February 4, 2000

Mike Davis

In 1998, Mike Davis, a 19-year-old high school senior in Maine, was diagnosed with Ewings sarcoma in his hip. To receive the best care available, Davis and his family decided to make the long trek to the MGH for treatment by Howard Weinstein, MD, chief of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at the MassGeneral Hospital for Children. Davis, who was unable to sit up in a car, was forced to lie on a mattress in the back of his father's furniture van for the four-hour trip to Boston every other week. That was until a social worker told his mother about Angel Flight.

Angel Flight NE is a nonprofit organization that provides free air transportation in private aircraft to ambulatory patients across the northeast. Angel Flight averages 50 flights per week with the help of 400 volunteer pilots and 70 nonpilot volunteers.

Airplanes are not equipped with lifesaving equipment and there are no medically trained staff onboard, therefore, patients must be medically stable. Angel Flight is funded by corporate sponsors, organizations, charitable gifts, community service groups, churches and individual contributors; however, pilots pay the flight expenses for each mission. Since its inception in May 1996, Angel Flight NE has had more than 3,600 requests for flights and has flown more than 1.4 million miles.

"It was really convenient and easy for us," says Davis. "My mom would call Angel Flight and they would find a pilot in Maine who was available to take us to the MGH for our appointments. When I couldn't walk, they would send a van to our house that could accommodate my wheelchair, and that would take us to the airport in Bangor. Then we'd take a flight to Logan and get a ride to the MGH. Usually a different pilot would take us back to Maine after our visit."

Davis, who has taken 21 Angel Flights, enjoyed the flights to Boston that saved him three hours of travel time each way and made his treatment less tiring. "The pilots mostly are young guys who just love to fly. They were so helpful, finding ways to let me lie down in their planes when I couldn't sit up. When I was feeling good, they would even let me help fly the plane," he says. Davis keeps in touch through e-mail with one of the pilots who flew him to Logan several times and has even offered to give Davis flight lessons in the future. "I'm definitely interested in learning to fly," he says.

Davis received chemotherapy and radiation therapy that has put his cancer into remission for nearly a year now. He will graduate from high school this spring and will attend Southern Maine Technological Institute in the fall to study fire science.

"Angel Flight made life much easier for me and my family during my treatment at the MGH. I don't think I would have been able to do it without their help," says Davis.