Angel Flight

MISSION 99 - MALLACOOTA / BANKSTOWN / MERIMBULA

Eleven year old Zachary seven years ago, at the age of four, was found to have a brain tumour. Unfortunately the tumour caused not only blindness but also a number of other conditions that over the years have resulted in many hours of surgery. In fact Zachary has had to face three operations in the last six months.

For Zachary and his family this health challenge has been made worse by the implications of living in an isolated area and complicated by the family not having a car. Consequently, there have been a number of occasions when they have had to travel to Sydney Children’s Hospital by coach for on-going treatment and assessment.

Naturally, such long journeys by road are both physically and emotionally demanding not only on Zachary but also on his parents Carole and Stephen, but they forgot about the long journey by road this time thanks to Angel Flight.

"I was ready to do almost anything to make sure that Zachary didn’t have to face the long coach trip," his mother, Carole, said.

"Then a piece of paper fell out of my bag on which I’d written down the words ‘Angel Flight’ and so I contacted the Social Worker at the Hospital and they were able to organise this special flight for us. This has really taken a lot of pressure off us and we can put the energy we were putting into worrying about the trip into just keeping our lives afloat. The generosity of the pilots is all a bit overwhelming and all I can say is it’s like having a big helping hand when we need it most."

This story appearing online in the Herald Sun 27/04/04.

Dr Kerry Delaney - Pilot Rory Delaney - Earth Angel	Angel Flight pilot, Kerry Delaney, certainly understands something of the challenges facing Zachary. A retired medical specialist now living in Tarago on a sheep farm, Kerry has seen a lot of people facing serious health conditions and during his professional life had also been closely involved in organising air transport for seriously ill patients. Angel Flight 1 report by Dr Kerry Delaney "On the morning of this Angel Flight M99 the weather at the intended destination of Mallacoota was forecast below the minima at the planned schedule for pickup. Some improvement was forecast from midday and more after 2pm. So, following discussions with the patient's parents and with Angel Flight (Jaye and Peter) the pickup was rescheduled at Merimbula. Although this required the patient and parents to arrange a car drive of one and a half hours from Mallacoota it permitted an immediate departure for me from Canberra to Merimbula (the Merimbula weather whilst also requiring an instrument approach was much better than the Mallacoota forecast) and so less delay in getting the patient to Sydney. These rearrangements progressed well and apart from poor weather (requiring IFR) all through the flight, the flight was uneventful. Zachary handled the trip very comfortably, and both Stephen and Carole were similarly relaxed and appreciative. Zachary demonstrably enjoyed receiving the Angel Bear. The handover to Earth Angel Rory was made shortly after arrival at Bankstown at approximately 3.30pm. From my perspective this mission and its preparation was quite straight forward, in no small part a result of the good briefing and communications prior to and during the flight, from Angel Flight."
	Stephen, Carole and Zachary ready for departure.

John Bawden - Pilot Steve Penfold - Earth Angel	Angel Flight 2 report by John Bawden "Despite the conditions at Bankstown being marginal, the Met report indicated that Mallacoota being accessable and as it turned out, the conditions got better the further south we travelled to the point that it was completely clear at the destination. Carole, Steve and young Zachary (the patient), all enjoyed the trip and were extremely grateful to Angel Flight for saving them the drama of what has been an 11 hour bus trip in the past. They asked me to pass on their thanks again to all involved in this trip including the organisers and Kerry Delaney who flew the first leg."