Our Thankful Thursday Newsletter on February 2, 2023 was dedicated to the healthcare journey of 4 year old Brittany from South Hadley, MA.

When Brittney had an ear ache last February that would not go away, her parents booked a sick visit and brought her to the doctor thinking she had an ear infection.  After an exam, it was discovered that Brittany did not have an ear infection but was presenting symptoms of something more serious. After more testing, it was discovered she has cancer which had metastasized.

To care for Brittney’s illness which requires frequent visits to the hospital and traveling out of state for specialized cancer care, both her parents are unable to work. So when our Mission Coordination Team at Angel Flight NE told her parents we could help, it was a blessing in so many ways. Last month, we had the privilege of supporting Brittney and her parents with free air transportation so they could travel via JetBlue from Boston to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for a critical consultation with a specialist.

Earlier this week, Brittney entered a second cycle of a new chemotherapy protocol and will have an MRI to see how her treatment is working. Brittney will need continued support as she travels for more treatments, and we have assured her parents that Angel Flight NE will be here to assist them for as long and as often as they need our help.

This is just one example of how our mission with the support of our amazing volunteer pilots and corporate partners, along with you, is making a difference in the lives of our patients and their families. We are truly blessed!

All of our sponsors are absolutely amazing including our commercial aviation partners – JetBlue and Cape Air. They not only generously donate unlimited seats on their aircraft but embrace our patients and families with love and support. For those patients diagnoses with a rare disease such as Brittney’s, the Alexion Charitable Foundation is here to help. And with the support and help Hasbro, we ae able to send along some extra joy with unlimited toys to provide to the children we fly including Mr. Aviation Potato Head.

Please keep beautiful Brittney and her family in your prayers. As with all our patients, they will forever be a part of the Angel Flight NE family. Mission/Flight requests – like Brittney’s – are requested daily and we are blessed to be here for them especially during the crisis they are currently facing.

Thank You and God Bless You for your support and belief in our healing mission.

With your help and belief in our mission, we are able to ensure that distance is never an obstacle for patients, like Brittney, to access the specialized medical care she needs. Please know I continue to pray for you and your loved ones – Angel Flight NE is here to help you in any way possible. We continue to provide our services to children and adults who need to access life-saving medical care before, during & after treatment.

Warmest regards,
Fr. Larry & the AFNE Staff

The post Child with Cancer Transported from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania for Treatment appeared first on Angel Flight NE.

I would like you to meet Eric, a wonderful man from Milton, VT required to travel to Dana Farber for treatment. Eric is treated for a blood cancer that will require a transplant in the next couple months; the transplant has mandatory follow ups & as little exposure as possible to outside factors.

Luckily, Eric was referred to Angel Flight NE through Dana Farber when faced with the troubling task of driving 10+ hours round-trip. Since October of last year – we have coordinated twelve trips for Eric & Chrissy to travel to treatment.

Eric’s wife, Chrissy, shared the following:
“Driving from northern Vermont to multiple cancer treatments in Boston adds massive stress and exhaustion to an already difficult time for a family with a cancer patient. Angel Flight NE has quite literally come to our rescue several times with transportation to and from appointments.

Everyone at Angel Flight NE, from the mission coordinators to the pilots and earth angels, have been a blessing. They are patient, kind, generous, and always in good spirits. We are beyond thankful for everyone who plays a role in making Angel Flight NE’s mission happen.”

We are always so grateful to our volunteer pilots for generously donating their time, fuel, planes and compassion and the Maine Cancer Foundation who has been partnering with Angel Flight NE for over 4 years now to ensure that the cost of travel is never a hurdle to appropriate treatment.  Transformational missions, like Eric’s, are truly uplifting and inspiring much like the exquisite pictures captured during Eric’s most recent Angel Flight shown to the right.

As with all of our patients, Eric is forever a part of the our Angel Flight NE family. Mission/Flight requests – like Eric’s – happen daily and we are privileged to have the opportunity to not only fly but deeply care for all who turn to us for help at difficult times in their lives.

We are here for Eric & Chrissy for as long and as often as they need our help and to ensure the best possible outcome.

Thank You and God Bless You for your support and belief in our healing mission. With your help and belief in our mission, we are able to ensure that distance is never an obstacle for patients, like Eric.

Warmest regards,
Fr. Larry & the AFNE Staff

The post VT Resident Transported to Dana Farber Boston for Vital Cancer Care appeared first on Angel Flight NE.

Within this week’s edition of Thankful Thursday, we’d like to share with you another amazing mission that occurred in October 2022! Here at Angel Flight NE, we are carrying the holiday spirit into the New Year by sharing adorable Gavin & his amazing pilot.

