|
Mission 160 Mission 159 | View All Mission Reports | Mission 161 Departure: Arrival: Date: Mission Report Writing this during an asthma attack after our Thanksgiving Family Holiday-I am acutely reminded of how important it is to have working lungs and heart. I’m so grateful for the development of good medications over the years (I can remember having to go to the doctor when I was young for an epinephrine shot). Tommy E has had a bad heart for years. He is 82 years old and it is now only functioning less than 1/4 of a normal heart. When he developed recently an arrhythmia where his heart chambers were not in sync, it made his heart function even less efficient and Tommy’s organs even began to shut down from lack of blood flow. Thank God for the IV medication that allowed his heart to work a little stronger and for electrical therapy to get his heart chambers working together–he went from dying to wanting to get home to his family in Chicago. His daughter is a social worker at Rush Hospital in Chicago and contacted us. Most of his kids, grand kids and great-grand kids are in the Chicago/Indy areas and they wanted to spend some time with Tommy as it was most likely his last days. When we arrived Tommy looked so much better than we expected. We kept him on an IV drip that kept his heart pumping enough to keep a stable blood pressure and he loved our aircraft Nellie! His wife “Kath” kept trying to get him to rest but he insisted on eating his PB&J and telling us all about his family and life adventures. His grandfather made himself a name at the Chicago Tribune initially by delivering newspapers by horseback. His favorite horse was named “Nellie”. We arrived to the properly titled “Windy City” to quite a bit of turbulence and Tommy gave Hal a “well-done!” when we landed very smoothly. We took him to one of the local hospitals where his son works as a radiologist. It was a beautiful facility and very caring staff. I called a few days later and Tommy got the most amazing news the day before Thanksgiving: He was going to be able to actually go to his daughters house with hospice. What an awesome God we have and we are so thankful for our mission and for giving Tommy his most cherished Thanksgiving holiday. Great job for great mission from Hal, Rusty, Tim and Bob. Tam
|
Click Photo To View
|
