By Suzanne Rhodes

This is what Jami’s babies are up to:

“His twinkle in his eyes you can’t resist.”

“Hunter smiles all the time when you look at him. He has the cutest little face. It lights up his whole face when you smile at him.”

“Quinn says momma and dada, and we are trying to teach him Uh-oh. He says ‘uh, uh, uh,’ and we say ‘ooo.’ It’s so cute!”

Quinn, Liam, and Hunter are triplets, and that is remarkable enough. But what is even more remarkable is that these children, now 16 months old, almost died during Jami’s pregnancy.

She had a rare condition known as Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome that required urgent medical treatment. Time was of the essence. “On Sunday (April 25) we found out that I had to go to Washington [to Seattle Evergreen Hospital]. They said to come now or I had a 90 percent chance of losing all three babies,” Jami said. “We had to fly there on Tuesday. But it would cost $1,200! We couldn’t afford it.” She and her husband, Patrick, live in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Patrick’s mother, Penny, found Mercy Medical Airlift on the Internet. “Penny called on Sunday and left a message. She got a call back from Jim Smith. She was crying and happy.”

Smith is MMA’s executive vice president. “In urgent situations like this, we are often able to provide the bridge to potentially life-saving treatment,” he said.

Smith purchased tickets for Jami and Patrick to travel on Tuesday with Alaska Airlines, arriving in time for her afternoon appointment. “He’s very nice,” Jami said. “A huge blessing.”

On Friday morning doctors performed the procedure. “I got a spinal block and could watch on TV while they were doing it. It was kind of neat. I got to see hands, feet and legs. One of the babies was grabbing the camera!” The couple flew back home on May 2.

On July 27, the 23-year-old mother delivered identical triplets: Quinn, Liam and Hunter. “I delivered by C-section six weeks early,” Jami said. She and her husband, Patrick, have another son, Michael, who was only two when his three brothers arrived.

Jami wrote us in August of this year to report that “the boys turned one on July 27 and are thriving, thanks to your program. I was left in tears that night just looking over newborn photos and remembering the scary stuff, and that they would not be here without your program. You gave them the only chance to survive, and I will never forget that!”

Source of growth chart: www.Magic.org (click the image to see it full size)

[Editor’s Note: Emily Altmann is an intern with Mercy Medical Airlift and a graduating senior majoring in English at Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk, VA.]

Being born with a rare growth disorder has its share of difficulties.  When you’re in the midst of the middle school years, serious medical issues can be a lot to deal with. Just ask twelve-year-old Jacob of New Lenox, Illinois.  Jacob was born with a rare growth disorder known as Russell-Silver Syndrome (RSS).

At a year old, Jacob was diagnosed with the disease.  Children are born with RSS, and though there’s no scientific test for the disorder, doctors can usually diagnose based upon certain characteristics.  Those with it are typically afflicted by slow growth rate, little to no appetite, low muscle tone, asymmetrical growth, and delayed speech development.

“He’s had a lot of issues dealing with being tiny and certain obstacles he’s had to overcome,” says Jacob’s mother, Kathy.  “But all the intervention has helped tremendously.”

Jacob and his mother attend the MAGIC Foundation’s annual convention held in Chicago.  The MAGIC foundation is devoted to providing support and helping families with children afflicted by growth disorders such as RSS.  They began attending the convention years ago to meet with a specialist there who offers free evaluations.

Two years ago at the MAGIC Foundation’s convention, Kathy stumbled across Mercy Medical Airlift.  She met with a representative and has been flying with MMA ever since.

“I’ve had great success with Mercy Medical,” she says.

Jacob and Kathy travel to New York’s Mt. Sinai Medical Center two to three times a year to see the specialist in order to track his progress.  Jacob receives nightly growth hormone injections and is seeing positive results.

“He used to never show up on growth charts, but now he does.  He’s no longer the tiniest boy,” says Kathy.  The hormones have helped Jacob’s height and increased some of his muscle tone.

But growth hasn’t been Jacob’s only obstacle.  In early childhood, he underwent speech therapy and originally communicated with sign language.  “The therapy has helped tremendously.  His speech is perfect,” says his mom.  Jacob began school on an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), but he has since moved into regular classes and is earning straight A’s.

