On December 18, 2022, AeroAngel provided Jailyn, 9, and her mother a free private jet flight from Houston, Texas, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvannia, where she received a kidney transplant at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP). Although she received two prior offers of a kidney, her family had to turn them down because they were unable to travel from Houston to Pittsburgh to receive the transplant within the 8-12-hour window of a kidney becoming available.
Out of options and with Jailyn’s health declining, social workers at CHP recently contacted AeroAngel to ask if it could provide a flight for Jailyn that would arrive within the necessary time constraints. AeroAngel’s primary mission since its founding in 2010 has been to provide free flights on private jets to seriously ill children needing to and from travel to lifesaving medical care at children’s hospitals across the country, usually with a weeks’ notice. “Given Jailyn’s critical need and after careful consideration, we decided to undertake the challenge of trying to find a flight on very short notice,” said Mark Pestal, AeroAngel’s Executive Director and Founder. “To improve the chances of filling this flight, we immediately reached out to our jet operators to let them know of the need, so that when the call came in we had a go-to list,” Pestal added.
A private charter flight from Houston to Pittsburgh has a prohibitivecost of $25,000 or more, and current high charter demand makes finding a flight difficult, particularly on short notice.
Finding a flight in time was made more challenging when CHP’s transplant coordinator called AeroAngel’s Flight Coordinator on Saturday night (the 17th) after 9 p.m. Eastern Time. Jailyn needed to be in Pittsburgh by noon the next day. AeroAngel’s team immediately responded by reaching out to a dozen or more jet operators and within a couple hours had two good options for the flight.
Early Sunday morning, a business jet was airborne in route to Houston’s Executive Airport to pick up Jailyn and her mother. The flight landed back at Pittsburgh International Airport just after noon. A waiting car took Jailyn and her mother to the hospital. Jailyn, who was recently adopted, received her kidney transplant that will allow her to forgo maintenance dialysis and undergo future medical care she needs.
AeroAngel is working to expand its unique flight donation program through its Emergency Flight Fund to serve more of the over 250 children’s hospitals across the country. Photos from Jailyn’s flight are available upon request. For further information or an interview, please contact Mark Pestal at (303) 548-3426 or mark@aeroangel.org / www.aeroangel.org