Pat Flynn has provided Jose with two Angel Bus trips in his big, beautiful rig. The best trip will be on the day Jose goes to get a new kidney.

The day that shouldn’t have to come came on October 24, 2011 to eight-year-old Jose. It was the day his mother dreaded, the day he began dialysis for stage five chronic kidney disease.

Jose was born with a congenital defect found only in male infants, posterior urethral valve. This is an abnormality causing obstruction of urinary flow. Unfortunately, doctors failed to detect it in time, and the boy’s kidney function progressively declined, leading to the need for home dialysis. This meant surgically installing an abdominal catheter, a device that uses the lining of the abdomen to filter waste products from the blood. Dialysis occurs overnight, which means Jose has to be in bed by 8:00 on school nights, and 9 on weekends. And this is what made Jose cry and ask the heartbreaking question, “When am I going to be normal?”

“I’ve always treated my children the same,” his mother said. Besides Jose, Jennifer has a 10-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son. “I’ve never let him know he’s different. But now it’s hitting him that he is. He used to share a room with his brother, but now he has to have his own room because of the machines. He feels lonely.” The third-grader has also missed many days of school due to his illness and must leave his class every two hours to empty his catheter.

Jose travels from home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville for treatment. It’s one of only four hospitals in the Commonwealth “that deals with renal kids,” Jennifer said. But since neither she nor her husband, Jose, owns a car, the 75-mile trip might as well be 1,000 miles. Added to that, both parents are unemployed. “I have to stay home to care for Jose, and my husband was laid off from his construction work. It’s been a roller coaster ride.”

When the pediatric social worker, Angela Treas, told Jennifer and Jose about Angel Bus (she’d seen a sign for the program at Geisinger) the couple felt immense relief. “Angel Bus literally fell from the sky,” Jennifer said. “We were at the end of our rope. I was renting cars, but I’m broke. I will always be grateful.”

The first trip to Danville was from October 24-28. Besides the surgery to place Jose’s catheter, extensive time was spent in training related to dialysis. The family was driven there and back by Pat Flynn, an Angel Bus volunteer who owns a 38-foot Bounder motor home.  “He’s my little buddy,” Flynn said of Jose. “He’s a nice kid—very sharp, well-mannered. All those kids are well-mannered. I can’t wait to see him.”

Seeing him will be soon. At Jennifer’s invitation, Flynn plans to visit on Thanksgiving Day. “Her father is coming from Puerto Rico and she wants me to meet him. She said I remind her of her dad.” At that time Flynn will drop off a special gift. “I asked Jennifer what Jose wanted for Christmas and she said a PlayStation 3.” In his post-mission report of the most recent Angel Bus trip, Flynn wrote that “all went very well. Talked with Santa, and he will be delivering a PlayStation3…Good to have a direct line with Santa.”

Flynn signed up with Angel Bus and bought his motor coach for transporting patients after his wife, Sandy, died of cancer in 2009. He and neighbor Paul Kendzor, also a volunteer driver, are active members of Friends of Angel Bus, an auxiliary group that engages in outreach and recruitment. “We’ve gone to TV stations, radio stations, hospitals, rallies.”

So far, he’s provided Jose and his family with two trips to Geisinger Medical Center, and is on board for the next scheduled appointment. The most rewarding Angel Bus trip will be when Jose gets a new kidney, hopefully in December, doctors say. Three of Jennifer’s family members tested positively as donors. Her brother, Larry, who lives in New York, will give Jose his kidney—and until adulthood, when he will need another transplant, Jose will have his wish to be a normal boy.

Susie (left) and her mom, Maria, are ‘forever grateful’ for the gift of Angel Bus travel.

This is a guest post by Emily Altmann, a senior communications major at Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk, serving as an intern with Mercy Medical Airlift.

When Susie, a recent Angel Bus patient, was diagnosed with Cholangiocarcinoma in August of 2010, options were limited for the 26-year-old, single mother of three.

Cholangiocarcinoma is a relatively rare bile duct cancer that affects the liver’s ability to drain bile into the small intestine.  This type of cancer is typically diagnosed at its more advanced stages and is unresponsive to chemotherapy and radiation, leaving surgery as the only option.

For many years, Susie reported pain but was misdiagnosed.  After the birth of her son and increasingly worse abdominal pains, doctors were able to remove her gallbladder and perform a second biopsy of the tumor.  As it turns out, they said the cancer has likely been affecting her for the last three years.

“After talking with my oncologist and confirming that it was indeed cancer, we began searching for surgeons,” said Susie.  “The surgeon most qualified here in El Paso unfortunately did not feel he could perform the surgery I needed, so I was referred to a doctor at MD Anderson.”

Because of her illness, Susie was forced to leave her job as a medical assistant.  This limited income put the brakes on Susie’s quest for treatment.  MD Anderson is located in Houston, over 700 miles from her home in El Paso, and transportation is not cheap.

“I had no idea how I was going to get to Houston. While searching online, I came across the Angel Bus website and took a chance and submitted a request for help,” she said.  That same day she received a response from coordinator Jim Smith.  “I was overwhelmed with emotion, because it is hard in the world today to find people like Jim and the Angel Bus staff so willing to help at a moment’s notice.”

