Angel Flight

MISSION 110 - MILDURA / ESSENDON / MILDURA

Third visit to RCH for 15 year old Ben Causon diagnosed with Myelodysplasia (a life-threatening disorder of the bone marrow and a pre-leukaemia condition) has undergone a bone marrow transplant at RCH Melbourne in May 2003. The family relocated from Mildura to Melbourne for a seven month period whilst treatment was undertaken. Ben needs to be monitored at RCH in Melbourne on a regular basis. The family are financially disadvantaged and dependent on Centrelink / Social Security support only.

Read about a previous flight for Ben Causon.


Mike MacFarlane - Pilot	Angel Flight report 1 by Mike MacFarlane "The flight that nearly was" "We had a great flight to pick Ben & Glen up but had a battery failure in Mildura and it just wouldn't start!! After a while I decided to put Ben & Glen on a QantasLink rather than have them wait for an indeterminable period of time. About 4.5 hours after we were supposed to depart Mildura and after a kindly recharge by a local engineer and help from QantasLink, a return flight was made back to Essendon unfortunately without our AngelFlight passengers. On arrival at Essendon I phoned and checked with Glen to make sure they had arrived. He said that both he and Ben had a good trip and Ben is all geared up for more treatment tomorrow at the Royal Children's Hospital." Glen, Mike and Ben relaxing for a photo or two prior to their journey.

Tony Taggart - Pilot Rafael Bieber - Earth Angel	Angel Flight report by Tony Taggart "Thank you so much for the opportunity to be of such minuscule service and to be able to help the Causon's to get home to Mildura. I can assure you that it is me who has got the best end of the bargain. Ben is a gracious young man who is battling unbelievable odds with a strength that I could not hope to enjoy. His folks, Julianne and Glen, are "salt of the earth" people battling similar heavy odds. I wish them every success and pray that Ben will go on to improve. I would also like to thank my friend Peter Wollerman who accompanied me on the flight and acted as my navigator and radio man and who was unbelievably gracious in contributing to my fuel cost. He was not required to do that. So all in all, I am just so pleased to have had this opportunity and hope that I can be of service again." Very Best Wishes All's OK with Ben on this flight. Some essential nap time. Glen Causon. Arriving in Melbourne. Just one more step!