mission which was very costly for sure. I plan to send her a personal letter of thanks.

Thank you to the Angel Flight NE team for helping us out. Your cooperation and work to get these missions scheduled on such short notice is what it's all about "Helping People in Need".

Dear Carolyn and Paula,

I wanted to thank you both for all the assistance you rendered for my flights to and from Boston during my radiation treatments.

It was a huge help to have that service in more ways than one and I cannot really find the words to express the gratitude I feel and how care taken I felt at such a difficult and stressful time.

Again, thank you to both of you. All my pilots were wonderful people and it was an exciting experience to travel in the little planes, see the views and listen to all the action in the control tower.

There are always blessings in difficult times. Angel Flight and their people were one big huge blessing.

Sincerely,
Deborah

After being on the waiting list from the University Of Pittsburgh for a Dual Transplant (Pancreas & Kidney) for a while, the call finally came on at 10 pm. on March 21st. UPMC told me that they had a possible donor who is a 100% match. I needed to be in Pittsburgh by morning. While a bit numb from the news, I knew I had to scramble to find a way out to Pittsburgh quickly. Last minute flights were way too expensive and then I recalled AFNE. I started calling everyone on the AFNE pilot list and connected with AFNE pilot, Charlie K., at 2:00 a.m. awakening him from a sound sleep. He said give him an hour and he will let me know what he could do. He called back and said meet him at Teterboro airport in one hour. I thank God everyday for Charlie. He was definitely sent to me from God! ~ James A.

We want to let you know how thankful we are to Angel Flight and JetBlue. They treated Cody like a king; and us like royalty.  He actually got to sit in the Cockpit in the Captains seat after the flight to Texas.  Mike, the flight attendant on the plane, gave Cody a head set to watch and listen to the TV.  Thank you for arranging us to sit in the first set of seats.  This was such a big help to us, especially for my husband to carry Cody a short distance from the plane door to the seat.  Then, Cody's pediatric wheelchair/stroller was waiting right at the plane door after we landed in Texas.

We are very thankful to God for the medical treatment, because it is working and we pray to God that it continues to help him  Thank you to everyone at AFNE, especially Carolyn, and JetBlue's staff and attendants that treated us so kindly on every flight.

Take a Moment to Hear Lexie's story - One of the most adorable little girls you could ever meet.  Her mom, Beverly, says "My whole family gives all of our thanks to them. Everyone at Angel Flight has gone above and beyond.  It's really a blessing."

She is just one of the thousands that Angel Flight Northeast helps annually to get the medical care they need.

When four year old Kyle travels with Angel Flight™ he is accompanied by his mom and his buddy, Junior. As a matter of fact, Kyle does not leave home without him. Junior is not a younger brother and he is not a pet of some sort, he is Kyle’s new kidney. While the kidney is new to Kyle, it is actually 34 years old. That is because Kyle’s kidney once belonged to his dad. Too big to fit where Kyle’s other kidneys once lived, Kyle’s doctors made a home for Junior in Kyle’s abdomen.

When Kyle was two years old he was diagnosed with kidney cancer, which is a rare occurrence in someone as young as Kyle. After surgery, chemotherapy and dialysis, both kidneys called it quits. Kyle was going to need a kidney transplant.

Once the transplant was complete, the question became: how were Kyle and his mom going to get from Rochester, New York to Boston, Massachusetts for his very time sensitive tests each week in Boston? These tests start very early in the morning and don’t end until early afternoon - tests that would make sure that Junior was getting along with his new surroundings that his cancer was gone and that everything was functioning properly.

Traveling by car for Kyle and Junior would not be an option. The weekly 14-hour round-trip car rides would be exhausting for both he and his mother, and extremely uncomfortable for a four year old who only three months ago had a kidney transplant and who recently learned how to walk. Commercial air travel would not be an option either. Weekly round-trip tickets for two for an indefinite amount of time would not only exhaust a family financially but would be unhealthy for Kyle’s immune system: too many people with too many germs.

Kyle takes great care of Junior; he waters him often by drinking 2½ liters of water a day and he tries to protect him by using hand sanitizer and other precautions to prevent him from catching a bug. Kyle’s kidney is high maintenance. He will forever fight his new surroundings. Therefore, Kyle needs to take special medication to ensure that his body will keep Junior happy; medications that make Kyle much more susceptible to viruses and disease.

Kyle has been traveling with Angel Flight since August and is doing very well.

"Angel Flight provides us not just flights but the ability to see our son's medical providers in a timely manner. Angel Flight pilots are not just pilots but responsible, caring individuals who donate their personal time and airplanes while keeping safety as one of their top priorities for my family. And Angel Flight allows my family more time so that we can be together, AT HOME, as a family," says Kyle's mom.