Angel Bus purchased Greyhound bus tickets for Susie and her mother, Maria, for the trip to Houston.  For the return trip, an Angel Bus volunteer, Randy Couk, drove mother and daughter home in his private motor coach.

“They were very nice people, very humble, very appreciative,” said Randy.

Randy has been working with Angel Bus since its beginning in 2000 with original founder, Bill Connor.  When Mercy Medical Airlift adopted the dormant program, Couk caught word of it and said, “Sign me up!”

The luxury of a private motor coach is beneficial to patients like Susie, who after a long surgery, may be experiencing great pain and discomfort.  These private coaches often afford beds to lie in, air temperature control, refrigerators to keep medication cold, and many other ways to keep a sick patient much more comfortable.

“It’s a very rewarding experience,” he said.  Thanks to Randy and Angel Bus, Susie was able to return home to her three children in as little discomfort as possible.

“As for me and my family we are forever grateful and thankful for Jim, Randy and the Angel Bus family,” she said. “My experience was a memorable one, one that proves that there is good out there in the world. Right now I am in remission, and I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Jackie, with “killer dog” Misse, Stanley and Mike take a break for a photo op.

The wheels on Mike and Jackie’s rig turned very early the morning of July 19 as the couple headed to Charlestown, Indiana, to pick up Stanley, the first Angel Bus patient to get a ride in a motor coach since the nonprofit organization was reinstated by Mercy Medical Airlift. Mike Miller is a volunteer driver who calls Livingston, Texas, home base. They were in Kentucky visiting Mike’s mother.

The two rose at 4:00 a.m. and drove to Charlestown in their luxurious 40-foot Mountain Aire. Stanley, a 15-year-old boy who suffers from epilepsy, and his mom, Karolee, got on board, with Stanley sitting up front as Mike’s “co-pilot.”

Their destination was Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. The Comprehensive Epilepsy Center there is one of the nation’s leading facilities. Stanley was scheduled to undergo tests to determine whether or not he would be a good candidate for surgery. Besides taking anti-seizure medication, he also has a vagus nerve stimulator that was implanted surgically in 2008. “It’s supposed to cut back on seizures, but Stanley has been having difficulties,” Karolee said. She hopes he’ll be able to have the surgery, which repairs the part of the brain from which his seizures originate.  “They’re having a lot of success at Cincinnati,” she added.

Mike said that on the trip, he learned Stanley is “a history buff. He was looking around, asking questions, commenting on the old, historic homes and buildings in Cincinnati.”

A rocket scientist who retired from Lockheed Martin after 33 years, Mike said he’d always traveled in his work. “I was at the company’s beck and call. Now I can travel at my own pace.”

He and Jackie spend winters in Apache Junction, Arizona, and travel the rest of the year in their motor coach. “We spend a week or so in each place.” Mike learned about Angel Bus through the Family Motor Coach Association. “Jackie and I had been looking for something to do to give back.” Angel Bus filled the bill.

Karolee is a stay-at-home mom with two older, grown daughters. She said the three-hour trip went smoothly. “Jim Smith [Angel Bus executive director] had everything set up. We had a wonderful time. It was nice and comfortable.”

Stanley attends a private school in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and is in the tenth grade. “He loves anything to do with mechanics,” Karolee said. “He likes to draw and he loves dogs. We have a dog named Lola. She can pick up on Stanley’s seizures. She alerts me if something’s going on with him. She taps on my bed with her paw until she wakes me.”

While her son was being tested, Karolee stayed in a Ronald McDonald House, and Mike and Jackie went to Columbus, Ohio, to visit friends. At the end of the week, they picked up mother and son and returned them safely home.”

Stanley’s gift to Mike and Jackie touched them both deeply.

Before saying goodbye, Stanley gave Mike and Jackie a gift he bought at the hospital. “He just about made me and Jackie cry when he gave it to us,” Mike said.

Veterans, children, cancer patients, burn victims—all these and more find hope and healing.

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Pay using credit card by clicking “Buy Now” button below:

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Questions? Call Suzanne Rhodes at 757-271-2299

Bill developed his love of buses as a kid growing up in St. Paul, Minnesota.  As a youth, he had no other transportation, so he got everywhere he needed to go on a bus.  Later he obtained his own motorcoach, and his family said he was never happier than when he was behind the wheel.  In 1999, Bill’s son Jaran was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer and Bill formed a nonprofit corporation, Angel Bus, which was modeled after Angel Flight, to transport terminally ill children in luxury and conversion coaches.  Jaran died in 2004 and 20 days after his death, Bill was diagnosed with acute leukemia.  He battled his illness for the ensuing four years. His goal was to reach age 50 and he did achieve that.

Les and Pam picked Osvaldo and his mother up at the UCLA Medical Center and took them to their home in Ontario, California.  Osvaldo’s family did not have the means available to bring him home before Christmas.

In typical Angel Bus fashion, Les and Pam thanked Angel Bus for the opportunity to help out.

A free Angel Bus ballcap will be included with each order through 15 December, 2010.

Orders by phone can be made by calling 757-436-3332 ext. 19 or 21