A little trip to a ball game made a huge difference in Marine Veteran David's outlook on life.

PALS for Patriots angel flight
PALS for Patriots Veteran Flights

After falling victim to an accidental bomb explosion, David realized his recovery was proving more than just physical.

Marine Veteran David served 11 years in the military and during his last years in service he was helping countries like Laos and Vietnam clear land mines that had been left behind during the Vietnam war. Working with local organizations, David was disarming a bomb and it accidentally exploded. He suffered significant injuries including loss of his left eye and left hand.

While his physical recovery was difficult enough, he soon realized his mental recovery from the accident was proving even more difficult and threatened his overall outlook on life.

He was early in his recovery and trying to figure out what his life was going to look like going forward. While at a VA hospital, David learned about an upcoming trip to Fenway for a ball game. While not immediately enthusiastic about going, he decided to go. That decision turned out to have a major impact on his recovery and outlook on life. 

“Just enjoying each other's company was a great time. By the end of that weekend I kinda had this weird moment, it really was this light switch realization for me. I kinda looked up and said "holy crap", it's been like 3 days we've been on this trip and I've had fun the whole time. ”
David
Marine Veteran
“That was the first time since I'd been hurt that I had that kinda time go by where I didn't have some kind of depressive episode kick in. It was the perfect experience, at the perfect time, to really change my perspective and get me back on the right train of thought. PALS gave me some altitude on the maze rather than being stuck in it and for those couple of days I was able to see the path and make some informed decisions for where I was going next".
David
Marine Veteran

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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 27,000 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.

Let’s make more critical medical flights and compassion flights happen! We cannot do it without you.