Although his disorder can be a weighty challenge, Jacob maintains an optimistic attitude.  “Everybody has their days, but he has a better attitude because he’s growing,” his mom says.

Jacob is the youngest of three children.  He likes to play basketball and ride his bike.  He’s also a video game aficionado; his console of choice is the Xbox 360.

“Ever since he was little, before he could talk, he’s been very outgoing,” says Kathy.  “He fits in just like every other boy.”

Photo courtesy of MC2 Olivia R. Giger, NAS Fallon Public Affairs Office

Spc. Tim Hall, who lost both legs due to a mortar blast in Afghanistan, celebrated Christmas at home in Hawthorne, Nevada, with his loving family and friends who welcomed him with flags, banners, and signs praising their hometown hero. Mercy Medical Airlift’s partner charity, Air Compassion for Veterans, arranged a round-trip air ambulance flight donated by FedEx (provided fuel) and Omni Air Transport Ambulance with the AeroCare Medical Transport team.

You can learn more about this moving story at

http://www.kolotv.com

Tim is now back at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, continuing his rehabilitation.

James has fun in a leaf pile despite his medical problems.

The Internet is a powerful tool for patients and families seeking information about rare disorders, among all the other things found on the super highway. Through an Internet support group, Ashly and Ronnie discovered Dr. Frank Hanley, the renowned pediatric cardiologist who could help their eight-month old son.

Baby James had turned blue right after he was born. At the University of Maryland Medical Center, testing showed he was suffering from a rare condition known as tetralogy of fallot. James was born with almost no pulmonary artery. He underwent surgery, with the surgeon installing a conduit for the missing artery.

 “The doctors thought it was successful,” Ashly said. “It worked for about three months. But then they noticed that the heart wasn’t doing as well.”

James had emergency surgery to correct respiratory distress, circulation problems, and other issues. “They put a shunt in and discovered his left lung was only partially developed,” Ashly said, with a mere 30 percent capacity. The right lung was 70 percent.

“He spent two months in and out of the hospital. We struggled for months and spent maybe four days at home over two months’ time.” The couple lives in Hampstead, Maryland.

She explained that James developed a serious case of RSV (a viral disease of the lungs). “We almost lost him around New Year’s. We talked to the doctors at the University of Maryland. They gave a gloomy outlook and said we should send James’ records out to other hospitals.”

She and Ronnie began to research their son’s disorder and found a support group online for tetralogy of fallot. A mother named Astrid recommended Dr. Hanley of Stanford University, the pioneering surgeon who had corrected her infant daughter’s heart defect with one operation.

James’ medical records were sent to Stanford, and an appointment was set. “The hospital was very supportive,” Ashly said.

Astrid also suggested Mercy Medical Airlift. Ashly called and got a flight. “We were just amazed, especially at how quickly MMA was able to get this for us.”

In an email note, Ashly wrote that the April 21 surgery was “long and grueling and very stressful, but James came out well, and we were all wonderfully surprised.”

The Cancer Center in Arlington, Texas, was recommended for its high success rate in sending cancer into remission, and Shirley insisted that “she had to go to Texas. She was not willing to play games with this cancer and her life.”

After undergoing a double mastectomy in January, she was able to get an appointment at the Arlington Cancer Center for January 26. “We contemplated driving to Texas, but my wife was not able to make the trip on the road,” Duane said. The American Cancer Society referred them to Mercy Medical Airlift, and a flight on Delta airlines was arranged within a week’s time. Still weak from her surgery, Shirley needed a wheelchair and an escort to get her from one gate to another. “I have never seen so many people work together to take care of a hurting person, both physically and mentally. The return trip on January 30 was equally comforting,” Duane explained.

During her time in Arlington, Shirley underwent a battery of tests that fortunately failed to detect any additional cancer in her body.  She is currently taking chemotherapy treatment back home and will return to Arlington in June for additional tests and to set up her radiation schedule. Mercy Medical Airlift stands ready to help the couple again with future travel “as long as the resources are available,” said mission director Dannie Ducksworth.

“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.

Shortly before her mother’s death in 2001, Alice began to see signs of her illness. She started having shoulder pain and sought medical help. The doctor told her that all of her tests showed up fine and prescribed Vicodin. The pain grew worse.

