MMA Is Steady Voice of Courage

patient-travel-family By: Tim Homa

“I have outlived my prognosis of six months by seven and a half years because I am able to travel through your service,” said Alice.

Alice, 55, uses Mercy Medical Airlift to fly from her home in Ohio to Arkansas, where she receives treatment at the Winthrop Rockefeller Cancer Center. In 2002, after a series of physical problems and the task of caring for her mother who had suffered three strokes, she was diagnosed with nonsecretory multiple myeloma. This is a rare variation of multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells in bone marrow. With nonsecretory multiple myeloma, the body fails to secrete a protein, and the bone marrow looks normal, allowing the myeloma to travel through the bones undetected.
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Angel Flight Passengers Attend Premier of Compassion Takes Flight

Ryan-Justin-Jordan A rare disease can dim the human spark but in the case of three Chesapeake, Virginia brothers suffering from RP, or retinitis pigmentosa, the smiles are radiant. Ryan, 20, Justin, 18, and Jordan, 14, take Angel Flights every two years to Harvard Medical Center to be treated for a genetic eye disorder that gradually leads to loss of vision. The boys receive experimental treatment from the nation’s leading RP specialist, Dr. Elliott Berson.

Hopeful Flight Marks Child’s Birthday

chana_med Chana’s fifth birthday this year was more than cake and presents. On August 28, she was flown from San Diego back to her home in Monsey, New York, 40 miles north of New York City. The trip, provided through Mercy Medical Airlift’s charitable ticket program, enabled Chana to see a world-renown osteopathologist and a specialist in vision development. Chana, who has Down’s Syndrome, suffers from complications in vision coordination.

The bubbly little girl is in very good health compared to other children with Down’s Syndrome. However, her optical complications require special attention. Doctors have recommended surgeries and glasses, but an osteopathologist in San Diego treated Chana a little differently.

MMA Celebrates 25 Years with Banquet and Film Highlights

mma_banquet_medium Mercy Medical Airlift is 25 years old, cause for celebrating the tens of thousands of patients who have benefited from charitable medical flights throughout the years. To recognize the many dedicated individuals who have contributed to the growth and development of our charitable services, MMA hosted a banquet on May 9 in Gainesville, Virginia, at the beautiful Heritage Hunt clubhouse and featured highlights from the new documentary, Mercy Medical Airlift: Compassion Takes Flight.

Twins Depend on Airlifts for Life-Saving Treatment

Ashley and Amber were among the first children enrolled in a clinical trial to treat Congenital Lactic Acidosis, or CLA. The condition leads to the abnormal buildup of lactic acid in the blood and spinal fluid. Without specialized treatment, CLA victims usually die as teenagers.

Dr. Peter W. Stacpoole directs the study, which utilizes the drug Dichloroacetate (DCA) to help reduce acidity and which seems to improve neurologic function. The twin girls, now 15, started taking trips to the University of Florida Research Center in Gainesville when they were two years old. Through its Child Lift program, Mercy Medical Airlift has provided free air transportation for Ashley and Amber and most of the other 42 children participating in the trial since 1995.

Ashley and Amber live in Las Vegas, Nevada. Their mother, Gina, says that without the drug DCA and Mercy Medical Airlift, the twins wouldn’t be alive today. Though Ashley can’t walk or talk and both girls are in wheelchairs, they are mainstreamed ninth graders and “very happy”, according to their mom.

Since that first child lift, MMA has been contacted to provide charitable flights related to 120 studies throughout the United States.

Cancer Patient Flown from Upper New York State to Seattle

Richard was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer – a condition really not that uncommon particularly for older patients. The only place where the special bone-marrow work could be done for Richard was at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle.

Richard is 72 years old and with his wife lives on Social Security and a really small pension. Multiple round-trips via the airlines to Seattle was out of the question. There simply were no funds to pay for tickets. The 10% senior citizen discount didn’t make much difference.

Resources obtained through the Mercy Medical Airlift Charitable Airline Ticket program provided funds to obtain airline tickets leaving from Philadelphia for the west coast. A volunteer pilot organization then arranged for a private aircraft transport from upper New York State to Philadelphia and return. Richard is doing well with his bone marrow transplant.