Mission 201

Mission 200 | View All Mission Reports | Mission 202

Departure:
Indianapolis, Indiana

Arrival:
Tampa, Florida

Date:
Wednesday August 15, 2012

Mission Report

Renita S is 57years old and has been battling uterine cancer now for three years. Her mom, Milly, said she initially saw her doctor with complaints of diffuse abdominal pain and difficulty swallowing and “she was told it was because she was overweight” until finally she could no longer swallow and a cancerous tumor was found compressing her esophagus in her chest that had come from the cancer in her belly. She went through initial surgery for a tumor the size of a “football” plus chemotherapy.

She and her family were recently told there was nothing more that could be done but “keep her comfortable” and Renita’s only wish was to go to her Mom’s home in Florida where her daughter was also.

She was way to sick to fly on a commercial airline and the drive was also too far. That’s when her family began to research options and found Grace on Wings located right where she was in Indianapolis. They began asking family and friends to help donate to get her home to hospice care.

When we arrived to St Vincent, Milly was sitting by her side and the nurse was helping to get her ready. She was on so much Morphine for her severe pain that they had a portable home IV pump on her for the trip and hospice. She was still in a great deal of pain due to her intestines being blocked by tumor. She also couldn’t swallow even her saliva.

Seeing her struggle was very hard. We gave her additional pain medicine for the trip and after take-off she finally was able to rest. Milly said that our mission was a definite blessing to their family and she wished she could donate more funds than we had asked for (fuel/airplane expenses) but that “she had a funeral to plan” with a very solemn face.

She then told us she was an ordained Methodist Minister and that Renita believed that Jesus had died for her sake and would see Him soon. It was hard to see them both suffer from the cancer that was causing so much pain.

I spoke to Milly the next day and she said Renita had become more alert after the flight and was thankful to be in Florida near her family.

Thanks to great flying by Hal and Mark! and to the awesome ground crew in Indy donated by Americare!

Also to my medic/nurse Tim-who has the biggest heart full of love, and to follower Bob-who is always there when I call 🙂

Tam

 

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