“Eventually the pain was so bad I took eight at one time and the pain was never touched by it.”

As the pain worsened, Alice asked to see an orthopedic surgeon. For almost a year she received a cortisone shot every couple of weeks, but the pain remained.

After that, her right hand swelled up, and she went to her clinic doctor thinking she had arthritis. Her doctor laughed at the idea of arthritis and took an x-ray of her hand. By the time she arrived home, there was a message from her doctor to call immediately. She was told she had a fracture in her wrist and hand, and was instructed to see the orthopedic surgeon. Full body x-rays were taken and the doctor showed Alice the film.

“The doctor came in and shot up one X-Ray and said, you have a tumor here, here and here.”

A tumor had eaten through her wrist. Nonsecretory multiple myeloma was diagnosed.

She underwent seven months of chemotherapy and traveled to Cleveland Clinic in Ohio for stem cell transplants. This caused her to be away from home where she cared for her brother, who has Down’s Syndrome, her foster son who was severely brain damaged, and her biological son who was just starting high school. She kept in touch with her family and talked to her son three times a day.

“One of those calls he pleaded with me, saying ‘Momma, you can’t die. Please don’t die.’”

Once Alice was eligible for Medicare, she headed to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), the top research facility for myeloma internationally. She travels to UAMS every year, where they have stocked up on her stem cells in case of a relapse.

At UAMS she found out about Mercy Medical Airlift.

“The people who work for MMA are not just providing transportation,” she said. “They are the steady voice that gives you courage when you are alone and away from home.”

Alice, awaiting her son’s graduation from college this December, is still making progress with her illness, but the road is tough. She receives a small disability check and faces a foreclosure on her home. Thanks to MMA she is able to continue traveling to Arkansas for her treatment.

“They work miracles in their own way. They save lives.”

They came with their dad, Bobby, to Virginia Beach on September 22 to attend the evening premier of the new documentary, Mercy Medical Airlift: Compassion Takes Flight. Mercy Medical Airlift is the parent organization of Angel Flight and the other charitable air transportation programs operated out of the Virginia Beach headquarters where the film was screened to an audience of some 30 people.

Besides the three handsome young Angel Flight passengers, other notable guests were Dr. and Mrs. Donald Nuss. Dr. Nuss is interviewed in the film and explains, in a moving segment, how he developed a procedure to correct pectus excavatum, or “sunken-in chest.” Angel Flight transports many patients to Children’s Hospital of the Kings’ Daughters in Norfolk to be treated by the internationally-renowned pediatric surgeon.

Dewayne Rudd, president of Cross and Flag Productions, also attended the premier of the film he and his nonprofit group created over a period of over eight months. Rudd is a UPS pilot from Kentucky who donated Compassion Takes Flight as a gift to Mercy Medical Airlift.

Oren Liebermann, a reporter with a local NBC affiliate, WAVY-10, covered the event and arranged to have it broadcast later on the evening news.

To commemorate the documentary and recognize MMA’s 25^th anniversary, being celebrated this year, Mayor Will Sessoms signed a proclamation designating September 22 as “Mercy Medical Airlift Day” in Virginia Beach. After reading the proclamation aloud to the audience, the deputy city manager, Suzy Walston, presented the document to Ed Boyer, Mercy Medical’s president and CEO.

Highlights from the hour-long film included a segment on aero-medical history, Tangier Island, and interviews with patients, pilots, staff members, and coverage of the fundraiser for the veterans program, Halos and Heroes with Charlie Daniels. Compassion Takes Flight is being shown on hundreds of public, educational and government access TV channels throughout the United States, including stations in Hampton, Norfolk, and Gloucester.

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.

Osteopathology is a treatment utilizing manipulation where doctors put their hands on the patient and work with bone movements. Dr. Frymann, Chana’s osteopathologist in San Diego, has had marked success in improving her vision. Chana’s father, David, said within two weeks they noticed positive results with both her vision and cognition. She has also been answering questions much more quickly since their return home.

“She’s holding onto her improvements,” David said.

Previous treatments had shown positive results for a couple of weeks, but Chana would always regress back to her complications.

David, who accompanied his daughter on the flight, says he heard about Mercy Medical Airlift through an organization he had previously worked with called Miracle Flight.

