AeroAngel Gives Make-a-Wish Flights To Tulsa Girls
AeroAngel gives make-a-wish flights to Tulsa girls to visit their dad in Salt Lake City where he isrecovering from a heart transplant.
AeroAngel pilots will fly three girls from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Salt Lake City, Utah, on December 20, 2014, so that they can spend their Christmas break with their father who recently received a heart transplant. The girls, ages 9, 11, and 12, stayed in Tulsa while their father, Joseph Buchanan, a decorated Army veteran, traveled to Salt Lake City to wait for a donor heart. He had been on a mechanical heart since May. The health challenges have taken a toll on the family in the last year with Joseph's wife, Lanette also being in Salt Lake City as his sole caregiver. The flights are made possible by AeroAngel, a volunteer flight organization based in Denver that makes free flights in its aircraft for people traveling to medical care but who cannot travel by commercial airline due to their health condition. Make-a-wish flights are also part of its mission.
"We are excited to unite this family for Christmas after they've spent many months apart due to a very difficult health situation," remarked AeroAngel's founder and president, Mark Pestal, a Denver attorney and pilot. AeroAngel will use a small Citation business jet for its flights to and from Salt Lake City. "When we got the call for this flight, our fuel fund was low from doing other flights during the year, but this one was too special to pass up. So, with some last-minute funding, we're able to make this happen," said its president. AeroAngel, which has no paid staff or fundraiser, relies upon donations for its operational expenses. Coincidentally, AeroAngel was able to offer the flights to the family on the same day that Mr. Buchanan learned that he would be receiving a heart early the next morning. The return flight is scheduled for January 2, 2015.
AeroAngel was founded in 2010 to provide free air transportation to people needing to travel for medical or other compelling reasons. The all-volunteer nonprofit relies upon professional pilots and jet aircraft to accomplish its flights throughout the country. With its base in Denver, Colorado, and a variety of pressurized aircraft, AeroAngel is also able to provide flights into small, remote airports not served by commercial air carriers. It is the only group in the country that can offer long-distance flights on short-notice in most weather conditions.
Past flights have included, among others, returning a 7-year-old girl from Michigan to Colorado after she was abducted months earlier; making a short-notice flight to Baltimore's John Hopkins Hospital for a 22-year-old woman with life-threatening kidney disease; and bringing a 14-year-old San Diego, California, girl to Denver for urgent surgery. Earlier this year, AeroAngel pilots flew an adopted baby from New York City to its new home in Gillette, Wyoming. The baby was placed for adoption by its mother who was battling a drug addiction. The baby's medical needs precluded a commercial flight for the new mother and flight nurse. AeroAngel is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that relies upon volunteers and financial donations for fuel and aircraft leasing, as well as donated time on aircraft. In 2013, it was able to dedicate 97.3% of its budget toward flights.
