Miracle Flights, the nation’s leading medical flight charity, has reported that they have carried out 724 free flights during the month of August alone. The charity provides free medical flights to critically ill patients who are in need of specialized medical care at a distant location. The August numbers are a significant increase from the previous year, when the charity carried out 599 flights in August 2016.
30+ Years of Free Medical Transport by Air
Miracle Flights, which is based in Las Vegas, has been providing free medical transport by air since 1985. Their services are mainly focused on patients who have rare, life-threatening conditions. They enable these patients to gain access to life-saving treatments, valuable second opinions, etc. that are not available nearby because their diagnosis is so complicated.
The charity provides patients and families with free plane tickets as often as they need. Over the last 32 years, they have flown in excess of 62 million miles and provided 111,397 medical flights for free. According to the charity’s CEO Mark E. Brown, Miracle Flights was started with the belief that distance shouldn’t be the reason why people cannot gain access to a cure.
Lives Saved Due to Free Medical Flights
With the help of the free flights provided by Miracle Flights, thousands of lives have been saved. An example of one of their patients is Riley, a 16-year-old who lives in Idaho. She suffers from a rare bone marrow condition known as Dyskeratosis Congenita. In 2015, Miracle Flights helped transport Riley to Boston Children’s Hospital, which is 3,000 miles away from her home.
She became the sixth patient to undergo an experimental transplant. Now Riley is a high school junior and is able to get involved in sports such as football, wrestling, and track. She was able to overcome incredible odds due to the charity’s service.