Gavin was born with a rare disease that caused an inappropriate secretion of insulin; this diagnosis required treatment at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia at only 3 months old. After surgery, both his family and the doctor felt Gavin was too fragile to travel home on a commercial flight. Luckily, they were referred to Angel Flight NE and our amazing volunteer pilot, Shakeel, based in Maine and always willing to fly families in need, flew Gavin and his parents home safely especially given Gavin’s immune system is compromised.

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Gavin’s aunt shared the following after their trip:
Dear Georgie,
Words alone cannot express our gratitude and appreciation for all you – and your colleagues at Angel Flight NE – do to assist and make possible these extraordinary gifts of life – saving and game changing medical flights.

You all are angels in street clothing! Gavin and our entire family thanks you for his flight on October 10 from Philly to Logan!

With utmost gratitude,
Sue & Neil Russell

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The family has follow-up appointments scheduled, and we have assured them that Angel Flight NE will be here to assist them for as long and as often as they need our help. This is just one example of how our mission with the support of our amazing volunteer pilots, along with you, is making a difference in the lives of our patients and their families. We are truly blessed!

As with all of our patients and their families, they will be forever a part of the Angel Flight NE family. Mission/Flight requests – like theirs – are requested daily and we feel blessed to be here for our patients.

Thank You and God Bless You for your support & belief in our healing mission.

With your help and belief in our mission, we are able to ensure that distance is never an obstacle for patients, like Gavin, to access the specialized medical care they need.

Warmest regards,
Fr. Larry & the AFNE Staff

The post 5 Month Old Travels Home to Boston After Surgery in PA to Treat Rare Disease appeared first on Angel Flight NE.

The post Medical transportation made easier with Angel Flight appeared first on Angel Flight NE.

It’s that time of year when your inbox is full of sales and discount codes from numerous newsletter subscriptions and brands. This is not one of them! Instead, we want to wish you some well deserved time-off to indulge in the festive spirit by reading about a beautiful young boy from Danville, VT.

Adorable 1 year old Heath suffers from an extremely rare condition that causes a wide range of physical symptoms, learning difficulties and behavioral challenges usually noticed shortly after birth. Heath and his parents are required to travel to University of Florida Health Medical Plaza multiple times per year for specialized treatment and we were able to support the family with flights with the amazing support of JetBlue and The Alexion Charitable Foundation so they could focus on his treatment. And Hasbro’s Aviation Mr. Potato Head went along on the trip also to support Heath during his journey.

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His mother shared a lovely note along with the photos above:
Good morning,

We just wanted to reach out and thank you and Angel Flight again for making our trip to Heath’s specialist appointment less stressful.

With Love,
Danielle, Craig & Heath Morris

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Heath will need continued support as he travels for future appointments, and we have assured his family that Angel Flight NE will be here to assist them for as long and as often as they need our help. This is just one example of how our mission with the support of our amazing volunteer pilots and corporate partners, along with you, is making a difference in the lives of our patients and their families. We are truly blessed!
All of our corporate sponsors are absolutely amazing including our commercial aviation partners – JetBlue and Cape Air. They not only generously donate unlimited seats on their aircraft but embrace our patients and families with love and support. We’re also able to send along a little extra joy with the help of Hasbro! They support Angel Flight NE’s mission not only with life-saving grants but also with unlimited toys to provide to the children we fly including Mr. Aviation Potato Head.

Please keep beautiful Heath and his family in your prayers. As with all our patients, they will forever be a part of the Angel Flight NE family. Mission/Flight requests – like his – are requested daily and we are blessed to be here for them.

Thank You and God Bless You for your support and belief in our healing mission. With your help and belief in our mission, we can ensure that distance is never an obstacle for patients, like Heath, to access the specialized medical care he needs.

Warmest regards,
Fr. Larry & the AFNE Staff

The post One Year Old travels from VT to FL for Specialized Care with AFNE’s Support appeared first on Angel Flight NE.

The post Hasbro Celebrates 10th Annual Global Day of Joy with AFNE appeared first on Angel Flight NE.

With the holiday season in full swing, we want to take a moment to say “Thank You” to one of our families who support our mission annually.

Our ability to assist patients – children and adults – would not be possible without the strong belief in our mission of ensuring distance is never an obstacle for those requiring travel during their healthcare journey.  From our amazing, giving and compassionate Volunteer Pilots and Ground Crew Members to our sponsors and supporters, we are truly blessed with unwavering support that has made our mission for nearly 27 years possible.

