Azran’s parents have enough concerns when traveling for his medical treatments. Thanks to PALS, the travel part isn’t one of them.
A few days before he entered the world, doctors saw that Azran would be off to a difficult start.
Doctors gave Azran’s parents the devastating news that their little boy’s bones weren’t developing normally. Their local hospital in Vermont didn’t have the expertise to treat skeletal dysplasia, so they would have to travel to the nearest specialist, all the way in Delaware.
What would normally be a 7.5 hour trip without kids, turned into about a 12-hour drive to keep Azran comfortable and fed. It’s not just the amount of time on the road that proved difficult, but the trips back were made even more impossible for Azran and his family due to the discomfort and sickness from his surgery.
Patient AirLift Services (PALS) stepped in to lift the burden of having to spend many exhausting hours on the road.
Azran looks forward to flying on the airplane, and his parents consider it the only easy piece of their son’s wellness journey. For families like Azran’s, we make critical care that is far away accessible—but we couldn’t get missions off the ground without the support of our incredible PALS community.
Please donate today and help missions like this continue.
Our Story
PALS began its mission to provide free medical, compassion and veteran flights back in 2010. It was the dream of our founders, who as pilots felt their skills and resources could help people with free air transportation for medical treatments.
That initial inspiration and the first PALS flight has now grown to over 32,000 flights for over 3,200 families and an astounding 6.5 million miles flown. Quite an accomplishment for a free air travel organization a little over 10 years old.
Our Passenger Stories
Over the years and over many missions, we’re honored and humbled to hear how many lives we’ve been able to impact. Often times when a person is diagnosed with a life-changing illness, the care they need is inaccessible by car due to the repeat trips and length of each trip. When these families and individuals reach out to PALS, our team of volunteer pilots and mission coordinators go to work to make free travel to a medical facility or hospital possible. The stories we hear and those that our patients send us are all the reward we need.