Mission 173

Mission 172 | View All Mission Reports | Mission 174

Departure:
Gainsville, Florida

Arrival:
New Albany, Indiana

Date:
Wednesday March 7, 2012

Mission Report

Edward E is an 86 years old and raises and sells horses. He has a farm in Southern Indiana and winters in middle Florida where he usually brings a few horses to sell. He had a sudden stroke around 5pm when his wife heard him fall over. She brought him to the hospital where they were able to administer the clot buster medication in the time window.

Unfortunately he was still left with weakness and the worst symptom, aphasia, of not being able to speak. His wife says he loved to talk. Now he is only able to nod and sometimes smile. His daughter was so stressed out trying to find a way to get him home when her friend told her, “why don’t you just let Grace on Wings take care of it for you-they love him and will take care of him”. They had a fundraiser for Edward and received more than enough for our aircraft expenses.

We were off to Gainesville Florida to get Ed and his wife finally home after the month’s ordeal.

He was sitting in a wheelchair when we arrived and he had many family and friends there to see him off. After many hugs and goodbyes, we loaded him up to go to the airport. He understands everything but is unable to communicate his thoughts. He bowed his head when Hal prayed over him before loading him onto Nellie.

When I was looking over his chart, it said he had shrapnel in his shoulder. His wife told us Ed was a Navy WWII veteran and his wife said he was a victim of a kamikaze attack. Soon after takeoff we noticed his oxygen level dropping. He used to be a heavy smoker and was on oxygen even before his stroke.

We upped his oxygen level without much improvement. I asked Hal to fly lower- we were over an active military zone. We even began to monitor his wife who began to complain of shortness of breath. As a “lifeguard flight” we are able to get priority flight levels-even over military zones. With the air thicker at lower flight levels, Ed and his wife felt back to normal.

We arrived to a very excited and relieved daughter who was very thankful to have her dad home and also that their farm was spared by the recent tornados.

We pray for Ed to gain his ability to speak and we pray for the communities of Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky that are recovering after the devastating storms.

Thanks to expert care by nurse/medic Tim and for flight following by Bob, and great flying by Mike and Hal.

Tam

 

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