My Nonprofit Reviews

Our family is so incredibly thankful to the Autism Spectrum Foundation for their assistance. I am the single mom of two amazing little boys, both of whom happen to have multiple medical needs. My older son has an autism diagnosis as well as multiple medical issues. He has been referred for many therapies including speech/language, OT, PT and equine therapies. Many of his medical expenses are not fully covered by insurance, and we have a lot of expenses due to having to travel, sometimes hundreds of miles, to his specialists appointments. My son relates well with animals and benefits immensely from equine therapy. I am not able to continue paying out of pocket for this very beneficial therapy. We were blessed to receive a grant from Autism Spectrum Disorder Foundation, Inc. to cover his equine assisted therapy services and have seen so much progress through these services, progress that I do not believe we would have seen otherwise. Thank you.

Speedway Angels gave our family the opportunity to experience our first NASCAR race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. My boys absolutely loved it and we made amazing memories that we will cherish forever. Thank you Speedway Angels.

A Special Thank You to our Angel Flight Family

Without a doubt, you are truly angels. My son Samuel was born with an extremely rare chromosomal anomaly so unique that his geneticist had never seen it before and could only find two other cases in all of the medical journals. As a result, he has a number of diagnosis, including cerebral palsy, which require ongoing medical treatment and therapies. When Samuel recently suffered extremely painful neurological complications following a routine surgery, he saw many local doctors and was treated with medicines that helped only minimally and had unbearable side effects. After much searching, we were blessed to find a doctor in Maryland who is pioneering a new procedure to treat similar neurological problems. I called him and talked with him, and he agreed to see Samuel. I knew I had to get my son to Maryland to see this doctor. We had a small local fundraiser and raised $304. We loaded up the van, took our $304 of gas money drove from Georgia to Maryland. It was an extremely long drive and we had to stop frequently for breaks along the way to allow Sam to get up and move around. We set up camp in a Maryland state park because it cost much less than a hotel room, and I knew that I would have to pay a minimum of $4800 up front for the Dr. to conduct the necessary tests and treat Samuel. The procedure, tests, brace, etc. were not covered at all by our insurance because the treatment is still in the experimental stage. And our $304 of gas money ran out long before we got to Maryland.
We thought that the procedure and bracing process would take about 5 days. We ended up having to spend ten days in Maryland before he was able to return home. Sam responded well to the procedure and began to show improvement. The drive home took a lot longer as we drove for two days through pouring rain. After getting home, Samuel continued to show improvement. While he was not 100% , he was definitely much better than he had been in months. After about four months, he began to regress some. I called the Dr, and he said that we needed to return to Maryland. Between the medical bills, gas money, camping fees, food, etc., I had depleted my savings and all resources. I had no idea how I was going to be able to get him back to Maryland and pay for a hotel. It was December and way too cold to camp with a sick child in Maryland. Knowing our plight, a coworker asked me if I had ever heard of Angel Flight. I had at some point heard of Angel Flight, but thought you only served in life or death situations. She said that it was worth a try. I contacted Angel Flight, and the staff made me feel so welcome, like they were truly excited to be able to help. It was short notice, but they worked tirelessly to get our flights scheduled. At the last minute, however, our flights had to be cancelled due to a strong snow storm moving in. Angel Flight did not abandon us. They helped us be able to arrange for Amtrak to transport us. It was a very cold 16 hour train ride, but it was an exciting experience to share with my son.
We had not been home but a couple of weeks when we had to rush back to Maryland. This time, even though it was New Years Day, Angel Flight pilots were able to fly us to Maryland on very short notice and between snow storms. When it came time for our scheduled return flights, there was a foot of snow on the ground, and it was about 6 degrees and still snowing. There was no way to fly in or out of the little airport in Maryland. Mr. Brian Wills, our first pilot on the trip up, called and offered to fly us the rest of the way home if we could rent a car and drive as far as North Carolina, where the weather was not as bad. I tried driving a little ways, but it was still snowing and the roads were treacherous. Mr. Wills worked with me for hours, calling back and forth trying to figure out how to get us home. He truly went above and beyond what would be expected. When he saw that the weather was supposed to improve the next day he decided that he would fly all the way to Maryland the next day and fly both legs of our flight home, even though it would take his entire Saturday. Late that night, Mr. Taylor, an Angel Flight East pilot, called and volunteered to fly the first leg home. He and Mr. Lindy Kirkland landed very skillfully on an icy runway, and soon we were on our way home. I was just so amazed and humbled that these men would spent a cold, snowy Saturday going out of their way to help us. It just absolutely meant the world to us.
After making a couple of driving trips in the spring, we had the pleasure of flying with Angel Flight again in August When we had to return again unexpectedly. Mr. Al Langerstrom flew our first leg up and Mr. Rapp, who also flew us into Maryland in January, flew our last leg in again. They were so kind and answered all of Sam's questions and even gave him little flying lessons. He loved it. Our pilot on the first leg home, Mr. John Wells took time off work to fly us. We found out late the evening before we were to fly out that Sam would need to see the Dr. again that morning. That put us behind, but Mr. Wells adjusted his schedule for us, even though it meant that he had to rush to work as soon as we landed. Our final flight was with Mr. Jason Prince. This time I got to be "copilot" and he very graciously answered my questions and taught me some things about flying.
Samuel will likely have to make many more trips to his Dr. in Maryland. It is very comforting to know that Angel Flight is there for us if we need them again.
Everyone at Angel Flight, Ms. Jett, Ms. Burnadette and all of the pilots have gone out of their way to make us feel cared for and important. By the time a flight ends, we feel like a part of the family. You are such a blessing to us and a true answer to prayers.

God Bless You,
Julie and Samuel

For with God All Things are possible.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Super-Heroes-For-Sam/647802091960303

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