One family in particular has gone above and beyond for 7 years raising funds to support more than 230 flights of healing and hope for Angel Flight NE patients and families.  About an hour north of New York City is a beautiful town deemed as one of the best places to live in the state of New York – New City, NY. An amazing family – the Cirlin’s – transform their residence located on Oriole Road in New City, NY annually into a winter light festival with thousands and thousand of lights and hand-crafted displays for everyone to enjoy creatively named “New City North Pole Airport”. If you are on Facebook, stop by the NCNP Facebook page.

The annual First (F)light traditionally takes place the Saturday after Thanksgiving and continues into the last week of December, but planning for each year’s lighting spectacular starts almost immediately as the New Year ushers in. The Cirlin Family and their community of amazing elves work diligently throughout the year leading up to the First (F)Light to create and bring even more interactive displays and adventures for all ages to enjoy year after year. Their efforts not only raise funds to support Angel Flight NE’s mission but also to support People to People, a nonprofit organization that helps put food on the tables of more than 1,400 low-income families every month in Rockland County.

This year’s inaugural lighting was even more poignant as it was dedicated to an amazing, inspirational little girl – Addi – from Vermont who succumbed to an ultra-rare condition in June. Her family has established a foundation called “Big Beautiful Life” in Addi’s memory with the mission of spreading joy to children in medical crisis, supporting their helpers & raising awareness about medical complexity.  Angel Flight NE coordinated more than 200 flights and ground transportation missions to support Addi and her family during her healthcare journey.  Her story was featured in our 2019 Evening of Angels Gala video.

An amazing 10 year old warrior Teagan, also an Angel Flight NE patient, assisted with the 2022 New City North Pole Airport lighting ceremony. Teagan and her family are forever a part of the Angel Flight NE family. We were able to coordinate flights with the generosity of JetBlue so Teagan could receive specialized medical care for a congenital heart defect called “Tetralogy of Fallot” at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford in California even before she was born and in the months after her birth. As shown in the picture to the left, Teagan was joined by her parents and younger sister at this year’s lighting event.

Support from families, like the Cirlin’s and the communities they reside in, are priceless!  We would not be able to help the thousands of patients who turn to us annually if it was not for the dedication and commitment of everyone who supports our vital mission.

Together, we are making the Impossible, Possible!

Thank You and God Bless You for your support and belief in our healing mission. With your help and belief in our mission, we are able to ensure that distance is never an obstacle for the thousands of patients who turn to us for help annually.

Warmest regards,

Fr. Larry & the AFNE Staff

The post New City North Pole Airport Bringing Joy to Many this Holiday Season appeared first on Angel Flight NE.

We’d like to share with you the impact our service has on so many families – not just with travel but support before, during & after their first phone call. We received a call early on a Saturday a couple weeks ago from a mother desperate to spend time with her daughter in the hospital, she shared the below after returning home from a round-trip flight on Cape Air who graciously answered our request for help immediately.
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Hello Everyone,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. It’s been quite hectic since I spoke to you.

Jillian was transported to the island Sunday by ambulance. She is now home with 24-hour care between staff, my husband and myself. Jillian is blind with Cerebral Palsy and confined to a wheelchair requiring 24 hour one on one care.

Her recent surgery for a fractured femur was successful. The doctor was able to modify a small titanium arm bone that would fit her leg ! We now pray that in 2 weeks from now, being confined to bed 24/7, we will have an X-ray that will show great progress!

Back in 2013, we utilized Angel Flight NE’s free air transportation services to travel 3 times to and from Boston. We had been at Boston Children’s Hospital for 3 months. Jillian suffered a left femur fracture that was inoperable. She was placed in traction for 6 months and another month at the Vineyard Hospital. She has only known love and exudes love, happiness and joy! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Thank you again for making it possible for me to travel quickly and be by Jillian’s side at Brigham and Women’s Hospital on Saturday. It enabled me to give my husband a respite and we both were able to meet with orthopedic team to make a discharge plan.

Having Cape Air and Angel Flight NE there for us was a God send as neither one of us was fit to drive from shear exhaustion.

Thank you one and all for all you do ❤️❤️❤️❤️

We appreciate all your efforts.

Denise

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All of our corporate sponsors are absolutely amazing including our commercial aviation partners – Cape Air & JetBlue. They not only generously donate unlimited seats on their aircraft but embrace our patients and families with love and support. 

Thank You and God Bless You for your support and belief in our healing mission. With your help and belief in our mission, we are making the impossible, possible for families and patients, like Jillian.

Warmest regards,

Fr. Larry & the AFNE Staff

The post Cape Air & AFNE Supports Martha’s Vineyard Family appeared first on Angel Flight NE.