On the Wings of Angels.

Drive into the parking lot of any major cancer hospital, and you will be greeted by a small village of RVs. Families bring their siblings and children to the hospitals for weeks-long treatments. Families make the trek from hundreds of miles away and remain close to their loved one by setting up camp in the parking lot.

Getting the best care for a rare form of cancer is paramount. But for a typical child living in rural America, the most effective care is more than a few hours’ drive away. And if the cancer needs regular treatment and check-ins, the cost of travel can be prohibitive.

For Itzy, the care she needed was a full state away, in Colorado. Lucky for Itzy, there is Angel Flight, an organization of pilots who volunteer their time and their aircraft to fly patients like Itzy to the hospitals that benefit them most.

Pilot and volunteers Nancy and Kosta Constantine deflect the credit: “We play such a small part. Certainly, the doctors in Kansas and the children’s hospital, they’re a miracle for her.”

Itzy’s mother Mirna disagrees. “Nancy and Kosta are my angels. Just out of the kindness of their heart, wanting to be here for us, for something so terrible that you know the outcome of it, but you know God shows his face through wonderful people.”

Lifting the weight of worry associated with travel expenses is a huge blessing for Mirna. And Itzy has become a part of the family for the pilots. They were there when Itzy rang the bell, celebrating being cancer-free. “For me, it was a relief knowing that she was at the end of her treatment,” Kosta says.

Angel Flight has completed 36,000 flights in 29 years, logging 17 million nautical miles. In addition to flying cancer patients to hospitals, they deliver children with special needs to camps, as well as supplies for disaster response efforts.

Seeing the glistening aircraft and a friendly, private pilot can be like seeing an angel when you are a young child, uncertain of the future. And in the broad smiles on the pilots’ faces, it is apparent just how much joy there is in taking a child into the heavens, giving wings to wishes that seemed all but impossible before they boarded the plane.

“Passengers are always so appreciative of my efforts,” one Angel Flight pilot says. “What they don’t understand is that I love to fly, and taking them to their destination is fun for me. The real sacrifice would be if I had to stay on the ground.”

Staying on the ground may be the most difficult thing any of us has to do after being airborne in a small plane, soaring among the clouds. Flight is a miracle. And flying someone toward the hope of a better day is even more so.

Take Flight… PassItOn.com®