“It was one or two days later and we had our itinerary. It was shocking,” he said. “It was so easy and fast, it couldn’t have been any better.”

David says he accompanies Chana at her appointments while his wife stays home with their other three children.
On the plane, Chana watched her favorite DVD, an alphabet learning program called “Love and Learning” made especially for special needs children. She also colored with her crayons on the flight, and her father said she was up and down and walking around the aisle.

Fortunately, David has found a doctor closer to home who uses the same techniques as Dr. Valenti, the vision doctor in California. Dr. Wiener practices in North Island, New Jersey. He attended school with Dr. Valenti, who has given him instructions about Chana’s condition.

David, too, is given instructions for home exercises with Chana. She will look at objects close up and then at a distance, as a kind of eye training method, her father said. Chana also sees another osteopathologist in the Bronx once a month.

David says without help from Mercy Medical Airlift, Chana would not have all the opportunities she needs to develop into her potential.

With the high prices of airfare, he said Mercy Medical’s provision of flights is a huge help. “The flight gives us the opportunity to go to California as often as Chana needs. Without the help, we wouldn’t be able to do it. We really appreciate it.”

Some 63 people attended, most from metro Washington, D.C. Volunteer pilots, board members, a patient and her family, staff members and friends enjoyed visiting during a reception followed by an excellent meal and program emceed by Edward Boyer, an MMA founder and the organization’s CEO and president.

Boyer introduced Camille Cormier, one of the first patients flown in the Cessna 421 air ambulance. The lone survivor of an airplane accident in California, Camille suffered extensive injuries and was transported by volunteer pilot Harvey Engen. With emotion, she told of the pain of losing her brother, who was flying the aircraft when it crashed, killing him and two other passengers. She also expressed her deep gratitude for Mercy Medical’s gift of flight.

The keynote speaker was board member Col. Randy Brandt, USAF (Ret), who reviewed MMA’s long, illustrious history, weaving in biblical verses related to helping one another that illustrate the charity’s impetus for service. Brandt interspersed his remarks with segments from the compelling new documentary, Mercy Medical Airlift: Compassion Takes Flight by Cross and Flag Productions that is soon to be released. Copies may be obtained with a donation to MMA. (Read the synopsis at the end of this article.)

Several tables lined the banquet room displaying various programs offering medical air transportation: Angel Flight, Air Compassion America, Mercy Medical Airlift and Air Compassion for Veterans.

For those who have advanced Ed Boyer’s vision of making sure no patient is denied access to distant, specialized medical care because of lack of funds for transportation, the evening was memorable and meaningful. “Seeing the faces of so many friends and dedicated supporters made our 25th year celebration special in every way,” Boyer said. “It’s been the Lord’s work from the very beginning.”

Mercy Medical Airlift: Compassion Takes Flight

“Hope is what we’re all about,” says Jim Smith, an executive with Mercy Medical Airlift. This national charity and its dedicated programs provide a service most Americans are unaware is even needed: patient travel. In Compassion Takes Flight, you will discover, for example, that 10 percent of our population suffers from rare diseases requiring specialized treatment far from home. Mercy Medical Airlift provides charitably donated airline tickets for such patients. Other patients in need travel for free on Angel Flights.

In this inspiring, hour-long documentary, take a virtual trip in a private aircraft with a volunteer pilot and patient from a small island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay to a medical center on the mainland. With no advanced treatment available on Tangier, islanders rely on Angel Flight to give them access to vital medical care. Meet Dr. Neil Kaye, a pilot, psychiatrist and Tangier resident who says the Angel Flights are “God’s work.” You’ll meet Dr. Donald Nuss, a pediatric surgeon from Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughters in Norfolk, Virginia, who pioneered a procedure to correct “sunken in chest,” or pectus excavatum. Many of his patients rely on Angel Flight in order to travel to Norfolk.

You will learn about other operations of Mercy Medical Airlift, including a national call center, an air ambulance program, and a service for military patients and families, Air Compassion for Veterans. To raise funds, Air Compassion for Veterans featured the Charlie Daniels Band at an event called Halos and Heroes, along with an honors ceremony for veterans and service members. The film’s patriotic finale will stir your emotions and highlight the generosity of America the Beautiful in organizations like Mercy Medical Airlift that are doing God’s work in a hurting world.